Not because of some left/right or politically correct/progressive agenda. ", Allis said that these things could be used either ceremonially or before someone went off to battle and added "it kind of portrays an image of a warrior savage. The San Francisco 49ers are trying to identify the fan who sent profanely racist messages to a player from a rival team in an effort to ban the person from games and events. I felt like the 49ers hierarchy left me.. President Millard Fillmore, Taylors successor, appointed a superintendent of Indian affairs for California, a man named Edward Beale, and charged him with moving the states remnant Native American population onto reservations that encompassed roughly one-one-hundredth of the statenot the one-seventh promised. So does the tomahawk chop. Montgomery conveniently left out the mistreatment of non-whites in California; indeed, one could read that section of his book and not know they were even there at the time. Matthew Rozsa is a professional writer whose work has appeared in multiple national media outlets since 2012 and exclusively at Salon since 2016. Like O'Loughlin, he cited the "growing epidemic of missing and murdered indigenous women across the country, across Indian country at large, and where we see these large disproportionate number of our native women and children in particular have gone missing and turned up deceased" and "the protection of native peoples' natural resources, their lands, their waters, their cultures and who they are as a people.". This era has made the 49ers, statistically, one of the most successful teams in the NFL. This explains the name, but theres a lot more to delve into when it comes to the overall history of the San Francisco 49ers team. Thousands of Americans, French, Germans, Italians, Chinese, Chileans, Englishmen, Australians, and Mexicans converged on the mines hoping to obtain wealth beyond their wildest dreams, wrote the historians Clifford Trafzer and Joel Hyer. The NFL Has Always Been Racist. The winner that shook out was an honorific for a local mayor whose nickname was Chief. This is due to said mayor starting a Boy Scout club that ripped off Native American rituals and paired it with Hollywood-inspired iconography, but thats another fight for another day. Under Chapter 133, a white man desirous of Indian land needed only to present his request to the local justice of the peace, who would determine the minimum amount of land he reckoned a local tribe needed. 49ers get high marks for facilities, player treatment in NFLPA survey, 49ers GM John Lynch talks Purdy surgery, Lance recovery, Garoppolo exit, Brady retirement, 49ers must survey NFLs quarterback landscape at scouting combine, Mike McGlinchey soon to strike it rich, if not from 49ers then as free agent, is the nickname for those who flocked to northern California in 1849, also a kind of Olympic-style racing dinghy, team founder Tony Morabito saw opportunity where others saw uncertainty, are registered as the San Francisco Forty Niners,, French prospectors were the first to bring the chewy, tangy sourdough recipe, Dear Abby: My wife said she doesn't like it, but it's part of my life. I tend to be a glass-is-half-full kind of person. The treaty documents arrived in D.C. in early 1852. As the league prepares for the first game of the season on Thursday, an N.F.L. The teams mascot was a gold miner named Sourdough Sam (pictured above). Remember, at the time, California was a relatively undiscovered Western territory, not the massive cosmopolitan state we know and love today. After keeping a small portion for the Indians, the justice held the power to sell or grant the excess property to any chosen white man, who could, with the same magistrates permission, kidnap Indian children and adopt themor keep the youths as unpaid houseworkers and field hands until they reached the age of majority. With each passing day, more and more miners came to the goldfields. Denises father, Edward DeBartolo Sr., purchased the organization for $13 million in 1977. These include attacks on the Indian Child Welfare Actandthe urgent problem of overlookedmissing and murdered indigenous people. Aaron Rodgers reaches 500 career touchdowns, to kill Native American men and seize women and children, How did the Los Angeles Rams get their name? The All-American Football League would end up dissolving and merging with rival the National Football League after the teams first season, along with teams like the Baltimore Colts and Cleveland Browns. These fortunate early gold miners were quickly dubbed the forty-niners. There were published reports around the country about them, and there was a book, The Forty-niners, Or, The Pioneers Daughter published in 1879. What was Georgias Jalen Carters role in a fatal car crash that killed his teammate? All rights reserved. But shortly afterward, the tomahawk chop started making its way out of Florida and catching on with teams from Cleveland to Atlanta to Kansas City. Suppose their fans did the same thing to the pigs as they did