California’s
untold history
for the classroom

The People of the West documentary series provides curriculum that centers California Native perspectives across time—from creation histories and first contact to contemporary movements for sovereignty, cultural revitalization, and environmental stewardship. Through film analysis, primary sources, oral histories, and critical discussion, students examine how Indigenous peoples have shaped California’s past and continue to shape its present and future.

Across ten lessons designed for grades 6–12 and college classrooms, students engage with core Ethnic Studies concepts that center Indigenous knowledge as living, dynamic, and forward‑looking, challenging narratives that confine Native peoples to the past.