The Yurok Tribe is the largest Native American group in California, historically relying on fishing, hunting, and gathering. They have a rich cultural tradition, but suffered greatly from disease and slaughter during the California Gold Rush. The tribe is dedicated to protecting the environment and revitalizing their language and culture, which is gravely endangered.
The Yurok Tribe are a Native American people of Northern California, currently living in Del Norte County and Humboldt County. They are currently the largest Native American group in the State of California. While Yurok means “valley people,” the tribe historically called Oohl, or “Indian people.”
Historically, members of the Yurok tribe were fishermen, eels, hunters and gatherers, who relied on the natural environment. Acorns and salmon were the main staples of the Yurok diet. Indians also made canoes and baskets from natural materials, and family homes, menstruation huts, and women’s menstruation huts from fallen redwood trees.
The Yurok Indians used dental shells, collected from the ocean, as currency, and men tattooed their arms to indicate the length of the strings of dental shells they possessed. Traditional dress included a buckskin loincloth and moccasins for men and heavily decorated knee-length buckskin skirts for women. The Yurok tribe also has a rich cultural tradition, including traditional healers and annual ceremonies such as the White Deerskin Dance, Jump Dance and Brush Dance.
The Yurok tribe did not have much contact with Europeans during the Mission Period of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, but lost 18% of their population to disease and slaughter due to the influx of settlers during the California Gold Rush of 1975 In 75, the remaining members of the tribe were relocated to the Yurok Indian Reservation on the Klamath River. In the late 19th century, Yurok children were moved to various reservations and educational institutions to be educated in the missionary style, which suppressed their language and cultural traditions, often through abuse.
There are currently just under 5,000 registered members of the Yurok tribe, with just over 1,000 living on the reservation. The poverty rate on the reservation is extremely high, at 80%. The Yurok tribe is dedicated to protecting the natural environment and revitalizing their language, religion, and cultural traditions to address the damage perpetrated by non-Indian settlers and 19th-century educational programs.
The Yurok language belongs to the Algic family and is related to Algonquian languages such as Blackfoot and Cree. It is gravely endangered, with only 11 native speakers. However, there are approximately 300 core speakers as a result of revitalization efforts, aided by the Native American Administration (ANA) since 1996. There are a growing number of language classes available to members of the Yurok tribe, and the revitalization program makes use of modern technologies such as Internet sites and digital media.
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