to Native Americans. appreciated. With the Chiefs specifically, the damage caused is that it disrespects Native American images and customs in front of millions of people. But, like the 49ers of the gold rush, team founder Tony Morabito saw opportunity where others saw uncertainty. The wide receiver generated a lot of offseason chatter by expressing his displeasure regarding his contract . At a time when President Donald Trump has brought vilification of Mexico to a fevered pitch in the United States, it is important to recall that the future American state was originally owned by the Mexican government. The 49ers are not the only professional franchise the York family has shaped. With Super Bowl Sunday fast approaching, the rumbles have been growing on Native Twitter. Why Do Cats Knock Things Over All the Time? So understand this: when Indigenous people see Sourdough Sam, the 49ers mascot, they may very well think of the sheer audacity it takes to whitewash an actual genocide with a smiling, blue-eyed miner rather than a folk hero. Southerners used the term for Black people who didn't "know their place" and coupled it with a racial slur. Blackface has been resoundingly jettisoned from our society. Enjoy live and on-demand online sports on DAZN. You Cant Use These English Words In The UK, Understanding Black History: 10 Terms That Illuminate The Black Experience In The US. The old 49er has long been a beloved figure in the state's lore.. Credit: Spencer Weiner/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images. Its the U.S.s responsibility to educate people on this but some of that falls on you, too. Alas.). Lets look at the NFL, for instance. Taylor and his Indian affairs advisers were excited to test an idea that had been attracting growing interest. Jay Inslee (2013-present), dog cognition researcher Alexandra Horowitz, Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson (2012, 2016), comedian and writer Larry Charles ("Seinfeld"), Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Lieberman (2000), Ambassador Michael McFaul (2012-2014), economist Richard Wolff, director Kevin Greutert ("Saw VI"), model Liskula Cohen, actor Rodger Bumpass ("SpongeBob Squarepants"), Senator John Hickenlooper (2021-present), Senator Martin Heinrich (2013-present), Egyptologist Richard Parkinson, Rep. Eric Swalwell (2013-present), Fox News host Tucker Carlson, actor R. J. Mitte ("Breaking Bad"), theoretical physicist Avi Loeb, biologist and genomics entrepreneur William Haseltine, comedian David Cross ("Scary Movie 2"), linguistics consultant Paul Frommer ("Avatar"), Maryland Gov. Legal issues were what drove DeBartolo Jr. away from the team. Despite its negative history, the word is regularly used by various races. But sports are, and always have been, inherently political sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. Lets dive right into why this name is baffling. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. The symbolism of the modern Olympics celebrates nations working together peacefully in athletic competition. Why Are They Called the San Francisco 49ers? Redface. This huge influx of new arrivals helped speed up Californias admittance to the Union as the 31st state in 1850, a mere two years after the U.S. had been awarded the territory under the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican-American War. It barely makes a blip on the national consciousness. Despite the Senates formal rejection, federal and state officials in California carried on as if the treaties were in forceand apparently nobody bothered to inform the tribes of their true status under the law. The team's name is a nod to history. The main thrust of the story is that the United States armed local militias thanks to the second amendment and sent them out on raiding parties. 49er, the lowest initiated rank in a Triad. San Francisco came up just short, losing to the Baltimore Ravens in the Harbaugh Bowl as Jims brother John coached the Ravens. (Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images/NFL/Salon), ------------------------------------------, exploited, enslaved and even murdered the indigenous people in what's now the state of California, 80 percent of California's Native Americans were wiped out, April Moore from the Nisenan Maidu told PBS. NFL players, coaches, front-office staff, and owners . A century after the Gold Rush, the 49ers were memorialized when San Franciscos first major league professional sports franchise, a football team, was named. Get Morning Report and other email newsletters. Allis added that the problem with using Native American iconography in sports, however, is that it has a psychological impact on how viewers perceive Native American communities that can be particularly harmful in school settings. Origin and meaning The San Francisco 49ers scored a stunning upset against the top-seeded Green Bay Packers, earning themselves a shot at the NFC Championship. But first, Taylor had to bring civil order to California, and that meant