Toypurina

Toypurina (1760-1799) was a Tongva medicine woman and leader. She planned an attack against the Spanish colonists and missionaries who were taking over her people's land.

1785 rebellion

Toypurina's people were very angry at the Spanish for treating them bad.

Toypurina and some other people involved in the attack were tried. She said that she hated the priests and white men for taking over her people's land.

Later life

Toypurina was forced to be baptized at Mission San Gabriel. Later on, she married a Spanish soldier named Mañuel Montero and had three kids with him. However, history experts are not sure whether she married because she accepted the Spanish way of living or as a way of protecting herself from mission life. She died at age 39.

Art

Toypurina is famous because she represents Native American female resistance to European rule. There are many murals of her in the Los Angeles region.