Origins of Oakland: Land, Labor, Home, and Native Presence
FAIN: BP-264708-19
Friends of Peralta Hacienda Historical Park (Oakland, CA 94601-0172)
Holly L. Alonso (Project Director: August 2018 to October 2022)
Planning
the interpretation of the archaeological remains of the original structures at
Peralta Hacienda to uncover the story of Native American influence on site.
Peralta Hacienda Historical Park, six-acre open space and humanities hub in a Latinx and Native community in Oakland, California, winner of the 2017 National Museum Medal, was once the headquarters of the 45,000-acre Spanish/Mexican era rancho that covered the land of seven modern cities including all of Oakland and Berkeley. The project requests funds to plan experiential programs and multi-sensory exhibits to reveal and interpret the site's oldest features: the footprint of land grant family's 1821 adobe house, which Native Americans built and lived in first; a rich archaeological deposit in the adjacent adobe-making pit; and an underground well from the rancho. The project will recover the Native American story of the site and the community, offer understanding of a new labor system akin to slavery that transformed the landscape, and delve into the nature of 'home' and the process that forms history from the archives.