statehood. And the 49ers are certainly not the only professional team to use a historically problematic or controversial figure as a mascot. Well, before we start discussing the topic, lets first recognize that a caste system is [], (Last Updated On: July 28, 2020) Youve probably heard this in reference to movies with absurdly poor writing. And not anybody in an American Indian community can wear an eagle feather headdress. And building a better future. The miners who arrived in 1849 encountered a number of fortunate coincidences. Come game time, an expected global audience of 100 million people will tune in to see the 49ers take on the Chiefs. Hes often portrayed as a grizzled prospector sporting a bushy beard, a floppy felt hat, a carefree smile, and a pickax on his shoulder. The bigoted behavior is so off-putting that the team asked TV broadcasters not to show these fans. The miners who arrived that year faced veryfavorable odds of getting rich. The nation is coming to grips with that. When the white Californians heard the terms, they were outraged: Why reserve even a single acre for the Indians? Americans (of all cultural backgrounds) are woefully uneducated or, worse, miseducated about anything pertaining to Indigenous history or our modern lives. This is only a fraction of racist history of the team, and . In 1991, she made history, presiding over the 1990-1991 championship season, becoming just the third woman to serve as the president of a Stanley Cup-winning team. The Cleveland Indians have walked back from Chief Wahoo. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. California, at this time, was still a part of Mexico, but in just a few days, the United States and Mexico would sign the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending their two-year war and transferring a huge swath of territoryincluding present-day Californiato the Americans. It wasnt until Jim Harbaugh took over the reins as head coach that the 49ers returned as one of the top teams in the NFL. Houston Colt .45s? The name was in place, the team was in town, and logos needed to be made. Discovery Company. Indeed, the Gold Rush was made possible by Native Americans, including the Mewuk and Maiduwho built Sutter's Fort in what's now Sacramento. The San Francisco 49ers name, which refers to the Gold Rush, is also problematic, said Schilling, a former 49ers fan himself. After a newly constituted legislature created the governors office, a judicial system, and penalties for cattle rustling, the 49er legislators turned to the business of installing the state-fortified foundations of white supremacy. He later added, "There is a certain honor and respect within American Indian communities that attaches to that. As one Native American recalled many years later, "My grandfather was enslaved by Sutter to help in building the Fort. Congress created a new omnibus federal agencythe Department of the Interiorand transferred Indian affairs to its care from the War Department. Published January 31, 2013 When the California Gold Rush began in 1848, American football didn't exist. Hired in 2011, Harbaugh guided the 49ers to a 13-3 record in his first year, culminating in an overtime loss to the eventual Super Bowl champion New York Giants in the NFC Championship. Complete with pickaxe, he looks every bit the part of the classic prospector. Having spent most of his military career fighting Indians, Old Rough and Ready Taylor declared himself keen to move the country into an era of peace and prosperity. Again, confirming bigoted and lets be honest, Hollywood reinforced images of what the average American perceived all Indigenous people to be. We live in an age where the reality of Americas history with Indigenous people is easily accessible from the people living through the fallout of that history. And arguments are sure to break out between young and old family members at Super Bowl parties in Missouri and the Bay Area. While other teams would end up adapting this method by putting more players on the line of scrimmage to rush the quarterback, this formation has been used in football ever since. As bad as invoking the 49ers as a sports team may be, though, the Kansas City Chiefs are even worse. Stephen A. Douglas, the Illinois senator whose seat would later be challenged by Abraham Lincoln, proposed extinguishing Indian land ownership in the far West by establishing expansive plots of land where Indians may be permanently located and protected. (This proposal was the beginning of todays reservation system.) Why Both Super Bowl Team Names Should Be Replaced, GloRilla, Ice Spice, And The Carefree Black Girl Backlash, Karol G Tells Us About Her Most Personal Album Yet, Maana Ser Bonito, And Collaborating With Shakira, The Rundown: Between Cocaine Bears And Maple Syrup Heists, Margo Martindale Is Absolutely Thriving In 2023. That mascot was phased out in 1988 and a completely innocuous mascot, The K.C. Theres no way you could go wrong. Race is an issue that defines our nation. The white men of the Golden