Florence C. Shipek (December 11, 1918 – January 9, 2003) professor of anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, was an American anthropologist and ethnohistorian, a leading authority on Southern California Indians.
In 2002, she received the San Diego Save Our Heritage Organization 2002 “People in Preservation” Lifetime Achievement award for her work on Southern California tribes.
[1] In her 1987 book, Pushed into the Rocks, she published the information from which she researched enrollment issues for the San Pasqual band, the problem with identity of the Kamia tribe for the Mission Indians Land Claims case, the San Luis Rey River reservation section of Rincon Band of Mission Indians and La Jolla Band of Mission Indians v. Escondido Mutual Water Company and Vista Irrigation District water case, and the human consequences of Public Law 280.
[8] The Autobiography of Delfina Cuero as Told to Florence Shipek, first published in 1968, was expanded into the 1991 edition that has become the definitive textbook used by Anthropology and Women’s Studies professors around the U.S. to elucidate the stressful and tough existence of Indian people once the Americans took over.
[2] Following her death on January 9, 2003, the Kumeyaay Nation hosted a traditional Native American all-night long wake to remember and honor her.