Pablo Tac

Who was Pablo Tac?

Pablo Tac was a Luiseño Indian and indigenous scholar who provided a rare contemporary Native American perspective on the institutions and early history of Alta California. He created the first writing system for Luiseño, and his work is the "only primary source of Luiseño language written by a Luiseño until the twentieth century."

Tac was born of Luiseño parents at Mission San Luis Rey de Francia and attended the Mission school. A promising student, he was singled out by the Franciscan missionary, Father Antonio Peyrí, to accompany Peyrí when he left California in 1832. Tac visited Rome in 1834 and was enrolled in the College of the Propaganda, studying Latin grammar. He went on to study rhetoric, humanities, and philosophy in preparation for missionary work, but he died in 1841.

As a student, Tac wrote a Luiseño grammar and dictionary for the linguist Giuseppi Mezzofanti, and notably included a history as part of his manuscript. He created a way of writing Luiseño that drew on Latin and Spanish, which is different from the modern, decolonized way of writing Luiseño.

Tac also wrote an essay on the "Conversion of the San Luiseños of Alta California." The latter includes information on aboriginal lifeways and the history and organization of the Mission, along with two drawings by Tac. Tac authored an early account of life at Mission San Luis Rey entitled Indian Life and Customs at Mission San Luis Rey: A Record of California Mission Life by Pablo Tac, An Indian Neophyte. In the book, Tac lamented the rapid decline of his people: