During the mid-19th century, some Native people established village communities (rancherias) that lasted into the early 1900s. In Alameda and Contra Costa Counties these included Alisal (near Pleasanton), El Molino (Niles), Del Mocho (Livermore), and “The Springs” (site of today’s Fairmont Hospital, San Leandro).
Village communities such as these enabled Native people to provide greater social, cultural, and economic support to each other. Even when living outside such village communities, Native people kept in contact and did what they could to support each other.
This exhibition tells the story of one five-generation Ohlone, Bay Miwok, and Plains Miwok family’s journey to not only survive against all odds, but to thrive.