Owning Our Narrative → Telling the Truth in Our Own Voice → We Decide Our Future
Reclaiming Our Stories is a California Humanities initiative centering the histories, cultures, experiences, and futures of California Native peoples. Guided by a Native-led advisory committee, this initiative is shaped at every step by those whose voices, knowledge, and perspectives are at its heart.
What began as a six-part podcast, brought to life through California Native voices and the original artwork of Monica Zavala (Gabrielino/Tongva), has grown into opportunities to listen, experience, gather, learn, and bring these conversations into communities across California.
Listen
Reclaiming Our Stories: Voices of Indigenous Peoples of California
California Native people tell their own stories, in their own voices. Across six episodes, Reclaiming Our Stories takes listeners throughout California and into conversations about what it means to remember, belong, create, project, and imagine what comes next. The podcast is suitable for families and listeners of all ages, making it an accessible resource.
Meet the Storyweaver and guests whose voices and perspectives shape Reclaiming Our Stories.
Experience
Reflecting on the Land
The stories move from your headphones into a shared space.
Reclaiming Our Stories: Reflecting on the Land expands on themes from the podcast through an exhibition that explores relationships among land, memory, culture, community, and California Native life.
Now on view at the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation through December 20, 2026. Learn more about the traveling exhibit and how you can bring it to your community by visiting our partner Exhibit Envoy’s Reflecting on the Land page.
Gather
Continue the Conversation
Listening can open the door to deeper conversation.
Use Listening Together—A Companion Guide to Reclaiming Our Stories to explore questions and themes from the series with teen and young adult spaces, organizations, cultural institutions, community groups, or your own circle. To get started, consider forming a listening circle where everyone has the opportunity to share their reflections. Organizations can use the guide to facilitate intergenerational dialogues, host community forums, or incorporate discussions into existing programs and meetings. For effective facilitation, invite participants to share their personal connections to the stories, set shared agreements for respectful conversation, and encourage open-ended questions to spark meaningful exchange.
In recognition of Indigenous Peoples Day, California Humanities hosted a virtual gathering on October 13, 2026, centered on Episode 6, Futures of Sovereignty, from Reclaiming Our Stories: Voices of Indigenous Peoples of California.
The conversation explored Indigenous Futurity, including perspectives on sovereignty, community, cultural continuity, and the futures Native peoples are shaping across California.
Missed the conversation? Watch the full recording on the California Humanities YouTube channel and continue exploring the stories and perspectives shared throughout the series.
Activate
Bring Reclaiming Our Stories into Community
The Community Activation Fund supports selected California Native-led organizations, tribal governments, collectives, and eligible community partners in creating local experiences inspired by the podcast.
Awards of $1,000–$2,500 will support community activations across Northern, Central, and Southern California.
This is an invite-only nomination opportunity, with nominations opening in the fall. Eligible nominators include California Humanities Native-led Advisory Committee, episode guests, and episode six tribal singers. If you would like to learn more about the nomination process or inquire about eligibility, please contact programs@calhum.org.
Explore
Keep Learning
Continue exploring the people, places, histories, organizations, and ideas connected to each episode of Reclaiming Our Stories.
Our curated resource collection offers a starting point for learning more about topics raised throughout the series.