Maybe not all the way back to 1849, but the story begins in 1946, when the 49ers were first founded as a football club. Thats the easiest fix there is. Like O'Loughlin, he cited the "growing epidemic of missing and murdered indigenous women across the country, across Indian country at large, and where we see these large disproportionate number of our native women and children in particular have gone missing and turned up deceased" and "the protection of native peoples' natural resources, their lands, their waters, their cultures and who they are as a people.". Is It Called Presidents Day Or Washingtons Birthday? Who are the main candidates to buy the Washington Commanders? When the AAFC folded three years later, the 49ers joined the NFL in 1950. They were founded in 1946 as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and joined the NFL in 1949 when the two merged. You have wifi. The negative news is that the teams name is still causing controversey over its negative connotations. A Warner Bros. With Montana, they became the standard against which every QB/WR duo would be judged. Credit: Spencer Weiner/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images. However, in those days, it could take as long as a year for people to get from the major population hubs on the East Coast to California. Because roughly 80% of the U.S. population was white in the 1960s, it's safe. As mentioned above, teams and broadcasters are refusing to show redface. Goats in California? But first, Taylor had to bring civil order to California, and that meant statehood. Colin Kaepernick was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1987. "It is not just heartbreaking, but it's spiritually and emotionally harmful," O'Loughlin explained. The 49ers are not the only professional franchise the York family has shaped In 1978, DeBartolo Sr. purchased the Pittsburgh Penguins of the NHL and established Denise as the owner and president of the team. Blackface has been resoundingly jettisoned from our society. While he was kept there, Sutter worked him hard and then fed him in troughs. Who is the owner of the San Francisco 49ers? Yet the reality of the men behind the legend is not quite so lovable and comic. Any able-bodied Indian who shall be found loitering and strolling about, the law decreed, shall be liable to be arrested on the complaint of any resident citizen of the county. Once arrested, the Indian would be brought before a mayor, magistrate, or county clerk and put up for auction. An arrowhead was chosen. This explains the name, but theres a lot more to delve into when it comes to the overall history of the San Francisco 49ers team. Technically, the San Francisco 49ers are registered as the San Francisco Forty Niners, but that definitely wouldnt fit on a football helmet. That was followed by the Mexican Repatriation movement in the 1920s and 1930s and Operation Wetback in the 1950s, which changed the governments target from Spanish Indians to just Mexicans. Both titles were code for ethnically cleansing brown people, many with Indigenous backgrounds and almost all with American citizenship expatriating people from the U.S. to present-day Mexico, where none of them had ever set foot. The old 49er has long been a beloved figure in the state's lore.. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Top 10: The Forty-Niners, a novel by Alan Moore and Gene Ha. The name was embodied by the teams mascot-a gold-prospector-inspired character named Sourdough Samwho has undergone several changes to his appearance over the years. We live in an age where the reality of Americas history with Indigenous people is easily accessible from the people living through the fallout of that history. Think pieces are being written on liberal and conservative outlets. And it didnt end there. They already have the mascot in place. Pro Football Network, LLC. The California Gold Rush began in 1848 but it took a year for the word to get out, and soby the time 1849 rolled around, thousands of fortune hunters had arrived in Northern California to mine for gold. The 49ers were founded in 1946, and hold the distinction of beingthe first major league professional sports franchisebased in San Francisco. Companies are refusing to broker Redskins merchandise. Origin and meaning, San Fran's defense shuts down Stafford and Rams. Half of them will be rooting for a team represented by a genocidal land thief known as Sourdough Sam. The reality of the early gold-rush prospectors was not nearly as benevolent as the mascots wide smile may suggest. Again, confirming bigoted and lets be honest, Hollywood reinforced images of what the average American perceived all Indigenous people to be. Still, seeing someone in redface or a fake headdress denotes colonial bigotry. It was a single-generation system. His diverse