Rupert Costo
Rupert Costo (1906 – October 20, 1989) was a full-blooded Cahuilla Indian and an American Indian author, publisher, philanthropist and founder of the American Indian Historical Society.[1][2] He had many careers and avocations throughout his life, including farmer, cattle rancher, surveyor, and mineralogist.[2] He also served as an engineer for the California Division of Highways for nearly 20 years.[2]
Contents
Biography
Early life
Costo was born in Hemet, California and was raised on the nearby Cahuilla Reservation.[2] He attended Riverside City College in the 1920s along with classmate John Gabbert, who ultimately became a Superior Court Judge.[2] Following his time at Riverside Community College, he attended Whittier College and then the University of Nevada.[3]
Soil conservation
Costo was key in the establishment of the Anza Soil Conservation District, now known as the Elsinore-Murrieta-Anza Resource Conservation District.[4]
Native American advocacy
Costo served as a member of the governing board of Cahuilla Reservation for more than 20 years[4] and its spokesman for 8 years.[2] He also served as a lobbyist fighting for Native American land rights for two years in Washington, D.C.[2] and was a member of the American Indian Federation in the late 1930s.[5]
He founded the American Indian Historical Society in 1950[1][2] in an effort to ensure scholarly examination of Native American lives as opposed to the stereotypes so prevalent in United States' society at the time.[3] As part of the same efforts, he and his wife, Jeannette Costo, founded the scholarly journal The Indian Historian as well as the popular press periodical Wassaja.[2]
The Costos founded the Indian Historian Press, a for-profit publishing house dedicated to publishing titles documenting or related to the Native American experience in the United States.[6]
University of California, Riverside advocacy
Rupert Costo and his lifelong friend, Superior Court Judge John Gabbert, were key players in lobbying the University of California to establish a university in Riverside, California.[6]
Marriage and children
Rupert Costo was married to Jeannette Henry Costo, a reporter for the New York Times, the Detroit Free Press, and the Cleveland Plain Dealer, in 1954.[7] Mrs. Costo was a Cherokee Indian and a Native American activist in her own right.[2] She died on July 27, 1998.
Death and afterward
Rupert Costo died on October 20, 1989 at his home in San Francisco, California.[3]
Legacy
His extensive personal library documenting the Native American experience in the United States was donated to the University of California Riverside Libraries in May 1986.[2] The Costo Chair in American Indian History at the University of California, Riverside was named in his honor.[2]
Political views
Costo and his wife Jeannette opposed the efforts within the Catholic Church to name Father Junipero Serra a saint based on the claim that he treated Native Americans in an inhumane fashion.[7]
Published works
- Textbooks and the American Indian (1970)[6]
- Indian Voices: the Native American Today (1974)[6]
- Indian Treaties: Two Centuries of Dishonor (1977) [6]
- A Thousand Years of American Indian Storytelling (1981)[6]
- The Mission of California: A Legacy of Genocide (1987)[6]
- Natives of the Golden State: The California Indians (1995)[7]
Awards
Costo was named the Riverside Community College Alumni of the Year.[2]
Bibliography
- Erickson, Jan. Transcription of an Oral History Interview with Jeannette Costo, University of California, Riverside, 27 July 1998. Retrieved 23 November 2013 <http://www.ucrhistory.ucr.edu/pdf/costo.pdf>
- Starr, Raymond. "The Missions of California: A Legacy of Genocide. Book Review." The Journal of San Diego History, Volume 35, Number 3, Summer 1989. Retrieved 1989 <http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/89summer/br-missions.htm>
References
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