“History is written by those who won,” says Joshua Martinez, a new history professor at American River College.
Martinez, who teaches History 311 – History of the United States (1865 – Present) and History 323 History of the United States: The American Indian Experience, started his first semester at ARC last month. With a background in Deaf Studies and Multicultural Education, Martinez hopes to make education as inclusive as possible.
Growing up as part of the Chumash Tribe in the Santa Barbara area, Martinez says he has always been connected to his culture and has always felt that the way history is taught in schools is incomplete. He didn’t resonate with what he was being taught at school to the extent that from time to time he wouldn’t attend class at all. That’s why it’s important for him to facilitate an educational environment where students feel emotionally connected to what they’re learning. This led to him working as a legislative assistant where he worked on high-profile cases.
One of those cases is the Indian Child Welfare Act, a federal law that protects Native Americans and Alaskans by holding minimum requirements in cases of child abuse, neglect or adoption. Another case Martinez has worked on is the Brackeen v. Haaland case, a Supreme Court case brought by the states of Texas, Louisiana, and Indiana, and individual plaintiffs, that sought to declare the Indian Child Welfare Act unconstitutional.
He has also worked with local tribes to make tangible impacts in the Sacramento area. For example, he helped draft a bill to replace a statue of a Spanish missionary placed in front of the State Capitol building with a statue of a Miwok leader. The statue was of Junípero Serra, a Catholic priest and missionary from the 1700s who has been criticized for his poor treatment of Native tribes and cultures, such as physically torturing them and forcing them to convert to Catholicism. This statue was toppled by approximately 200 protesters in 2020 and in 2023 a statue of William J. Franklin, Sr. was put in its place. Franklin was known for his work as a cultural dancer and preservationist who devoted his life to promoting Miwok culture.
Another crucial change in the Northern California area that Martinez has worked on as a legislative assistant is renaming one of the lakes in Tahoe. In 2021, the name “Squaw Valley” was renamed to Palisades Tahoe as the terminology used in the old name is a derogatory and dehumanizing reference to a Native American woman.
Currently, Martinez is working on two books. One of them is a collaboration with four other tribal experts each documenting their experiences with the education system. The other is on the tribal cultural history of the Miwok and the Chumash tribes.
“I want to showcase a side of history that’s never been shown,” Martinez said.
He brings this philosophy into his classes by teaching the aspects of American history that have traditionally been glossed over. One way he does this is by bringing in people who have experienced or who have family members who have experienced the events taught in class. These firsthand accounts complement the information in the textbook.
Despite topics such as genocide being incredibly difficult to talk about, he believes it is crucial to confront these difficult feelings to do justice to the reality of what has happened in our country. As these subjects can be emotionally taxing, Martinez also has his students keep a journal where they reflect on how they feel about learning all this information. He believes it’s important for students to strike an emotional connection with their education in order for it to stick.
“The best learning is where you come from,” Martinez says.
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