interests are reflected in his interviews including: President Jimmy Carter (1977-1981), Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak (1999-2001), animal scientist and autism activist Temple Grandin, inventor Ern Rubik, comedian Bill Burr ("F Is for Family"), novelist James Patterson ("The President's Daughter"), epidemiologist Monica Gandhi, theoretical cosmologist Janna Levin, voice actor Rob Paulsen ("Animaniacs"), mRNA vaccine pioneer Katalin Karik, philosopher of science Vinciane Despret, actor George Takei ("Star Trek"), climatologist Michael E. Mann, Washington Gov. Chances are that football fans may be rooting for (or against) the team without really thinking about how odd of a name that is. As soon as he could, he escaped and with his family hid in the mountains." Zachary Taylors Indian affairs commissioner embraced reservations as the answer to the Indian problem in the West. And arguments are sure to break out between young and old family members at Super Bowl parties in Missouri and the Bay Area. Moreover, the eastern reaches of Missouri were home to one of the more advanced agricultural and metal-working societies on the planet around 1500. Lets end by taking this out of the theoretical. Jay Inslee (2013-present), dog cognition researcher Alexandra Horowitz, Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson (2012, 2016), comedian and writer Larry Charles ("Seinfeld"), Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Lieberman (2000), Ambassador Michael McFaul (2012-2014), economist Richard Wolff, director Kevin Greutert ("Saw VI"), model Liskula Cohen, actor Rodger Bumpass ("SpongeBob Squarepants"), Senator John Hickenlooper (2021-present), Senator Martin Heinrich (2013-present), Egyptologist Richard Parkinson, Rep. Eric Swalwell (2013-present), Fox News host Tucker Carlson, actor R. J. Mitte ("Breaking Bad"), theoretical physicist Avi Loeb, biologist and genomics entrepreneur William Haseltine, comedian David Cross ("Scary Movie 2"), linguistics consultant Paul Frommer ("Avatar"), Maryland Gov. The wretched remnant which escapes starvation on the one hand, and the relentless whites on the other, only do so to rot and die of a loathsome disease, the penalty of Indian association with frontier civilization, Beale wrote. On Monday, 24-year-old Baker posted a . Wolf, was introduced. The "49ers" is the nickname for those who flocked to northern California in 1849 hoping to take advantage of the gold rush. Jul 19. All Rights Reserved. This is only a fraction of racist history of the team, and . The San Francisco 49ers are trying to identify the fan who sent profanely racist messages to a player from a rival team in an effort to ban the person from games and events. This slave trade lasted well into. Bezos, Fertitta. This is the history you need to know to understand exactly who you are. The precedent was set by a Swiss immigrant named John Sutterwho ventured to California in 1841, and was followed by others who attempted to make their fortune in the so-called Wild West. And then, I have to ask, are we so blind to our own history that we want to cheer on a team that is, at the very least, covering up genocide and, at the very worst, celebrating one? The origin of the Kansas City Chiefs' team name may not be what you think: The team was named after former Kansas City mayor H. Roe Bartle. The 49ers is the nickname for those who flocked to northern California in 1849 hoping to take advantage of the gold rush. The idea of the Indian reservation continued to evolve in the nations capital. O'Loughlinnoted that "there's a lot of oil companies who've come into areas of Indian country where they have these man camps, and there's a lot of girls that have gone missing, [and] there's no data, law enforcement doesn't respond or act.". The influx of opportunists was a boon for Californias economy, and hastened its admittance into the union in 1850. The wars between the U.S. and the settlers who wouldnt stop moving west and the Kiowa, Missouri, Osage, Kansa, Pawnee, and Arapaho nations in the 1800s were famously brutal. It wasnt until Jim Harbaugh took over the reins as head coach that the 49ers returned as one of the top teams in the NFL. Lets dive right into why this name is baffling. (Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images/NFL/Salon), ------------------------------------------, exploited, enslaved and even murdered the indigenous people in what's now the state of California, 80 percent of California's Native Americans were wiped out, April Moore from the Nisenan Maidu told PBS. Fake buckskin drums. Just where did the Rams get their name? The indigenous population of California went from more than 200,000 . Its the U.S.s responsibility to educate people on this but some of that falls on you, too. As bad as invoking the 49ers