The Tongva Tribe

If you were in the Los Angeles area near the end of August, you might have seen some very unique billboards on your drive. A recent campaign called #TONGVALAND appeared on seven different billboards throughout the city to bring to light the Tongva Tribe. These billboards contained beautiful and artistic representations of the Tongva Tribe who is native to our area.  

For thousands of years, Southern California was inhabited by the Tongva Tribe who called their home Tovaanagar. Long Beach is the site of the village Povuu’nga, which is considered a sacred site for the Tongva people as the place where they originate. Long Beach contains several sites associated with the Tongva Tribe that are worth visiting such as The Rancho Los Alamitos and The El Dorado Nature Center.

The Los Angeles Times has developed several informative and interactive articles on the Tongva Tribe. Together with Sean Greene and Thomas Curwen, they have created an interactive map of the Tovaangar villages located in the Southern California region along with brief information pertaining to the Tongva Tribe’s influence on present day Los Angeles County. Along with Katie Falkenberg, Green and Curwen have also created a beautiful page dedicated to the Tongva Tribe’s language. This page contains information about the Tongva Tribe along with videos and clips in order to hear the Tongva’s spoken language for yourself. They have also created an interactive illustrative guide of the Tongva language with pictures and corresponding vocabulary that is a fun resource to explore for parents with young children. Additionally, Curwen has created an educational study guide with questions from teachers of various age groups that can be used for any educator looking to incorporate information on the Tongva Tribe into their curriculum. 

Below are some children’s books you can read with your child that are specifically about the Tongva Tribe:

A Story of Seven Sisters by Pamela Marx

Gabrielino by Barbara A. Gray-Kanatiiosh

The Tongva by Mary Graham

History is all around us here in Long Beach, and how lucky are we to be a part of it. We encourage you to take a look at the work being done by the Los Angeles Times and enjoy learning more about the people of our area!