Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir

Inside the Spanish missions, alcaldes were Indigenous leaders who received special favor from the Spaniards in exchange for helping keep other Indigenous people in line—for instance, by carrying out punishments when necessary. One of Miranda’s ancestors served as an alcalde, which might explain why the Mexican government granted him the land that became Rancho El Potrero, later stolen from the family under American rule.

Established in 1770 by Father Junipero Serra, the Carmel Mission served as headquarters for all 21 Spanish missions in California. Through her paternal grandfather, Miranda traces her ancestry to the Esselen group who lived at this mission.

Both an official term and derogatory epithet for Indigenous people in northern California during and after the 1849 Gold Rush, “Digger” appears as an official term in US government documents, though it is now considered offensive. Miranda includes images of “Digger Belles,” sketches or photographs of 19th-century Indigenous women. She also includes a newspaper entry celebrating the burning-in-effigy of the “Digger” name in 1922, when the US government accepted “Miwok” as the appropriate tribal name for official communications.