as a sports team may be, though, the Kansas City Chiefs are even worse. The All-American Football League would end up dissolving and merging with rival the National Football League after the teams first season, along with teams like the Baltimore Colts and Cleveland Browns. The Anaheim Mighty Ducks, anyone? Who is Zuri Hall? Aaron Rodgers reaches 500 career touchdowns, to kill Native American men and seize women and children, How did the Los Angeles Rams get their name? What Makes it So Hot? However, it was a far cry from the dominance of the 80s and early 90s. Copyright 2023 Salon.com, LLC. Campbell also expressed concern about a number of issues which impact Native American communities. The 49ers, most of whom were men, came from the eastern United States as well as other parts of the globe, including Europe, China, Mexico and South America. Complete with pickaxe, he looks every bit the part of the classic prospector. Only weeks into the job, a heartsick Beale wrote to Lea, his boss, describing the desperate situation. What is a caste system and how do they work? A relic of the stone age which, yes, represented weaponry used during the previous millennia but also helped solidify in peoples minds that the Indigenous people of the western plains were stone-age savages. San Francisco 49ers v Chicago Bears Nick Bosa has been at the center of a social media storm ever since footage emerged of him ignoring an African-American fan in the stands. Names like the Giants, Jaguars, or Cowboys are generally pretty self-explanatory in terms of connotations. Sourdough Sam has been the teams rootin tootin unblinkin mascot since the 1970s (though the image of a wily, trigger-happy prospector goes back to the early days of the team). The 49ers theme also ties in with Californias nickname as The Golden State. Some have called for a change to the teams name in recent years. A century after the Gold Rush, the 49ers were. And building a better future. Chapter 133s most abhorrent clause stated, In no case shall a white man be convicted of any offence upon the testimony of an Indian, or Indians. With those 20 words, California effectively legalized the rape, robbery, and murder of any Native American within the boundaries of the state. The Super Bowl is coming up, and in these days of anticipation we often get so caught up worrying about little things like What teams are playing? and Whos going to win? that we lose sight of the bigger question: Why on earth are the San Francisco 49ers called the San Francisco 49ers? A lot of the people who first came to the region would end up being known as 49ers as a result. DeBartolo Jr. gave up his ownership stake in 2000, transferring it to his sister Denise. The protests of Californias white men, however, drowned out Leas tepid advocacy. To his credit, current California Governor Gavin Newsom recently took one of the first steps to acknowledge the facts of history by issuing a formal apology to the states Native American tribes. Similarly, cheering for the San Francisco 49ers after learning about the history of the California Gold Rush, in which white people oppressed and enslaved Native Americans on land that the United States had recently stolen from Mexico, means cheering for racism. Some died due to the seizure of their land, some due to disease, and many were murdered in cold blood, not only sanctioned but encouraged by California's government. They were working along the American River near what is now Coloma, California, when they cracked open a vein of gold. While other teams would end up adapting this method by putting more players on the line of scrimmage to rush the quarterback, this formation has been used in football ever since. appreciated. The 1849 Gold Rush and the Oregon Trail that fed it was an outright act of genocide. Yet as the gold became more difficult to find, the early prospectors looked for other means of support, and California offered a wealth of prime real estate. Stephen A. Douglas, the Illinois senator whose seat would later be challenged by Abraham Lincoln, proposed extinguishing Indian land ownership in the far West by establishing expansive plots of land where Indians may be permanently located and protected. (This proposal was the beginning of todays reservation system.) And so that's really where I've focused more fundamentally, is on these issues in public schools rather than with private companies.". And guess what? All rights reserved. Nowadays, when we think about the original 49ers, we imagine hardscrabble, risk-taking men expressing radical individualism,. The SF 49ers' stay at the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia between Weeks 2 and 3 contradicts the organization's statements on racism. Tom Cruise's 'ditching' of Suri showcased by Judd Apatow's 'co-parenting' joke, ex-Scientology