GALLERY

Most of the people depicted in this scene are Indigenous (i.e. Native American Indians). They are of all ages and include females. There may be an African American man sitting over to the left. There are white men, some standing, and all are spaced around the circle.

There's an adult lying down at left. There's a white man crouching by him, seemingly in dialogue with others. A Native American child, next to the tree, peeks at the daguerreotypist. Two of the white men (in the middle closest to us, and at right) may carry weapons. There are pots and a pan to the right, so there's likely a fire. There are sluices up on the hills. The sluices indicate Gold Rush Country, and more specifically, California.

Initially, I was naïve enough to think that there was cooperation here, albeit of a patronizing nature. I wanted to believe that people were getting fed and the sick were being tended to. But colleagues pushed me to reassess. I now believe this scene depicts the taking of land in the pursuit of gold. It looks more and more like a picture of dominance. And it could very well be one of the earliest, if not the earliest photographs of the California genocide. And we all know that the genocide wasn't relegated to California; it started centuries before on the east coast.

Whatever your conclusions, this is an important American photograph.