05/28/2026
The Tübatulabal are an indigenous people of Kern River Valley in the Sierra Nevada range of California, including part of the area that makes up Sequoia National Park in the modern day.
They may have been the first people to make this area their permanent home. Today many of them are enrolled in the Tule River Indian Tribe. They are descendants of the people of the Uto-Aztecan language group, separating from Shoshone people about 3000 years ago.
The valley of the Kern River has been the home of three distinct bands which are collectively named Tübatulabal. The name Tübatulabal (“a people that go to the forest to gather tubat (piñon nuts)”) loosely translates as "pine-nut eaters." The name is paralleled by one name used by the neighboring Yokuts, Wateknasi, which is likewise based on the Yokuts word watak 'pine-nut'.
The Yokuts also called the Tübatulabals Pitanisha, which comes from the place-name of a location where the Kern River forks. The name for the north fork of the river has the Indian name of, Palegewanap or "place of the big river." The south fork of the river conversely was given the name of Kutchibichwanap Palap, or "place of the little river."
The Tubatulabal people of the Kern river valley have survived historical trauma. Of the three bands of the Tubatulabal, the Pahkanapul were the only ones to survive the Keyesville massacre of 1863, where 35 Tübatulabal and Mono people were killed by United States Army troops and American settlers led by Captain Moses A. McLaughlin.
The Tubatulabal tribe was almost wiped out because most were adult men who died in the massacre. "They never seemed to blame the local whites or act vengeful towards those who had made such a change in their lives." In an interview with one of the tribe members about the massacre conducted for a study stated "
That morning the soldiers killed our people it caused a lot of heartache to our people physically, emotionally, and mentally. They took away all our people who tell stories, who could read the stars at night, who could farm. They took away all our old traditions, our songs, our language, and our pride. It affected us a lot. Even to this day it affects us."
