Society and culture
Each Yurok village was a cluster of rectangular houses built from redwood planks. The Yurok spent the winter in these dwellings. In the summer they set off in small bands in search of food. They fished in rivers and gathered nuts, berries, and other wild plant foods. Their most important foods were salmon and acorns.
Unlike most Native Americans, the Yurok believed in private ownership of land. Wealth brought respect in Yurok society, and rich people wore fine clothing. People were ranked in different social classes, from nobles to commoners to slaves. Slaves were often people who had gone into debt.
The Yurok wove baskets and made dugout canoes from redwood trees. They traded these items to tribes living farther inland. Treasured goods among the Yurok including strings of shell beads, blades made from obsidian (volcanic rock), and white deerskins.
The Yurok performed ceremonies to ask for help from supernatural spirits. The most important were those of the World Renewal ritual. The Yurok believed that if they performed this ritual each year, the spirits would provide them with plenty of food and ensure the tribe's general well-being.
History
Spaniards first made contact with the Yurok in the second half of the 18th century. In 1827 the Yurok met fur traders working for the Hudson's Bay Company. Decades passed, however, before large numbers of non-Indians came to their territory. In the 1850s Yurok lands were overrun with miners who came to California in search of gold. The Yurok were left landless, except for a few small reservations called rancherias.
At the end of the 20th century more than 4,000 Yurok lived in the United States. Many make their living by farming, fishing, and logging. In 1999 Sue Masten, chairperson of the Yurok tribe, became president of the National Congress of American Indians, the largest Indian rights organization in the United States.