🧺 Pomo

Who Are the Pomo?

The Pomo are a group of indigenous peoples of northern California, numbering approximately 5,000-8,000 enrolled in over 20 federally recognized tribes and rancherías. They speak seven distinct Pomoan languages (a language family, not single language), all critically endangered. The Pomo traditionally inhabited present-day Mendocino, Sonoma, and Lake counties—the Russian River, Clear Lake, and Pacific Coast areas. They are renowned worldwide for basketry that represents one of humanity's greatest fiber art traditions. The Pomo endured brutal colonization—Spanish missions, Mexican ranchos, and American genocide—yet maintained distinct communities and cultural practices.

Basket Artistry

Pomo baskets are considered among the finest ever made. Using willow, sedge root, bulrush, and other materials, Pomo women created baskets of extraordinary technical perfection and artistic beauty. Feathered baskets—adorned with woodpecker, quail, and meadowlark feathers, with shell beads and other ornaments—were ceremonial treasures. Coiling and twining techniques produced baskets so tightly woven they held water. Each basket required months of work: gathering materials at proper seasons, preparing fibers, executing complex patterns. These baskets were integral to daily life—gathering, storage, cooking, ceremony—but also represented wealth and artistic achievement. Museums worldwide display Pomo baskets as masterworks.

California Genocide

California's colonization was genocidal for indigenous peoples. Spanish missions forcibly converted and confined Indians; Mexican ranchos exploited their labor. American conquest (1846-48) unleashed devastating violence. State-funded militia campaigns, bounties for Indian scalps, and settler violence killed tens of thousands. The Bloody Island Massacre (1850) saw US Army soldiers kill 60-100+ Pomo, including women and children, on Clear Lake island. The 1850s-60s were catastrophic; California's Indian population dropped from perhaps 150,000 to 30,000. Survivors were confined to rancherías (small land parcels) or worked on ranches in conditions approaching slavery.

Termination and Survival

The 1958 California Rancheria Act terminated federal recognition for many Pomo communities, ending services and selling land. This termination—intended to assimilate Indians—devastated communities. Subsequent legal battles restored some tribes; others remain terminated. Today over 20 federally recognized Pomo tribes and rancherías exist—from the Kashia Band of Pomo Indians to Hopland Band to Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians. Each maintains separate government; sizes range from tiny to several hundred members. Some have developed gaming; others remain impoverished. The multiplicity of small, separate communities reflects forced fragmentation rather than traditional political organization.

Contemporary Pomo

Modern Pomo communities pursue cultural revitalization amid challenges. Basketry survives through master weavers teaching new generations; exhibitions and sales support artists. Language programs address critical endangerment—most Pomoan languages have only elderly speakers. The annual Big Time celebrations and other gatherings maintain community connections. Environmental activism protects traditional gathering areas. Clear Lake, sacred and ecologically damaged, is focus of restoration efforts. Gaming provides revenue for some tribes. How Pomo navigate between many small, separate governments, revive basketry and language, and address environmental threats shapes these master weavers' future in their California homeland.

References

• McLendon, S. & Oswalt, R. L. (1978). "Pomo: Introduction" (Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 8)
• Sarris, G. (1994). Mabel McKay: Weaving the Dream
• Lindsay, B. C. (2012). Murder State: California's Native American Genocide, 1846-1873