Colonial Legacy: the Museum's facade

Indigenous sovereignty, knowledge, and requests were largely silenced and ignored by the Museum during its first 100 years.

The Museum recognizes that throughout its history the voices and realities of Kumeyaay peoples, and over one thousand additional global Indigenous communities, were disregarded to perpetuate dominant historical narratives that upheld colonial and racist ways of thinking.

We have reinforced colonial power and prejudice by primarily including one-sided narratives grounded in centering Euro-American historiography.

Uplifting the dominant Euro-American narratives surrounding the nine men depicted on the building is but one of the many ways we have engaged in this practice, intentionally and unintentionally. We are committed to being a better museum for our community and for future generations.

Please join us as we talk more about the history of the California Building, and open a window into the histories of the nine colonizers etched into its’ façade.*

*additional educational resources, and several of our sources for this content, are present at the end of the exhibition

The California Building is owned by the City of San Diego. The building is comprised of a main structure, with its ornately tiled dome and tower, and three wings which surround the California Plaza.

On May 17, 1974, the building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places as a part of the California Quadrangle.

For more information on historical sites in California, please visit California Historical Resources  

The California Building was constructed as the primary entry point for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition.

The land was not barren or deserted. The development associated with the Panama-California Exposition dispossessed and displaced Indigenous communities living in the area to build Balboa Park.

For more information about the exposition please visit the San Diego History Center's website on the Panama-California Exposition.

Bertram Goodhue's design is a significant representation of structures that commemorate the Spanish colonial legacy of oppression in the Americas.

The Roman Catholic Church was one of the strongest leaders in perpetuating colonization in the Americas. Due to this history, Catholic structures symbolize colonial expansion fueled by the 1493 Doctrine of Discovery.

This religious policy established a spiritual, political, and legal justification for the colonization and seizure of land not inhabited by Christians.

Before we begin, please take a moment to look at this timeline to get a better understanding around when these nine men lived.


Although there are several decades separating half of them, their impact on the Pacific coast and their colonial legacies are intertwined.



















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On July 16, 1769, with extreme force, he established the first San Diego Mission, the San Diego Mission de Alcalá.

Junípero Serra, with his allied missionaries and Spanish military, savagely forced Kumeyaay people to build the San Diego Mission de Alcalá.

Approximately six miles from this Junípero Serra statue in Monterey, California, Mission San Carlos Borroméo de Carmelo (also called Mission Carmel) was founded in 1770.

Mission Carmel was the second mission established by Junípero Serra. It was his personal favorite for its beauty and peaceful location.

However, peaceful was not the experience of every resident. French navigator, Jean-François de La Pérouse wrote about how the Carmel Mission resembled the grim slave plantations throughout the West Indies Islands. Indigenous men and women were in irons and locked in stocks. The violent sounds of punishing whip strikes were frequent.

Serra wrote frequently in his journals about how spiritual fathers should punish their sons, the Indians, with blows.

Junípero Serra’s singular purpose was to "save heathen souls." Once baptized, Indigenous people belonged to the church. The Church took ownership over their lives and future.

Franciscan missionaries could not legally buy and sell Indigenous people as enslaved property.

However, trading an Indigenous life for another Indigenous life to be used as exploited “unfree labors” was legal. Some scholars refer to this as “slavery without the monetary sell of the individual.”

Enslaved Indigenous people were beaten, tortured, traded, and forced to build and maintain the structures needed to advance the Franciscan's colonial endeavor.

Despite his genocidal actions, Junípero Serra was controversially canonized by Pope Francis in 2015, and is now listed as a Catholic Saint.

During the reign of King Charles V, the Spanish territories in the Americas were considerably expanded by merciless conquistadores like Hernán Cortés and Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo.

Fulfilling King Charles V’s vision, and gaining fame and fortune fueled Conquistador Hernán Cortés.

Cortés was the first of many conquistadors who led expeditions into the Americas. The King's conquistadors barbarically conquered the Aztec and Inca empires in the 1500s.

Indigenous people were captured, skinned alive, publicly tortured, and burned at the stake – all were means the conquistadors used to convert them to Christianity.