exec says, Ask Amy: I feel guilty for not speaking up about my co-worker's activities, Ask Amy: I had a good reason not to tell my friend I was moving, Warriors 3 Things: Steve Kerr entered playoff mode before Golden State's win over Portland. When the California Gold Rush began in 1848, American football didnt exist. After a 2-14 season in 1978, he made two moves that helped reshape the team and the NFL. "Like I call myself an American Indian and I run the National Congress of American Indians. Its a nod to the past, sure, but a shitty one. All the property acquisition required was a little terrorism practiced on the countrys original inhabitants. Well, before we start discussing the topic, lets first recognize that a caste system is [], (Last Updated On: July 28, 2020) Youve probably heard this in reference to movies with absurdly poor writing. The wide receiver generated a lot of offseason chatter by expressing his displeasure regarding his contract . Political symbolism in sports doesn't stop with the Olympics and the Jackie Robinson story. FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo (10) acknowledges the fans as he exits the field to the locker room following the NFC Divisional Round playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings. If they win it all, they will tie with the New England Patriots for the most Super Bowl victories in NFL history. The area consisted of several hundred Americans; about 6,500 Californios (people of Spanish or Mexican descent); and roughly 150,000 Native Americans. Why Is it Called Death Valley? It was a single-generation system. Even in that image above, from a Chicago Blackhawks game, shows a single fan in a sea of fans who are not in fake headdresses. Being unseen or unconsidered on the national stage is clearly harming the Indigenous community. ", Allis said that these things could be used either ceremonially or before someone went off to battle and added "it kind of portrays an image of a warrior savage. Just like Warriors and Indians may not be offensive," Kevin Allis, the CEO of the National Congress of American Indians and a member of the Forest County Potawatomi Community, told Salon. "That's just not something we talk. To a 49er miner, an Indigenous woman or child was nothing more than a pick-ax when it broke, you simply had to buy a new one. You know, you and your friends watch some dumb movie and afterwards someone calls out a plot [], (Last Updated On: August 31, 2020) Why Is it Called Death Valley? In December of 2008, John and Denise announced that Jed, their son, would become team president and operating head of the franchise while they would become co-chairpersons. So the use of the word 'American Indian' in and of itself is not necessarily problematic.". HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. The actual name "San Francisco 49ers" is relatively simple to unpack in terms of meaning, especially if you compare it to other more obscure names like the Green Bay Packers. Despite its negative history, the word is regularly used by various races. These include attacks on the Indian Child Welfare Actandthe urgent problem of overlookedmissing and murdered indigenous people. Besides the fact that it equates an entire people with crude, blind violence, the region the team calls home is particularly fraught. Is she dating Chiefs Travis Kelce? The treaty documents arrived in D.C. in early 1852. In the 1940s, when the team was founded, the idea of expanding the league that far across the country was considered a very risky move. Will it be believed that he was almost immediately released from custody, because our laws will not allow an Indian to testify against a white man? Published January 31, 2013 When the California Gold Rush began in 1848, American football didn't exist. When the NFL moved The Texans to Kansas City in the early 1960s, the team needed a new name. Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., the Mexican-American War hero Zachary Taylor swept into the White House with fresh vigor. Houston Colt .45s? Why Is The Football Team Called The 49ers? But sports are, and always have been, inherently political sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. Thousands of Americans, French, Germans, Italians, Chinese, Chileans, Englishmen, Australians, and Mexicans converged on the mines hoping to obtain wealth beyond their wildest dreams, wrote the historians Clifford Trafzer and Joel Hyer. Read: The schools that triedbut failedto make Native Americans obsolete. He was suspended in 1999, having pled guilty for failing to report felony extorsion. They would end up winning multiple Super Bowls in this era, in 1984, 1988, 1989, and 1994. With each passing day, more and more miners came to the goldfields. Jed York, the son of Denise and John, has been involved