© Latinas in History 2008
Few
details survive about the life of the tribal medicine woman, Toypurina but she
is best remembered for her direct involvement in a planned revolt against Spanish
colonial rule. She was a Native woman born into the Kumi.vit tribe of southern
California from the area around San Gabriel. Her tribe became known as the Gabrieleno
after Spanish contact in the late eighteenth century. At that time Franciscan
missionaries founded twenty-one missions from San Diego to Sonoma between 1769
and 1823. Intended to form a chain of defense of the Spanish empire in the north,
the missions encroached on the lands of tribal nations, exploited Native labor,
and proselytized for their conversion to the Roman Catholic Faith. In an effort
to retain their tribal culture, religious practices, and beliefs, some Native
people resisted the imposed Spanish assimilation and acculturation. Toypurina
emerged as one such individual. After Spanish officials forbade the practice of
traditional dances, Native leaders planned a revolt. Angered by this authoritarian
decision, Indians, set out to destroy the San Gabriel Mission. Toypurina's support
was crucial because of her extraordinary powers as a medicine woman. She was to
use her divine influence to specifically immobilize the Catholic priests, while
the Native male leaders would eliminate Spanish soldiers. Spaniards discovered
the plot punishing all the Native people involved in the incident. Toypurina was
exiled from the mission and sent to live further north at the San Carlos mission.
She was also pressured to submit to the Catholic Faith.
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