discussed in the introduction to the lecture this week, California Missions have a long history of
being romanticized and oversimplified. The goal of this Primary Source Discussion Board is to
delve into perspectives of people who lived on the missions, which will help us construct a more
nuanced picture of the historical realities of mission life.
Before continuing with this discussion, please make sure you have read Chapters 4 and 5 of
California: A History, the additional secondary reading, “The Indians of San Diego Say No!”, and
the portion of this week's lecture about California missions. This information will provide crucial
background that you will need for a thorough analysis of the documents.
The first document below is an excerpt from Gaspar De Portola's diary, where he described his
journey with Junipero Serra to establish missions in California. While Portola himself was not a
missionary, and did not live on a mission, his perspective helps us see the circumstances
surrounding their establishment. The next two documents provide two perspectives of the
Indigenous uprising at the San Diego Mission, described in the additional chapter you were
assigned this week. Father Luis Jayme was one of the priests at the San Diego Mission, and the
excerpt from one of his letters shows the impact of Spanish soldiers' violent behavior, and
Jayme's evaluation of present efforts to convert Indigenous people. The following letter by
Father Junipero Serra was written to Spanish military governor Bucareli, detailing the
destruction of the San Diego Mission and murder of Father Jayme. Here we see Serra ask for
mercy for Indigenous people involved in the uprising, while simultaneously asking for more
military support for the missions.
The fourth source provides a rare Indigenous perspective of mission life (on the linked
webpage, be sure to start where the page says "Excerpt from Pablo Tac’s Account." If you want
to read the background information above the excerpt, you are welcome to, but that is not part
of the primary source). Pablo Tac was born on a mission in the 1820s, so after the missions had
been operational for several decades. Tac later traveled to abroad in the Americas and Europe,
and wrote down his recollections of mission life prior to his death at the age of 19. His account
provides a unique window into the daily rhythms of mission life, and the perspective of a
neophyte inhabitant. The last account, another one by a Franciscan priest, focuses on the life
and customs of Indigenous people living on San Juan Capistrano's mission. Father Boscana's
account provides details of Indigenous life, but all filtered through the priests own perspectives
and prejudices. His account gives us insight into how Franciscan friars viewed the people they
were tasked with converting and assimilating.
Directions:
For this assignment students must choose one document from the list below and write an Initial
Post describing and analyzing the document. Please read all the documents before choosing
which one you want to write about! Your initial post must be submitted by Thursday at 11:59pm.
Each initial post must be at least 300 words.
Each initial post must have a topic sentence typed at the top of the response. This topic
sentence should give your classmates the "thesis" of your response, indicating which
topic/document you are writing about and the main idea of your post. This is not a title for your
response, and should not repeat the title of the textbook section/document. The words in the
topic sentence do not count toward the 300 word total.
Each initial post should introduce your document and discuss your analysis of the document
and its historical significance. You should use the questions listed under each document to
guide your analysis, but you are not required to answer all questions in your response. Also, the
purpose of your post is not to summarize the document, but to contextualize the document and
explain its meaning and historical significance to your peers.
Do not repeat information your peers have already posted on or discussed! Please pick a
document no one has written about yet (unless all documents have already been chosen), and
add something new to the conversation. If another peer has already written about the document
you have chosen, try to add some original analysis or information to help build productive
discussion.
Citations showing where you are gathering your information from are optional. But posts without
proper citations will not receive top scores, and you may only use sources provided in the
course. For a refresher on how to cite sources for this course, please visit the citation page in
the Orientation Module.
You may submit your initial post after the Thursday deadline - but 10 points will automatically be
deducted for late submission after the grace period (see rubric below).
Two responses to the Discussion Board are due by Sunday at 11:59pm. Please review the
instructions for Primary Sourse Discussion Boards and the rubric for the assignment for more
information.
General Rules and Tips for the Textbook/Document Discussions:
Rules for academic integrity and plagiarism apply to all posts.
Remember, the goal of this assignment is historical discussion. Connections to present day are
great, but they should not make up the majority of your response.
You may incorporate quotes from the documents as evidence, but the majority of your posts
should be in your own words.
Remember the rules of Nettiquette!
Any technical difficulty experienced by a student will not be an accepted excuse for late or
incomplete work, unless PCC/Canvas is responsible. The Canvas time stamp is the official
measure of all due dates and times and not a student’s computer. Keep that in mind!
Documents:
There are discussion questions included for each document. These questions are meant to help
guide your reading and analysis, and you may use one of these questions as a jumping off point
for your post. You are not required to answer the questions, and posts should aim to provide
cohesive discussion and analysis
注：本栏目重在收集一些海外留学文书的题目，以便加加留学编辑深入了解海外教育方式与发展形势，从而拓展个人陈述、推荐信等文书的写作思路。
