Spanish, Mexican, and American California: Reframing U.S. History at Peralta Hacienda

FAIN: BH-50461-11

Friends of Peralta Hacienda Historical Park (Oakland, CA 94601-0172)
Holly L. Alonso (Project Director: March 2011 to April 2016)
Alex M. Saragoza (Co Project Director: July 2011 to April 2016)

Two one-week Landmarks workshops for eighty school teachers on California in the Spanish, Mexican, and American periods, using the Peralta family of northern California as a case study.

"Spanish, Mexican, and American California: Reframing U.S. History at Peralta Hacienda" consists of two one-week NEH Landmarks of American History and Culture Workshops held during summer 2012 for eighty school teachers on California in the Spanish, Mexican, and American periods, using the Peralta family of northern California as a case study. This program gives teachers the opportunity to examine the connections between United States history and that of Mexico through Luis Peralta, a soldier and colonist, and his family. The Peraltas were among the original californios, descendants of Spanish-speaking settlers who arrived with the Anza expedition to the San Francisco Bay area in 1776. Topics under examination include encounters between Spanish colonists and Native Americans, independence from Spain, the Mexican-American war, repercussions of the Mexican revolution, and the bracero program, a twentieth-century work program that brought temporary laborers from Mexico to the United States. These broad topics are grounded by primary sources, as well as secondary scholarship by Ramón Gutiérrez, Douglas Monroy, and William Deverell, among others. Most workshop sessions take place at Peralta Hacienda Historical Park in Oakland, which features a nineteenth-century Peralta family home and the remains of two earlier adobe houses. In addition to studying the buildings and archaeological record at Peralta Hacienda, participants visit the San Francisco Presidio, Ceja Vineyard, Sonoma Mission, and Oakland's Fruitvale neighborhood. Along with co-directors Alex Saragoza (ethnic studies, University of California, Berkeley) and Holly Alonso (Friends of Peralta Hacienda Historical Park), project faculty members include Charles C. Mann (independent scholar), Ramón Gutiérrez (University of Chicago), Albert Hurtado (University of Oklahoma), Douglas Monroy (Colorado College), Mary Jo Wainwright (Diablo College), Tey Diana Rebolledo (University of New Mexico), Myrna Santiago (St. Mary's College), Rick Tejada-Flores (filmmaker), and David Gutierrez (University of California, San Diego). Participants also meet with former braceros Pablo and Juana Ceja.

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