The encomienda system, which enslaved Indigenous peoples globally, made Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo one of the richest conquistadors.

As an example of this system, Indigenous men were kidnapped and enslaved to mine for silver and to build ships in Guatemala and Honduras.


In the case of Cabrillo, Indigenous women and young girls were kidnapped, enslaved, raped, and used as payment to his soldiers and sailors.

In 1915, the Cabrillo Bridge was named to honor Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo’s legacy.

Similarly, in 1948, the Cabrillo Freeway (which runs through Balboa Park, under the Cabrillo Bridge) was named to honor his legacy.

In the late 60s, the highway's name was changed to California State Route 163.

King Philip III married the Austrian Archduchess Margaret, who was a devout Catholic and a lover of art.

Phillip III followed in King Charles V's footsteps, aiming to continue the growth and control of the Catholic Church in Spain and beyond.

Because of this, he expelled the Spanish Moriscos (Spanish Muslim) peoples from their homeland of Spain. Displacing them to Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria.

During the reign of Philip III, Indigenous peoples continued to revolt against Spanish oppression. In an effort to exert control, he lifted previous proscriptions against enslaving Indigenous peoples captured in war. Thus, enabling unrestricted kidnapping and enslavement of the Mapuche people of Chile.

He also commissioned the voyage of Don Sebastián Vizcaíno and Fray Antonio de la Ascensión, tasking them to return with detailed maps, charts, and journals of the Pacific coast north of Baja.

They were tasked to make minimal contact with the Indigenous peoples, unless the Natives presented as enemies to the Spanish Crown.

The name San Diego was chosen as the name of the port to honor both his flagship and the feast of San Diego de Alcalá.

Sebastián Vizcaíno changed the names of areas across the California coast from the Indigenous names, in order to exert Spanish colonial rule and erase the Indigenous peoples' territorial claim.

Sebastián Vizcaíno’s maps and charts of the California coast were very detailed, which paved the way for the Franciscan Missionary expansion led by Junípero Serra and Gaspar de Portolà.

These documents were also later used by the British and Dutch colonizers eager to settle and exploit Indigenous land.

Antonio de la Ascensión's journals featured descriptions of the local Indigenous populations.

Antonio de la Ascensión wrote from a Spanish colonial perception (not from the Indigenous peoples perspective) on the beliefs and cultural practices of Luiseño, Cahuilla, Cupeño, Kumeyaay, Gabrielino-Tongva, Ajachemen, Northern Diegueño, and other Indigenous groups he encountered – many of these Indigenous communities continue to live in California today.

Antonio de la Ascensión’s writings included an in-depth set of sailing directions, which were copied by map and chart makers in Amsterdam and London.

The maps and charts made from Antonio de la Ascensió’s journals, became a catalyst in expanding accessibility to the Americas for other European colonial settlers.

Luís Jayme led the mission's efforts to capture and convert Indigenous communities in Southern California.

Many Kumeyaay people began to move further inland in a concerted effort to get away from Mission San Diego’s kidnappings.

They were also trying to escape Spanish soldiers who were violently attacking and sexually assaulting Indigenous women and children in the villages.

Luís Jayme expanded their conversion efforts farther inland, following the Kumeyaay peoples.

Jayme’s actions further enabled the kidnapping, rape, and enslavement of Kumeyaay peoples, and expanded the displacement of Kumeyaay families from their original homelands.

The actions of Luís Jayme and the Spanish military increased Kumeyaay anger towards the mission. As a result, Kumeyaay increasingly resisted baptism and attacked the colonizers.

In 1775, six hundred Kumeyaay warriors attacked the Mission San Diego in resistance of the missions’ enslavement system, the perpetual sexual assaults on Indigenous women and children, and the relentless stealing of land by priests and soldiers.

During the revolt, Kumeyaay warriors seized Luís Jayme, and shot approximately eighteen arrows into his body. His face was smashed until it was unrecognizable.

In 1768, Gaspar de Portolà led the expedition to establish Alta California, the Spanish mission settlements across California.

Junípero Serra envisioned Alta California as a means to accomplish the mission of saving heathen souls and claiming land for Spain.

