Journeys of the Past: Movement & Migration along the Anza Trail
How Movement & Migration Has Shaped Identities
- Mission: Explore how movement & migration has shaped the diverse cultural identities across the Anza Trail.
- Theme: The Anza colonizing expedition shows how people faced hardships to find a better life, while many different cultures shaped California and southern Arizona through cultural exchange and community building.
- Goals:
- Examine how the Anza expedition reflects broader migration experiences and struggles.
- Understand the role of cultural diversity in shaping modern California & Southern Arizona.
- Foster connection and reflection on individual and collective migration stories.
- Tangibles:
- Images of cultural celebrations, community events, or challenges of migration in California and Southern Arizona
- Traditional or non-traditional tokens that represent identities
- Places such as a trail, street, or place
- Intangibles:
- Moral implications of human migration
- Lasting impact of heritage
- Personal beliefs that shape an individual or community’s decision to migrate
- Universal Concepts: Identity, Community, Heritage, Loss, Belonging, Empathy, Responsibility to future generations
- Materials for Facilitators:
- Example of the program
- Questions printed out
- Back up questions
- Post it notes & writing tools (markers, pencils, pens, etc.)
Program Outline
There are many ways to interpret the Anza Trail regarding movement and migration and how it has shaped the diverse cultural identities across the trail. Please keep in mind that this program is a question-based dialogic approach to interpretation. In a question-based dialogic approach, the facilitator is expected to apply the following:
- Create a welcoming and inclusive environment.
- Ask open-ended questions and connect personal experiences with broader themes.
- Actively listen, encourage, and respect all participants’ shared perspectives.
- Adapt discussions based on participants’ interests.
- Reflect and summarize insights and key points.
- Suggest ways for participants to further explore the topic.
How you interpret or adapt this program will depend on your site. We recommend visiting Explore the Trail - Anza Historic Trail to read through both Father Font and Juan Bautista de Anza’s journals on the days leading up to and a few days after the expedition passed through your site or region to gather ideas.
The Anza Expedition & Human Migration
In 1775, the Anza colonizing expedition set forth on foot from Sonora, Mexico to San Francisco, California. Families of Indigenous, African, and European descent traveled together, each carrying their own languages, customs, and traditions. This expedition was not just a military endeavor; it was a migration of people fueled by hopes for a better life.
The people on the expedition faced numerous hardships—harsh terrain, limited resources, and the constant challenge of creating new lives in unfamiliar lands. These struggles remind us of the universal experiences shared by people, like migrants, throughout history, as they seek opportunity and the promise of safety. However, while new opportunities arose for those on the expedition, Indigenous peoples faced significant loss of their traditional lands and culture. Newly imposed systems of governance challenged their daily lives.
Today, the Anza Trail allows us to connect the past to the present to illuminate how the movement of people along this corridor continues to shape identities and communities. What is your story?
Examples of Human Movement Along the Trail
The Anza Trail serves as a human movement route that offers examples of how diverse groups including Indigenous peoples, Spanish settlers, and later migrants traveled in search of opportunity, safety, and cultural exchange.
Migrant Farmers Moving to Salinas
In March 1776, the colonists made their way through the Salinas Valley along the Salinas River as they approached the Monterey Bay. Anza noted that the Salinas Valley would offer an abundance of food, which we can see today.
“...I have seen no other region so advantageous as this for the raising of all kinds of stock, and the production of the principal grains suitable for food, which is remarkable, for it produces these as well as most kinds of vegetables. And the climate afforded... they grow so tender and large...” Diary of Juan Bautista de Anza on March 11, 1776 campsite #89
Anza and a small group of soldiers planned to explore the San Francisco Bay. Upon their return back down to the Salinas Valley, Anza reaffirmed the area’s abundant resources.
“The range shows signs of having silver ore. It is well covered with oaks, live oaks, walnuts, pine, and hazelnuts, and in the principal valley which cuts it I think water will always be found.” Diary of Juan Bautista de Anza on April 6, 1776 campsite #104
Since the time of the expedition, farmers have transformed the area into one of the most productive agricultural areas in California.
Pilgrimage to Magdalena
For over three centuries, the Pilgrimage to Magdalena has symbolized spiritual renewal. It reflects the multicultural heritage of Indigenous, Mexican, and Spanish influences in the Sonoran Desert. It also illustrates how movement and migration continues to impact identity and strengthen communities across borders.
Modern Stories Along the Anza Trail
When the Anza colonizing expedition was complete, it created a connection between a diversity of communities and people. Today, communities along the trail continue to share their stories of migration, cultural exchange, and resilience. These contemporary stories highlight how movement and migration continues to shape identities and strengthen connections among people.
Example of an Arc of Dialogue1
Phase 1a: When was the first time you left home?
Phase 1b: What is something you do, or something you bring with you when you leave home to help you adjust to a new place?
[providing context before this phase 2 question]
Phase 2: What might make you leave your home forever?
[providing context before this phase 3 question]
Phase 3: How do people maintain their cultural identity in a new place?
Phase 4: What is one thing you can do this week to support someone new in your community?
Examples of Secondary Scaffolding Questions in Constructing Your Own Arc
Phase 1 – “You" Easy
- How do you define migration?
- Tell me a time where you had to leave home?
- What is your definition of home?
Phase 2 - “You” Difficult
- What do you think motivates people to migrate?
- What do you think of when you hear the word “migration”?
- What is one thing you have learned from other cultures in your community?
Phase 3 - “We” Difficult
- What do you think migrants face when they move to a new place?
- What are the long-term effects of migration on cultural identity?
- In what ways do changes in immigration policies affect the lives and cultural ties of migrants today?
Phase 4- “We" Forward
- What can we learn from the past to help current migration issues?
- What can we do to support migrants in keeping their traditions and community ties?
- How can your community embrace the cultures brought by migrants?
Resources
Explore the Trail - Anza Historic Trail
The Process of a Journey: A review of Pilgrimage to Magdalena (U.S. National Park Service)
Modern Stories from the Anza Trail
Footnotes
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Arc of Dialogue
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Phase 1: Community Building
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Non-threatening questions that encourage all participants to join the dialogue.
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Invites participants to share information about themselves and to start learning about others in the group.
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“Me-Easy” questions become springboard to harder questions.
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Phase 2: Sharing our Own Experiences
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More challenging questions that invite participants to think about and share their own experiences related to the topic and begin to make personal connections to the topic. The facilitator helps participants recognize how their experiences are alike and different and why.
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Phase 3: Exploring Beyond Ourselves
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Questions that help participants explore the topic beyond their personal experience with it.
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Encourage inquiry and exploration in an effort to learn with and from one another.
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Probe the underlying social conditions that inform our diversity of perspectives.
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Phase 4: Synthesizing the Experience
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Synthesis questions help participants make meaning and draw insights from the diversity and common threads of the dialogue.
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Participants are invited to reflect on what they may have learned about themselves, one another and the topic and are encouraged to share the personal impact.
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Participants gain insight into how this topic may help them think about important issues in their lives differently in the future.