with the team after leaving his job as a financial analyst for Guggenheim Partners at their New York City offices. Why is this behavior offensive? As April Moore from the Nisenan Maidu told PBS, "this gold strike brought thousands of people from every place known to man into our traditional territory. Joey Batters, died in 1992, five years before Nick Bosa, who has helped the 49ers return to football's biggest stage, was even born. While Montgomery acknowledged that there were some "reckless adventurers" who caused "serious trouble," he reassured readers that "the stern hand of a Vigilance Committee, organized by a majority of the best citizens of San Francisco, speedily taught desperadoes and thieves that life and property must be respected.". Matthew Campbell, staff attorney at the Native American Rights Fund and enrolled member of the Native Village of Gambell on the Saint Lawrence Island in Alaska, made a similar point. In January 1848, a group of Maidu Indians were helping James W. Marshall construct a sawmill on the property of the Swiss settler John Sutter. And thats the way it needs to be described in the history books., Newsom will no doubt be donning San Francisco 49ers gear and posing with Sourdough Sam, the teams mascot, at the many Super Bowl festivities this weekend. By David Bonilla. between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City . Originally, they played at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco before relocating to Candlestick Park in 1970. Land losses were near total. Some four or five Indians were present, witnesses to the transaction, and they pursued the murderer, caught him and carried him before a magistrate. Its called a genocide, Newsom said. This is a team that is named after a Native American position of authority, features an arrowhead on their helmets andplays at a facility called Arrowhead Stadium. But fans and consumers have the power to convince NFL team owners to do the right thing. As American history textbook author David Henry Montgomery wrote ratherromantically in 1899, they are remembered as people who "with pan and shovel" managed to "give us firm possession of the Pacific coast, since it rapidly settled the wilderness of California with a population of energetic and determined men." 2. Denises father, Edward DeBartolo Sr., purchased the organization for $13 million in 1977. Prove it by playing this quiz. Under Edward, the franchise became a juggernaut. Come game time, an expected global audience of 100 million people will tune in to see the 49ers take on the Chiefs. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Essentially, the question at the root of the issue boils down to this: Why is it still okay for Americans to wear redface and mock Indigenous pain in 2020? Suppose their fans did the same thing to the pigs as they did to Native Americans. In 1991, she made history, presiding over the 1990-1991 championship season, becoming just the third woman to serve as the president of a Stanley Cup-winning team. And yes, it all connects: According to legend, French prospectors were the first to bring the chewy, tangy sourdough recipe to northern California during the gold rush, and it was first popularized in San Franciscos Boudin Bakery in you guessed it 1849. The rest was history. Laws were passed that made it possible for whites to kidnap Native American children or arrest Native Americans for minor crimes and then force them to work off their fines, resulting in effective servitude. The influx of opportunists was a boon for California's economy, and. The San Francisco 49ers drafted Ohio State pass rusher Nick Bosa with the second overall pick of the 2019 NFL Draft, but a number of left-leaning 49ers fans were not happy. After James W. Marshall, whod been overseeing the sawmills construction, found the gold nuggets he and his boss, John Sutter, attempted to keep the discovery a secret. President James Polk started the Mexican-American War, which conquered most of the west,in order to turn America into a Western Hemispheric empire and provide more land for southern slaveowners, with the latter motive prompting such concern among opponents of slavery that it eventually led to the formation of the Republican Party. Of the 32 teams in the NFL, two of three teams with overtly and covertly bigoted names that target Indigenous Americans are going to the Super Bowl. He received a Master's Degree in History from Rutgers-Newark in 2012, spoke at the Commonwealth Club of California shortly after Jan. 6th and is the recipient of a 2022 science journalism fellowship from the Metcalf Institute. Besides, would a single person in Kansas City be any less stoked if the Kansas City Wolves were going to the Super Bowl? The Sporcle Guide on How to Disable Your Ad Blocker, 24 of the Best Sites to Kill