Benjamin Madley, a professor of history at UCLA, has presented research challenging traditional historical narratives regarding the demographic collapse of Indigenous populations in California between 1846 and 1873.
In his work, An American Genocide: The United States and the California Indian Catastrophe, 1846-1873, Madley utilizes archival records to argue that the deaths of thousands of Indigenous people during this period were not primarily the result of disease or accidental displacement. Instead, Madley asserts that the evidence points to a state-sponsored system of violence that meets the legal and historical criteria for genocide.
State-Sponsored Violence and Archival Evidence
The research focuses on the systematic nature of the killings and the role of government entities in facilitating or funding the violence. By examining official documents and testimonies from the era, Madley contends that the destruction of California’s Native populations was a deliberate policy rather than a series of isolated frontier conflicts.
This framework disputes the long-standing academic and public consensus that attributed the population decline largely to biological factors or the inevitable pressures of westward expansion. The archival data cited in the study emphasizes the intentionality of the state’s actions during the mid-19th century.
Indigenous Sovereignty and Recovery
Despite the scale of the loss documented in the 1846–1873 period, the Indigenous peoples of California have maintained a continuous presence in the region. Current efforts focus on the assertion of tribal sovereignty and the rebuilding of community structures.
These contemporary movements for sovereignty operate alongside the historical efforts to formally recognize the state-sponsored violence of the 19th century as genocide.
