Post by blackcrowheart on Jan 2, 2006 22:09:08 GMT -5
Ella Rodriguez, American Indian monitor, activist
By Sukhjit Purewal
Knight Ridder
MONTEREY - When they erected the Holiday Inn in downtown San
Jose, Ella Rodriguez stood atop a heap of rubble and watched.
A Salinas resident, Ms. Rodriguez was a trailblazer, one of the
earliest monitors who looked out for American Indian burial remains during
construction projects.
``She was one of the kind they don't make anymore,'' said Gary
Breschini, a Salinas-based archaeologist who worked alongside Rodriguez
through the soil sifting and recovery of human remains on the hotel project.
Breschini described Ms. Rodriguez as dedicated, stubborn,
determined.
Ms. Rodriguez died Dec. 22 following a yearlong battle with
cancer. She was 73.
From her elementary school years in Watsonville, to her work as
a monitor and consultant on local Indian history, Ms. Rodriguez would not
allow her culture to be ridiculed or forgotten, as she described in a
one-page autobiographical narrative.
``I was always defending my Indian side against the school and
other kids,'' she wrote. ``I fought back the best I could; clothes were
ripped and teeth flew.''
Thus would go her first six or seven years in school.
The Pajaro Valley Unified School Board finally sent her off to
the Stewart Nevada Indian Trade School, just outside Carson City, Nev.,
where she attended school. Ms. Rodriguez estimated that she was about 13 at
the time.
Born in the foothills near Mount Madonna in Watsonville in 1932,
Ms. Rodriguez returned to the Central Coast after what she called her
``forced'' relocation to Nevada.
Reared as an Ohlone Costanoan, Ms. Rodriguez said that she
learned late in her life that she also had an equal amount of Esselen
ancestry.
She spent her early adult life working in agricultural fields
and canneries. That was before she was called to service by her ancestors.
In 1975, she set upon a construction site in Watsonville where a burial site
was said to exist. The developer was against preservation.
After rallying members of the American Indian Movement, Ms.
Rodriguez and the group occupied the site for three months. They were
successful in preserving a small portion of the burial ground. It was then
that Ms. Rodriguez decided to dedicate her life to preserving American
Indian remains. Two years later she descended on the Holiday Inn site. As
Breschini explained, Ms. Rodriguez's actions were controversial because it
was one of the first occasions Native Americans had asserted their rights to
burial sites.
``She wanted the heritage to be found out and passed on,'' he
said.
Among her last jobs was monitoring improvements at the Pebble
Beach Co. golf courses and several power plant projects in Santa Clara
County. Despite her defense of the burial sites, Ms. Rodriguez's own words
also demonstrate a gritty pragmatism and a recognition that cooperation was
necessary. ``It is sad that human remains have to be disturbed, but progress
is a very aggressive force and we often have to compromise,'' she had said.
Breschini and his wife and research partner, Trudy Haversat,
relied heavily on Ms. Rodriguez's experience and knowledge when they wrote
their book, ``The Esselen Indians of the Big Sur Country'' last year. ``I
could never be what she was,'' said her sister Clara Ortiz, who cared for
Ms. Rodriguez in her last year of life.
Ella Rodrigues
Born: July, 5, 1932, Watsonville
Died: Dec. 2, 2005, Elkhorn
Survived by: Her sister, Clara Ortiz of Roseburg, Ore., and
brother, Joe Williams of Roseburg.
By Sukhjit Purewal
Knight Ridder
MONTEREY - When they erected the Holiday Inn in downtown San
Jose, Ella Rodriguez stood atop a heap of rubble and watched.
A Salinas resident, Ms. Rodriguez was a trailblazer, one of the
earliest monitors who looked out for American Indian burial remains during
construction projects.
``She was one of the kind they don't make anymore,'' said Gary
Breschini, a Salinas-based archaeologist who worked alongside Rodriguez
through the soil sifting and recovery of human remains on the hotel project.
Breschini described Ms. Rodriguez as dedicated, stubborn,
determined.
Ms. Rodriguez died Dec. 22 following a yearlong battle with
cancer. She was 73.
From her elementary school years in Watsonville, to her work as
a monitor and consultant on local Indian history, Ms. Rodriguez would not
allow her culture to be ridiculed or forgotten, as she described in a
one-page autobiographical narrative.
``I was always defending my Indian side against the school and
other kids,'' she wrote. ``I fought back the best I could; clothes were
ripped and teeth flew.''
Thus would go her first six or seven years in school.
The Pajaro Valley Unified School Board finally sent her off to
the Stewart Nevada Indian Trade School, just outside Carson City, Nev.,
where she attended school. Ms. Rodriguez estimated that she was about 13 at
the time.
Born in the foothills near Mount Madonna in Watsonville in 1932,
Ms. Rodriguez returned to the Central Coast after what she called her
``forced'' relocation to Nevada.
Reared as an Ohlone Costanoan, Ms. Rodriguez said that she
learned late in her life that she also had an equal amount of Esselen
ancestry.
She spent her early adult life working in agricultural fields
and canneries. That was before she was called to service by her ancestors.
In 1975, she set upon a construction site in Watsonville where a burial site
was said to exist. The developer was against preservation.
After rallying members of the American Indian Movement, Ms.
Rodriguez and the group occupied the site for three months. They were
successful in preserving a small portion of the burial ground. It was then
that Ms. Rodriguez decided to dedicate her life to preserving American
Indian remains. Two years later she descended on the Holiday Inn site. As
Breschini explained, Ms. Rodriguez's actions were controversial because it
was one of the first occasions Native Americans had asserted their rights to
burial sites.
``She wanted the heritage to be found out and passed on,'' he
said.
Among her last jobs was monitoring improvements at the Pebble
Beach Co. golf courses and several power plant projects in Santa Clara
County. Despite her defense of the burial sites, Ms. Rodriguez's own words
also demonstrate a gritty pragmatism and a recognition that cooperation was
necessary. ``It is sad that human remains have to be disturbed, but progress
is a very aggressive force and we often have to compromise,'' she had said.
Breschini and his wife and research partner, Trudy Haversat,
relied heavily on Ms. Rodriguez's experience and knowledge when they wrote
their book, ``The Esselen Indians of the Big Sur Country'' last year. ``I
could never be what she was,'' said her sister Clara Ortiz, who cared for
Ms. Rodriguez in her last year of life.
Ella Rodrigues
Born: July, 5, 1932, Watsonville
Died: Dec. 2, 2005, Elkhorn
Survived by: Her sister, Clara Ortiz of Roseburg, Ore., and
brother, Joe Williams of Roseburg.