WAS FORT BRAGG A 'SUNDOWN TOWN?' Sunday, November 30, 2025,
Speaker: DR. PHILIP ZWERLING
Dr. Philip Zwerling serves as Chair of The Noyo Bida Truth Project and formerly worked at the University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley as an Associate Professor and Chair of the Creative Writing Department. He is the author of eight published books. most recently : “In Search of The Thin Man: Dashiell Hammett, William Powell, and the Classic Film Series."
More about our speaker here: https://www.philipzwerling.com/
He says of his presentation: “I started with the question of why our town would be named Fort Bragg when it was incorporated in 1889 even though the military Fort had been abandoned in 1864; the original native inhabitants had already been marched over the hill to Round Valley and 15 of the original Fort buildings had been demolished and stripped of their lumber by white settlers; and Braxton Bragg was already known as an enslaver and a Confederate traitor?
My second question was 'Why was the City of Fort Bragg 99% white for its first 60 years, from the censuses of 1890 to 1950?' Then I examined the newspapers for repetitive stories of white violence directed here against Chinese, Japanese, and African Americans much as it had once been directed against Indigenous people. Was Fort Bragg a Sundown Town?"
Learn about Sundown Towns here: https://justice.tougaloo.edu/.../using-the-sundown-towns.../
Please come and be part of the conversation and share your stories.
This program is free and open to all.
Nikcole Whipple speaks on today’s Land Back Movement
Sunday, October 26 at 2 p.m.
The Fort Bragg Library Community Room
499 E Laurel St, Fort Bragg
The Land Back Movement is an Indigenous-led initiative claiming environmental justice in ancestral territories. To date, Indigenous first people suffer from systemic injustices invoked by colonial government systems through forced removal and assimilation. The Land Back Movement promotes Indigenous sovereignty, culture, and historical stewardship practices. Beyond land back, the movement aims to reestablish cultural land management practices uplifting Indigenous governance, revitalizing language, returning ecological healing and community well-being through traditional connections to the lands and water.
Our Speaker
TNBTP Board Member Nikcole Whipple is a member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes. She is a water protector and policy advocate who works with organizations providing professional development in Native Land Stewardship and (TEK) Traditional Ecological Knowledge. Her work experience includes the exercise of Tribal Rights in creating policy initiatives to provide equitable recommendations in the oversight of cultural resources and the collaboration of community partners to provide cultural events for Tribal youth and families.
The Fort Bragg Library neither supports nor endorses this program
TNBTP Board Member Nikcole Whipple, Round Valley tribes
Native American Fiber Program August 2025 Webinar
Nikcole Whipple is an advocate for restorative justice, a water protector and cultural fire lighter. She has experience working with Tribes and Indigenous led organizations providing environmental advocacy, youth led advocacy and environmental connections, traditional ecological knowledge curriculum and community presentations. Her passion is centered in the protection of cultural practices through Indigenous led stewardship projects supporting cultural healing and wellness with the intention of conserving our ancestral lands and waters.
August 2, 2025 Teach-in
The Noyo Bida Truth Project sponsors a special program on Saturday, August 2, at 1 p.m. at Mendocino College, Coast Campus, 1211 Del Mar Drive, Fort Bragg, Room 112.
Our special Guest Speaker, will be Tatiana Cantrell, The Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) Director for the Pinoleville Pomo Nation.
Dr. Cantrell has worked with children and families in Lake and Mendocino Counties for the past 25 years. She has spent the past several years working with local indigenous communities to address historical and generational trauma by removing barriers to services, forming collaborative relationships with community agencies, and individualizing family and case plans to meet people where they are at. She is a current faculty member at Mendocino College in the Child Development Department.
The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples (MMIP) crisis refers to the disproportionately high rates of violence, including murder and disappearances, experienced by Indigenous people, particularly women and girls, in the United States and Canada. This crisis is a serious issue with deep historical roots in colonization and its ongoing impacts. Locally it had roots in the Mendocino Indian Reservation overseen here by soldiers at Fort Bragg and continuing through the Indian schools in Mendocino County into the 20th Century.
This program is free and open to all.
The above photo is of a participant in the Greater Than Fear Rally & March in Rochester Minnesota, 2018. Photo by Lorie Shaull