Time On the Internet, 101 More Interesting Trivia Facts That Will Blow Your Mind. So heres some insight on why the are called the 49ers. The influx of opportunists was a boon for Californias economy, and hastened its admittance into the union in 1850. That, to me, provides some hope. Murder did the rest. In just four years, Harbaugh left the 49ers as one of their most successful head coaches. NFL Scouting Combine records: 40-yard dash, best vertical jump, bench press, 3-cone drill. (The Kansas City Chiefs may have changed their mascot from an Indian to a Wolf decades ago, but the name, chants, and symbolism are still offensive to many Native Americans.). A franchise rich in tradition and success spanning several decades, the San Francisco 49ers are one of the pillars of the NFL. Race is an issue that defines our nation. So, if your football festivities seem to be lagging on Super Bowl Sunday, feel free to whip out some of these facts and launch into a detailed conversation about bread. The average American simply has no clue to the horrific nature of the actions taken by the United States and its citizens against Indigenous people from sea-to-shining-sea. In 1978, DeBartolo Sr. purchased the Pittsburgh Penguins of the NHL and established Denise as the owner and president of the team. California, at this time, was still a part of Mexico, but in just a few days, the United States and Mexico would sign the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending their two-year war and transferring a huge swath of territoryincluding present-day Californiato the Americans. Updated They're suffering from being in a community where they see that that behavior is OK.", O'Loughlin also noted that there are a lot of pressing issues facing modern Native American communities that get overlooked, even as our culture focuses on offensive simplifications about Native American peoples. Alcohol and weapons were everywhere, and violence often erupted. Rejecting the treaties, Lea wrote, would be hazardous and unwise., Read: One way to help Native Americans: property rights. Political reality demands it. O'Loughlin also reflected on the fact that America's education system shortchanges Native American history, particularly in completely neglecting what has happened to indigenous communities in recent years. The actual name San Francisco 49ers is relatively simple to unpack in terms of meaning, especially if you compare it to other more obscure names like the Green Bay Packers. You Cant Use These English Words In The UK, Understanding Black History: 10 Terms That Illuminate The Black Experience In The US. The miners who arrived that year faced veryfavorable odds of getting rich. If more voices come out to protest the connotation of the franchises moniker andits relationship to the genocide that took place during this period, San Francisco might just be the next team to see a change in their name. From 1991-1998, the 49ers averaged a staggering 13 wins per season, further cementing their legacy in the pantheon of all-time dynasties in professional sports. Youll see the colorful old coot prowling the sidelines, striking poses for the television cameras and exhorting the fans to cheer. The voided agreements would not see the light of day again until 1905. Associated Press articles: Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. Let's start with the 49ers named after the Americans who came to California in 1849 during the Gold Rush specifically, and more generally after the Gold Rush pioneers since the problem with. Of all those who came to California, some 49ers grew wealthy but it was the merchantsthose that sold goods and services to the gold seekerswho typically made more money than the miners. Why is the Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier taking a break from the NFL for the 2023-24 season? That's a huge boost for the Dubs, Denver gang member gave 14-year-old permission to open fire on woman with AR-15 after fender-bender, DA alleges, In 4 years, Lori Lightfoot went from breakout political star to divisive mayor of a Chicago beset by pandemic and crime, Florida lawmakers to consider expansion of so-called dont say gay law, Drone crashes at Disneyland after hovering over visitors heads See video, Rapper Travis Scott wanted for assaulting Manhattan club sound engineer, destroying $12K in equipment, Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. Be honest, Hollywood reinforced Images of what the average American perceived all Indigenous people to.. Heartsick Beale wrote to Lea, his boss, describing the desperate situation, we imagine hardscrabble 49ers name origin racist risk-taking expressing. Sports are, and hastened its admittance into the union in 1850, San Fran 's defense shuts Stafford... 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