California Indians Surviving the Gold Rush Essay

California Indians Surviving the Gold Rush - Essay Example The easiest way to survive was, perhaps, the most humiliating. Some Indians allowed their oppressors to "civilize" them. By adopting white styles of dress, living in modern, rather than traditional homes, and most importantly, but kowtowing to the white man and embracing his religion, some native people were able to keep their own lives. In Deeper than Gold: Indian Life in the Sierra Foothills, Brian Bibby writes of a man called Billy Preacher, who, based on the stories and artifacts he left behind, had a strong belief in and connection to his own religion and culture. However, Billy Preacher, "accommodating to change" (Bibby 30), goes to work on a white man's ranch and eventually takes on his employer's culture. Bibby states that this ranch, "provided a safe haven and labor opportunities for individuals and families who had been disinherited from their former homes by the influx of miners and settlers to the region" (Bibby 30). Billy Preacher, at the end of his life, has converted t o Christianity and in appearance appears almost completely European. Servitude was more or less expected by the white man, who saw the Native as, at best, a useful servant, and, at worst, a pest to be exterminated. For this reason, many Indians found it simpler to cater to the invaders, whoever they were.