State exercised their homicidal liberty. Read: The future of Native American imagery in sports, Sutter and others tried to keep the discovery a secret, but word spread quickly, and soon the population of California swelled. While he was kept there, Sutter worked him hard and then fed him in troughs. Perhaps the clearest throwback to the inspiration, though, is the team mascot, Sourdough Sam. When it comes to the 49ers and the Chiefs, the problem is that their names, iconographiesand fan cultures play off of and in some cases trivialize real history and real suffering that has occurred and continues to occurto real people. There are history podcasts. What Do Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Ash Wednesday, And Lent Mean? SALON is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a trademark of Salon.com, LLC. So heres some insight on why the are called the 49ers. Still, seeing someone in redface or a fake headdress denotes colonial bigotry. There are more historic parallels between the team and the historical context of its name: The 49ers were the first NFL team, and, in fact, the first major professional sports team to originate on the West Coast. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. In 1978, DeBartolo Sr. purchased the Pittsburgh Penguins of the NHL and established Denise as the owner and president of the team. In 1848, at Sutters Mill, roughly 130 miles from what is now San Francisco, gold was discovered. The 49ers hired Chargers offensive coordinator Bill Walsh as head coach and drafted Notre Dame quarterback Joe Montana. But fans and consumers have the power to convince NFL team owners to do the right thing. It took until 1970 for the 49ers to win their first divisional championship. The 49ers then enacted the Act for the Government and Protection of Indians, also called Chapter 133, which, contrary to its name, stripped Californias Indians of nearly all legal protections. The team, of course, is not alone in casting the old gold miners in a friendly light. The San Francisco 49ers publicly condemned the person who sent racist messages to Arizona Cardinals safety Budda Baker and announced that they have begun an investigation into identifying the fan . What is a caste system and how do they work? Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., the Mexican-American War hero Zachary Taylor swept into the White House with fresh vigor. No other way to describe it. The 49ers won 49-26. is the nickname for those who flocked to northern California in 1849, also a kind of Olympic-style racing dinghy, team founder Tony Morabito saw opportunity where others saw uncertainty, are registered as the San Francisco Forty Niners,, French prospectors were the first to bring the chewy, tangy sourdough recipe. What happened next would become one of the lowest moments of shameless treachery in the history of the U.S. Senate. The 49ers did their part to kill off Indian chiefs and their tribes. In 2020, you dont get to play the well, I didnt know card anymore. Why is this behavior offensive? If more voices come out to protest the connotation of the franchises moniker andits relationship to the genocide that took place during this period, San Francisco might just be the next team to see a change in their name. Legendary San Francisco 49ers quarterback Steve Young plays in Super Bowl XXIX in 1995 in Miami. The Super Bowl is coming up, and in these days of anticipation we often get so caught up worrying about little things like What teams are playing? and Whos going to win? that we lose sight of the bigger question: Why on earth are the San Francisco 49ers called the San Francisco 49ers? They were relatively early compared to the competition that would follow over the next six years; they could put a pan in the river and pull out gold. Defenders of the teams and the status quo in general might be tempted to fall back on an oft-repeated line:Why can't they just leave politics out of football? Heres Our Review Of Cocaine Bear: Oh Hell Yes! When the news of gold in California became common knowledge, people started coming from all over the country in order to stake their claim. NFL Week 4 recap: From Tottenham to Tom Brady. In one of the earliest conflicts, a group of white miners from Oregon barged into the nearby Maidu hamlet, beat and shot the men, and savagely assaulted a number of the women. The 49ers were founded in 1946, and hold the distinction of beingthe first major league professional sports franchisebased in San Francisco. But, like the 49ers of the gold rush, team founder Tony Morabito saw opportunity where others saw uncertainty. Copyright 2019-2023. That was a nice step. That excuse is gone, folks. Technically, the San Francisco 49ers are registered as the San Francisco Forty Niners, but that definitely wouldnt fit on a football helmet. Lea noted, with some chagrin, that there was violent opposition to [the California treaties] in the legislature of that State, but he nonetheless requested their adoption by the U.S. Senate. Naturally, it being