The expedition began in the Baja California area, continued up to San Diego, and ended in the San Francisco Bay area.

Gaspar de Portolà partnered with Junípero Serra to convert and displace Indigenous peoples along the Pacific coast. Portolà was in charge of the military aspects of conquest, while Serra took the lead on the religious aspects of conquest.

Some of the Indigenous communities they encountered were (but not limited to) the Luiseño, Cahuilla, Cupeño, Kumeyaay, Tongva, Ajachemen, Serrano, Chumash, and Halchidhoma. Many of these communities continue to live on their traditional homelands to this day.

Under Gaspar de Portolà and Junípero Serra leadership, the priests used barbaric methods to forcibly convince Indigenous peoples to convert to Catholicism.

These methods consisted of sexual assault, body mutilation, starvation, whipping, killing a person's loved one, and burning homes or villages.

Indigenous men, women, and children were kidnapped from their homes and forced to live and work in the Spanish missions.

Under Gaspar de Portolà's leadership, Spanish soldiers would lasso Indigenous men, women, and children and drag them behind their horses until they were too weak to fight.

George Vancouver capitalized off of the deaths of Indigenous people, by seizing land where the smallpox epidemic weakened and decimated Indigenous communities.

He claimed the Indigenous territory for the British Crown and created pathways for British colonial settlement.

George Vancouver wrote detailed journals and surveys about Indigenous people along the Pacific coast.

From a British perspective, he described Indigenous trading routes, burial rituals, Spanish relationships, and cultural demeanor.

He also actively recorded the deadly effect that the smallpox epidemic had on Indigenous populations, ensuring to mark the locations of each community affected.

George Vancouver’s maps, charts, and various documents were later used by other European colonial settlers eager to claim Indigenous land and start a new life.

George Vancouver believed the land along the Pacific coast was among the most beautiful and valuable in the world.

He wrote about how he felt it only needed “to be enriched by the industry of man with villages, mansions, cottages and other buildings.”


His propaganda further contributed to the displacement, dispossession, and genocide of Indigenous peoples.

This is a small window into the colonial legacy that each of these nine men embody. Their impact on the lives of Indigenous peoples and non-Indigenous peoples in San Diego and beyond continues to this day.

Our hope is that you all will continue to learn more about the history of California and the resiliency of Indigenous peoples by engaging with the reflection questions and the resources on the next two slides.

Five Reflection Questions:

1. (a) We all live on Indigenous peoples' land, and Indigenous peoples still live and steward these lands. What Indigenous tribe or nation’s traditional homeland do you live on?
*If you are unsure about where to find out whose Indigenous homeland you live on, please visit: Native-Land.ca

(b) What are some of the respectful ways that you, your friends, family, school, or workplace can acknowledge the Indigenous peoples of the land?

2. How do we continue to benefit from the displacement and dispossession of Indigenous communities?

3. (a) What buildings, place names, or statues in your area are named after people who have a colonial legacy?

(b) From what perspective has the stories about their lives been told?

(c) How do these stories primarily represent a positive portrayal and perspective of the colonizer?

(d) How do these stories acknowledge the truths and realities of Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC)?


4. How has your understanding about the history in your area been shaped by dominate narratives that center colonization?

5. Now that you know more about colonization, how can you actively do better and uplift BIPOC’s histories and voices?

For additional information and to review our sources please read:

1) A Cross of Thorns: The Enslavement of California’s Indians by the Spanish Missions written by Elias Castillo (2015), Craven Street Books, Linden Publishing Inc.

2) California’s First Mass Incarceration System: Franciscan Missions, California Indians, and Penal Servitude, 1769 – 1836 written by Benjamin Madley (2019), Pacific Historical Review, Vol. 88.

3) Reconstructing the Past: Historical Interpretations and Native Experiences at Contemporary California Missions written by Michelle Lorimer (2013), UC Riverside, Electronic Dissertations.

4) Converting California: Indians and Franciscans in the Missions written by James Sandos (2008), Yale University Press.

5) Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir written by Deborah Miranda (2013), Hayday.

6) The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America written by Andrés Reséndez (2017), Mariner Books.