Tuluwat Reclaimed (2023)

Sponsored by a University of California multicampus research grant called Centering Tribal Stories, this digital element features five interviews with Wiyot Tribal leaders and community members to trace the intergenerational political activism and environmental cleanup to reclaim the village of Tuluwat, the Wiyot Center of the World.

This short film illuminates the ongoing stakes and significance of the central themes of resilience, survivance, and environmental protection that weave their way through the generations since. As a community-engaged project, it takes the interests of the Wiyot Tribe as central to the discussion, particularly in relation to state, regional, and local issues related to land, climate change, and the environment.

Tribal members and community members interviewed within the film include: Prof. Cutcha Risling Baldy (Hupa/Karuk/Yurok), Kim Bergel (City of Eureka Mayor), Wiyot Tribe Chairman Ted Hernandez, Adam Canter (Wiyot Tribe Natural Resources), Jerry Rhode (local historian), Former Wiyot Tribal Chairman Cheryl Seidner, and Michelle Vassel (Cherokee Nation, Wiyot Tribe Administrator)

Michelle Hernandez (Wiyot) is a Native American and Latina filmmaker. She grew up on the Table Bluff Reservation, where she found her love for filmmaking. She has a Masters in Film and Electronic Media at American University in Washington, D.C. and a B.A. at Humboldt State in both Film and Native American Studies. Much of her work focuses on the importance of culture, traditions, and identity, as well as dealing with indigenous subjects. With her work she gives voice to stories that aren’t often told. She is the co-founder of Sugarbush Hill Productions, which she currently runs with her partner, Richie Wenzler. Her latest works include Douk and The Bartow Project.

Kathleen Whiteley (Wiyot descent) is an assistant professor in the Department of Native American Studies. Her research focuses on Native American history in California from the nineteenth century to the present, with particular emphasis on the social, legal, and gendered dimensions of Indigenous North America. Her forthcoming article in the American Historical Review titled “History on the Lost Coast: Locating Wiyot Stories of Resilience in Nancy and Matilda Spear,” uses a remarkable set of documents called the Wiyot History Papers to retell the story of the Tuluwat massacre through the perspectives of Native survivors and their descendants. This article sheds light on how the Wiyot people of coastal California survived and revived their community, illuminating how the tribal nation processed the horrors of mass violence and attempted to heal the wounds left by genocide. She is descendant of Nancy Spear’s youngest child, Flora Spear Anderson (1879–1969). Her grandfather, Waynne McLean, was an enrolled member of the Wiyot Tribe

Richie Wenzler received his MFA in Film and Electronic Media at American University and earned a double B.A. in Telecommunications and Communications & Culture at Indiana University. Currently living in the Los Angeles area, Richie co-runs Sugarbush Hill Productions with his partner, Michelle Hernandez, where he oversees the editing process of their projects, as well as a freelance editor from an assortment of projects from music videos to narrative shorts

Centered in what is now the northwest coast of California, the Wiyot people have lived amongst the fog soaked coastlines and ancient redwood trees since time immemorial. Wiyot traditional homelands are bound by Wiya't (Eel River), Wigi (Humboldt Bay), and Baduwa't (Mad River).

Wiyot homelands are a geographically and ecologically diverse region. In addition to river and coastal ecosystems, forested and grassland regions can also be found.

A film screening and panel discussion of Tuluwat Reclaimed was presented Cal Poly Humboldt in December 2023.

Storymap created by Lindsey Abernathy (Wiyot), graduate student at UC Davis and GSR for Dr. Kathleen Whiteley