Agricultural labor, race, and Indian policy on the Round Valley Reservation, 1850--1941.

Abstract

This dissertation examines the labor history of the Indians living on the Round Valley Reservation, in northern California. From the time of contact in 1854 to the beginning of World War II, Round Valley Indians represented a vital part of the migrant and agricultural workforce in northern California. White ranchers in northern California racially defined Round Valley Indians based upon their interaction with them at the workplace. Reservation agents made labor an important part of Indian policy in California. They believed labor civilized Indians and prepared them to enter white society. Round Valley Indians used labor to make and remake the reservation environment. Wages provided for the economic survival of families; workplaces themselves offered opportunities for Indians to practice ceremonies; and Indians created a vibrant recreational life when the workday ended. Round Valley Indians, then, used agricultural wage labor to adapt, resist, and initiate responses to colonization.