Corrina Gould

Corrina Gould
BornOakland Edit this on Wikidata
Awards

Corrina Gould is a spokeswoman and Tribal Chair of the Confederated Villages of Lisjan/Ohlone, a non-profit organization.[1] She identifies as a Chochenyo and a Karkin Ohlone woman[2] and is a long-time activist who works to protect, preserve, and reclaim ancestral lands of the Ohlone peoples.[3][2] The Ohlone people live in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, and Gould's organization, specifically, is located in the East Bay, in regions now occupied by Oakland, Berkeley, and beyond.[4][5]

Early life

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Gould was born Corrina Emma Tucker, on November 12, 1965,[6] and grew up in Oakland, California;

Corrina Tucker married Paul Gould Jr. (1964-2021), and took his name. Paul Gould Jr. passed away in 2021.

Career

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Gould worked full time at the American Indian Child Resource Center for 12years, running an after school program that provides services for Native students in Oakland.[2] She has a prolific history co-founding and working with a number of activist organizations.

She is the Tribal Chair for the Confederated Villages of Lisjan/Ohlone, and a co-founder of the Sogorea Te Land Trust as well as Indian People Organizing for Change.[2]

Gould was the producer of several documentaries about Ohlone peoples and other Native peoples. Her films include Buried Voices (2012), Injunuity (2013), and Beyond Recognition (2014).[7]

In addition, Gould is a member of the board of directors for the Oakland Street Academy Foundation.[8]

Major campaigns

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As the lead organizer for the group Indian People Organizing for Change (IPOC), Gould has worked for over two decades to preserve and protect Ohlone Shellmounds, the ancient burial sites of her ancestors.[9] She is a cofounder of IPOC, which sponsored the Shellmound Peace Walk 2005–2009 and currently works to protect the West Berkeley Shellmound.[10][11] She has also led the campaign to collect a Shuumi Land Tax in order to return land to Indigenous people through the Sogorea Te Land Trust.[12]

Gould is currently focused on the West Berkeley Shellmound, at the site of the earliest known habitation in the Bay Area,[13] the subterranean portions of which are currently covered by a parking lot. A developer with plans to build high density housing on that spot has been stopped by the City of Berkeley, motivated by Gould's activism.[14] In 2000 the Berkeley City Council named the spot an historic landmark,[15] and in September, 2020, the National Trust for Historic Preservation declared the site as one of the 11 “most endangered historic places” in the United States.[16] Although the developer tried to get a streamlined approval process which would not have included as much public comment, the City did not pass that request and a judge further backed the City in a subsequent lawsuit.[14] Gould and the IPOC have continued to advocate throughout for the preservation of the remaining portions of their sacred site.[17]

In April 2011, Gould, Johnella LaRose, Wounded Knee De Ocampo, and other held a sit-in at Sogorea Te, a sacred site in the current city of Vallejo, CA, that lasted 109 days.[18] The occupation led to a cultural easement between the City of Vallejo, the Greater Vallejo Recreation District, and two federally recognized tribes.[19]

References

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  1. ^ SURJ Bay Area (2017-09-05). "Living On Ohlone Land — What We Learned From Indigenous Women Leaders". Medium. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
  2. ^ a b c d "Corrina Gould". Women's Earth Alliance. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
  3. ^ "Corrina Gould Defends Her Ancestors". Sacred Land. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
  4. ^ "Impact of Spanish Colonization (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
  5. ^ "Lisjan (Ohlone) History & Territory". The Sogorea Te Land Trust. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
  6. ^ Alameda County Birth Certificate #65-311826
  7. ^ "Corrina Gould". IMDb. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
  8. ^ Next Economy Now Podcast (2018-06-13). "Corrina Gould: Sacred Sites Work and Our Collective Responsibility as Weavers of Healing". Medium. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
  9. ^ "Indian People Organzing for Change (IPOC) and the Sogorea Te Occupation". Found SF. August 2014. Archived from the original on 2015-04-05.
  10. ^ "Shellmounds". Indian People Organizing for Change. Archived from the original on 2013-10-08.
  11. ^ Luckey, Micki; Pluss, AJ (September 3, 2017). "Living On Ohlone Land — What We Learned From Indigenous Women Leaders". Showing Up for Racial Justice. Medium. Archived from the original on 2017-09-04.
  12. ^ "Shuumi Land Tax". Sogorea Te' Land Trust. Archived from the original on 2020-09-25.
  13. ^ "Berkeley Landmarks :: The Shellmound". berkeleyheritage.com. Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  14. ^ a b "Judge rules for Berkeley in developer's lawsuit over Spenger's parking lot". Berkeleyside. 2019-10-23. Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  15. ^ WOLLENBERG, CHARLES (2008). Berkeley: A City in History (1 ed.). University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-25307-0. JSTOR 10.1525/j.ctt1ppx83.
  16. ^ Staff, Taylor Rudman | (2020-09-25). "West Berkeley Shellmound and Village Site named 1 of 11 most endangered historic sites in US". The Daily Californian. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
  17. ^ McLeod, Toby. "In Recognition of Indigenous Peoples' Day: Lisjan Ohlone Leader Corrina Gould to Brief Berkeley City Council on the History of the West Berkeley Shellmound and Village Site on Tuesday, October 13 ." Press Release. October 13, 2020.
  18. ^ "Corrina Gould". Women's Earth Alliance. Archived from the original on 2020-09-23.
  19. ^ "These Indigenous Women Are Reclaiming Stolen Land in the Bay Area". Yes! Magazine. Retrieved 2020-12-14.
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