People of the West
Season - Episode
-
1 - 1First Contact Jan 01, 1970 -
1 - 2Spanish Missions Jan 01, 1970 -
1 - 3Gold Rush Jan 01, 1970 -
1 - 4Genocide Jan 01, 1970 -
1 - 5Reservations Jan 01, 1970 -
1 - 6Boarding Schools Jan 01, 1970 -
1 - 7The American Dream Jan 01, 1970 -
1 - 8Red Power Jan 01, 1970 -
1 - 9Gaming Jan 01, 1970 -
1 - 10The Next Generation Jan 01, 1970
Overview
People of the West is a ten-part premium documentary series that reclaims the history of California through Indigenous perspectives. Blending oral histories, tribal archives, expert insight, and cinematic recreations, the series spans from creation stories and pre-contact life through colonization, state-sponsored violence, resistance, and cultural survival. Each episode centers Native voices and lived experience, reframing well-known events—from the mission system and Gold Rush to Alcatraz and modern sovereignty movements—through those who endured them. Visually ambitious and emotionally grounded, the series pairs sweeping landscapes with intimate storytelling to reveal California as it has always been: Native land. Designed to live both on screen and in classrooms, People of the West offers a corrective to dominant narratives while highlighting the resilience, continuity, and contemporary presence of Native nations shaping the state today.