A Tongva Tribal Leader Will Speak on the Land Her Ancestors Called Home

The church calls it Tovaangar. So does Mona Morales Recalde. The difference is that Morales Recalde’s family has called it that for thousands of years.

Morales Recalde, an enrolled member of the San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians Gabrieleño/Tongva and an elected commissioner on the Los Angeles City/County Native American Indian Commission, will speak at All Saints Church on Saturday, May 23, about the tribe’s history, culture, and the challenges it faces today. The Pasadena church formally acknowledges that it sits on the ancestral homeland of the Tongva people — the same community Morales Recalde represents.

The connection is more than symbolic. The Hahamog’na, a band of Tongva people, settled alongside the Arroyo Seco in what is now Pasadena and Altadena long before the Spanish missions, long before the Indiana Colony, long before the Episcopal parish was incorporated in 1886. Hahamongna Watershed Park, established by the City of Pasadena in 1993, bears their name. The Tongva’s ancestral territory, called Tovaangar, encompassed present-day Los Angeles, Orange, and parts of San Bernardino counties, as well as the Southern Channel Islands, according to the tribe’s official website.

The presentation, hosted by the All Saints Women’s Community, will take place in Sweetland Hall at the church, 132 N. Euclid Ave. Registration and a light breakfast begin at 8:30 a.m., with the talk running from 9 to 11 a.m., followed by a question-and-answer session. The cost is $20.

Morales Recalde runs community outreach for the Gabrieleño Tongva Tribal Council, according to the tribe’s organizational profile. She is also a ruling elder of La Verne Heights Presbyterian Church, according to a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) report. She has given presentations on Tongva history and cultural traditions to educational institutions and community organizations across the region, according to her biography on the LA City/County Native American Indian Commission website. She holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from San Diego State University and a master’s in business administration from Cal State Monterey Bay, and is a certified Project Management Professional, according to the commission biography. She also volunteers at Kuruvungna, participates in Native beading circles, and sings traditional songs at events including Indigenous People’s Day celebrations hosted by the City and County of Los Angeles, according to the commission biography.

Her work extends beyond education. In 2025, Morales Recalde served on the administrative commission that implemented a landmark land transfer from the Presbytery of San Gabriel to the San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians — the first return of land by a church to an established tribal government in California, according to a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) report. She had initiated the request for the transfer, according to news coverage of the event.

“Today marks the culmination of a 2-year journey to craft a Land Acknowledgement that truly resonates with the spirit & history of this land that we are very fortunate to share,” Morales Recalde said during a 2024 ceremony at the Alhambra Unified School District, where the board honored her for her work on the district’s land acknowledgement, according to a post from the district.

At the May 23 event, church member Hannah Earnshaw will also speak about the work All Saints has done to introduce a land acknowledgement to the congregation. Earnshaw co-convened the church’s “Telling The Whole Story” working group and co-authored a report with historian Becky Nicolaides examining the history of the land the church occupies — from its Tongva inhabitants through colonization to the present, according to the church’s website. The report, published in July 2023, was reviewed by Tongva members and local historians, according to Pasadena Now.

“Colonization and injustice towards the land and its inhabitants is not just a few one-time events hundreds of years ago, but an on-going process lasting into the present day,” Earnshaw said when the report was published, according to Pasadena Now.

The San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians was recognized by the State of California in 1994 but does not have federal recognition, according to the tribe’s official website. The tribe has been listed on the Native American Heritage Commission as the original Most Likely Descendants in Los Angeles and Orange counties since 1978, according to the tribal website. It is led by Chief Anthony Redblood Morales and is headquartered in San Gabriel. “Tongva” means “people of the earth” in the tribe’s native language, according to the tribal website.

Registration is available online through the All Saints Church website. For general inquiries, the church can be reached at (626) 796-1172. Parking is available at nearby structures including Plaza Las Fuentes and metered street parking on Euclid Avenue.

Morales Recalde’s ancestors were once declared extinct in the press. They are still here — and on May 23, one of them will stand in Sweetland Hall and say so.