In this episode we expose the ways settler colonialism, manifest destiny, and eugenics shaped the displacement and genocide of Indigenous people and influenced the development of California’s first public university. We felt it was important to contemplate these foundational events in California history, in order to properly understand the historical and political contexts from which higher education emerged in California. We will start the episode by reviewing some early Indigenous history of the place that became California, then we will discuss the policies of the State of California towards Indigenous people, from the founding of the state in 1850 through the 1880s. Next we will talk about the founding of UC Berkeley and the university’s relationship to native land theft and sovereignty. Finally we will discuss the way the me ...