the 1960s, the mascot the team chose was an Indian in a loincloth and face paint with feathers riding a horse named Warpaint. But this name is part of our teams heritage! scream the bad-faith Dan Snyders of the world. Names change all the time. But, more importantly, this is about recognizing whats happening right now. As April Moore from the Nisenan Maidu told PBS, "this gold strike brought thousands of people from every place known to man into our traditional territory. The actual name "San Francisco 49ers" is relatively simple to unpack in terms of meaning, especially if you compare it to other more obscure names like the Green Bay Packers. Let's start with the 49ers named after the Americans who came to California in 1849 during the Gold Rush specifically, and more generally after the Gold Rush pioneers since the problem with their name is not as well known as the issues with the Chiefs. Youll see the colorful old coot prowling the sidelines, striking poses for the television cameras and exhorting the fans to cheer. While local white settlers awaited the territorys entry into the union, they pressed ahead with the formation of a state government. How are players selected for the NFL combine? And it didnt end there. Companies are refusing to broker Redskins merchandise. Laws by the U.S. government like Greaser Act in the 1850s sought to ethnically cleanse Spanish Indians from California. Are you an NFL fan? Surely enough, the 49ers have become one of the most successful teams in the NFL. Chapter 133s most abhorrent clause stated, In no case shall a white man be convicted of any offence upon the testimony of an Indian, or Indians. With those 20 words, California effectively legalized the rape, robbery, and murder of any Native American within the boundaries of the state. The sleeping Indians werent even members of the same Maidu tribe, but to the miners, it didnt matter: Indian was Indian. What did Georgias Nolan Smith say at the NFL Combine about the death of his teammate Devin Willock? Colin Kaepernick was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1987. What Is the Real Meaning Behind Ring Around the Rosie? However, word soon spread and by 1849 thousands of prospectors, who became known as 49ers, were flocking to Coloma, California, site of Sutters Mill, and the surrounding region, hoping to strike it rich. The 49ers returned to the NFC Championship in Harbaughs third season, making it three in a row. San Francisco's professional football team, the 49ers, was named in honor of the men who came to California during the Gold Rush. In the 1940s, when the team was founded, the idea of expanding the league that far across the country was considered a very risky move. But those aggressive gold miners would give their nickname to a football team one hundred years later. As one newspaper wrote at the time, "Whites are becoming impressed with the belief that it will be absolutely necessary to exterminate the savages before they can labor much longer in the mines with security. Rejecting the treaties, Lea wrote, would be hazardous and unwise., Read: One way to help Native Americans: property rights. If you dont live near there youve probably still heard of the environmental extreme Death Valley. There should be assigned to each tribe, for a permanent home, a country adapted to agriculture, of limited extent and well-defined boundaries, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Luke Lea wrote in his annual report of 1850. As a result of these forms of oppression, Native Americans are having trouble asserting for their rights and interests at the polls, Campbell concluded. When the team was initially founded, there werent really any other alternate name ideas. Alas.). The 49ers, most of whom were men, came from the eastern United States as well as other parts of the globe, including Europe, China, Mexico and South America. 8 of the Worst (or Weirdest) Video Game Adaptations, Sporcle Events Newsletter Bonus Questions Week of 2/27. Following an 8-8 regular season in 2014, the 49ers agreed to part ways with Harbaugh. He pointed to "the distance it takes to travel to polling locations, the distance it takes to travel to county seats to obtain voter IDs, the ability to use a tribal ID to vote, the lack of access to transportation, the lack of access to a residential address, when those are made requirements for voting." Martin O'Malley (2007-2015), computer engineer and Internet co-inventor Leonard Kleinrock and right-wing insurrectionist Roger Stone. A few days later, they killed the hostages too. Top 10: The Forty-Niners, a novel by Alan Moore and Gene Ha. Names like the Giants, Jaguars, or Cowboys are generally pretty self-explanatory in terms of connotations. Land losses were near total. Then, you have names like the San Francisco 49ers. The wars between the U.S. and the settlers who wouldnt stop moving west and the Kiowa, Missouri, Osage, Kansa, Pawnee, and Arapaho nations in the 1800s were famously brutal. 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