Damon B. Akins grew up in Oklahoma, but soon found himself in California where he attended UCLA and taught high school in the (east) San Fernando Valley. He later returned to Oklahoma to pursue a PhD in Native American/California history at the University of Oklahoma. He is currently a Professor of History at Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he teaches classes on Native America, California, and the American West. He is the coauthor of We Are the Land: A History of Native California.