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A ten-part documentary series

California’s
true history

eople of the West key art: a face split down the middle, with an archival sepia portrait of an older woman on the left and a color photo of a young woman on the right.

EXPERIENCE
THEIR STORIES

For 500 years, the history of California has been told by those who conquered it. People of the West reclaims that story through Indigenous voices, blending cinematic reenactments and lived experience to uncover the truth behind the myth of the American West.

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journey through
the episodes

Dive into our series
of powerful stories

View Episodes
Episode 1: First Contact

Episode 1: First Contact

Before colonization, California is a world of ceremony, sovereignty, and sacred balance, then everything changes.

Episode 2: Spanish Missions

Episode 2: Spanish Missions

The brutal reality of California’s mission system unfolds through the story of Aha’ya and Atsia of the Ohlone.

Episode 3: Gold Rush

Episode 3: Gold Rush

California's mid-1800s transformation is marked by conquest, massacres, and betrayal - this time by the Americans, led by the idea of "Manifest Destiny".

Episode 4: Genocide

Episode 4: Genocide

California's statehood unleashes a campaign of genocide and slavery against Native peoples, while California's first governor Peter Burnett declares "a war of extermination".

Episode 5: Reservations

Episode 5: Reservations

Chief Tenaya leads the Ahwahneechee in a desperate stand to defend their home in Yosemite Valley from James Savage and the Mariposa Battalion.

Episode 6: Boarding Schools

Episode 6: Boarding Schools

When a young Paiute boy cuts his hair in anger, his grandmother relives her own trauma as a survivor of the Sherman Indian Boarding School.

Episode 7: The American Dream

Episode 7: The American Dream

A Chumash family uprooted by federal Termination policy trades reservation life for 1950s Los Angeles, chasing the promise of the American Dream.

Episode 8: Red Power

Episode 8: Red Power

In the ashes of San Francisco’s American Indian Center, a new generation rises. Mohawk activist Richard Oakes and student leader LaNada War Jack rally Native voices from across the nation to reclaim Alcatraz Island.

Episode 9: Gaming

Episode 9: Gaming

When armed deputies raid a small card room on the Cabazon Reservation, young Brenda Soulliere is thrust into a legal battle that will redefine Native sovereignty.

Episode 10: The Next Generation

Episode 10: The Next Generation

From the Channel Islands to the Coachella Valley, California’s Native nations reclaim their role as caretakers of land and sea.

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A Native woman in an orange cardigan stands with her hands on her hips in a crowded courtyard, beneath a wall painted with “Red Power,” in a scene from Episode 8 of People of the West. Two young men in 1960s clothing stand in a library beside a chalkboard announcing guest speaker Richard Oakes, in a scene from Episode 8 of People of the West. A Native man in a work cap raises his hand as he faces silhouetted figures on a dark street at night, in a scene from People of the West.

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A Native man in a suit smiles at a reporter’s microphone as a crowd celebrates outside a courthouse, in a scene from People of the West. A Native family in 1950s clothing shares a tearful embrace outside a building with a red door, in a scene from People of the West. A young Native girl with long, windblown hair smiles softly on a sunlit hillside in a scene from People of the West.