The document discusses the origins and history of American Indian Heritage Month, including how it began as an effort in the early 1900s to gain recognition for Native American contributions through an annual American Indian Day, which various states then began celebrating at different times, and led to the modern American Indian Heritage Month observed every November. It also provides background on early proponents of American Indian Day and details on the Navajo code talkers and how their unbreakable Navajo code helped the US secure victory in the Pacific during World War 2.
Navajo Nation Washington Office executive director Clara Pratte addressed the history and importance of the Navajo Code Talkers and their contribution to the United States at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The event was held on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013 in observance of National Native American Heritage Month.
Navajo Nation Washington Office executive director Clara Pratte addressed the history and importance of the Navajo Code Talkers and their contribution to the United States at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The event was held on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013 in observance of National Native American Heritage Month.
A presentation and review of American Indian nations; their cultures, geography, unique characteristics, impact on the formation and government of the United States, and familial or tribal cultures.
This is a presentation I created and gave a few years back at DEOMI. It represents the ethnic observances identified and supported by the military/DoD.
A presentation and review of American Indian nations; their cultures, geography, unique characteristics, impact on the formation and government of the United States, and familial or tribal cultures.
This is a presentation I created and gave a few years back at DEOMI. It represents the ethnic observances identified and supported by the military/DoD.
They were a small band of warriors who created an unbreakable code from the ancient language of their people and changed the course of modern history. Known as Navajo Code Talkers, they were young Navajo men who transmitted secret communications on the battlefields of WWII. At a time when America's best cryptographers were falling short, these modest sheepherders and farmers were able to fashion the most ingenious and successful code in military history. They drew upon their proud warrior tradition to brave the dense jungles of Guadalcanal and the exposed beachheads of Iwo Jima. Serving with distinction in every major engagement of the Pacific theater from 1942-1945, their unbreakable code played a pivotal role in saving countless lives and hastening the war's end.
Memorial Day 2014 brings back World War II memories.Richard Kelley
A memorial to fallen Americans of Japanese descent brings forth memories of the internment of civilians by the U.S. government based on racial profiling during World War II.
Irving 4First Name Last NameHistory 1301June 25, 2015Jou.docxpriestmanmable
Irving 4
First Name Last Name
History 1301
June 25, 2015
Journal Entry 4
The United States during the early 1800’s of civilization was crazy place to be. Hezekiah Niles creates a secondary newspaper entry about the main event that was transpiring during the year of 1827 called, “Indians within the United States” Some leaders within the United States of America, such as Andrew Jackson, felt that it was necessary to remove the Native Americans from their home lands and to relocate them west of the Mississippi river. This later became known as the Trial of Tears, and it highlights the cruel and harsh treatment that Americans exhibits.
Around the 1830’s, five main tribes were relocated during the Trail of Tears. These “civilized” tribes were called the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee-Creek, Seminol, and Cherokee Indians. The Americans wanted the land that they were living on because it was great fertile land and also in the Georgia area gold was found. Americans where greedy people during this time period, so they did not hesitate to start the process of getting them out of there. By 1840 over 40,000 Native Americans were relocated from their original homes. Many died along the way, that apart of the reason it is called the Trail of Tears. The tribes’ future and past died of first, which is their young and old members.
The newspaper article speaks on Colonel McKenney, for he was a main activist in removing these Natives from their home lands. Colonel McKenney was born in 1785 and he, “…directed [the] Indian policy within the War Department…”[footnoteRef:1] No type of sympathy lived inside of the colonel for he was the one controlling the entire process of removing the Native Americans. [1: Hezekiah Niles. “Indians within the United States” In For the Record 2013, ed. David Shi and Holly Mayer. (New York: W.W. Norton, 2013), pg. 264
]
Being that this story was published in a newspaper from Hezekiah Niles, the intended audience is the public. Niles wanted to document and inform the readers of all the actions and decisions that were made during the removing of the Native Americans. It was meant to be never forgotten. This illustrates the hypocriticalness that the Americans possessed inside of them during these times. One of the two major reading materials during the 1800’s was the Bible. The bibles teachings and the way the Americans performed against the Native Americans did not make sense.
In the document presented, a large amount of important interesting things popped out. The Colonel said, “the provision and means for their transportation and support-the taking of them kindly, but firmly, by the hand, and telling them they must go and enjoy it.”[footnoteRef:2] The Americans did not even care how the Indians felt of their new home. It is important to the thesis of the essay because it supports my assertion that America treated to Natives horrible by removing them. Colonel McKenney said, “…the forbidding all interference with their concern ...
1. The Creation of American
Indian Heritage Month
What started at the turn of the century as an effort to gain a
day of recognition for the significant contributions the first
Americans made to the establishment and growth of the U.S.,
has resulted in a whole month being designated for that
purpose.
2. Early Proponents
• One of the very proponents of an American Indian Day was Dr. Arthur
C. Parker, a Seneca Indian, who was the director of the Museum of Arts
and Science in Rochester, N.Y. He persuaded the Boy Scouts of America
to set aside a day for the "First Americans" and for three years they
adopted such a day.
• In 1915, the annual Congress of the American Indian Association
meeting, formally approved a plan concerning American Indian Day. It
directed its president, Rev. Sherman Coolidge, an Arapahoe, to call upon
the country to observe such a day.
3. State Celebrations
• The first American Indian Day in a state was declared on the
second Saturday in May 1916 by the governor of N.Y.
Several states celebrate the fourth Friday in September.
• In Illinois, for example, legislators enacted such a day in
1919.
• Presently, several states have designated Columbus Day as
Native American Day, but it continues to be a day we
observe without any recognition as a national legal holiday.
4. American Indian Place
Names
Many American places have been
named after Indian words. In fact,
about half of the states got their names
from Indian words.
5. American Indian Place Names
—continued
• Kentucky comes from an • Arizona-- from the Indian
Iroquoian word (Kentahten), "Arizonac," meaning "little
which means "land of spring" or "young spring."
tomorrow.“
• Connecticut's name • Kansas--from a Sioux word
comes from the Mohican meaning "people of the
word (Quinnehtukqut), which south wind."
means "beside the long tidal
river." • Utah--from the Ute tribe,
• Manhattan (NY)-- meaning "people of the
Algonquian, believed to mountains."
mean "isolated thing in
water."
6. Navajo Code Talkers
The Navajo code talkers took part in every assault
the U.S. Marines conducted in the Pacific from 1942
to 1945. They served in all Marine divisions,
transmitting messages by telephone and radio in
their native language—a code that the Japanese
never broke.
7. Why Navajo?
• The idea to use Navajo for secure communications came from Philip
Johnston, the son of a missionary to the Navajos and one of the few
non-Navajos who spoke their language fluently.
• He also knew that Native American languages—notably Choctaw—had
been used in World War I to encode messages.
• Johnston believed Navajo answered the military requirement for an
undecipherable code because Navajo is an unwritten language of extreme
complexity.
• Its syntax and tonal qualities, not to mention dialects, make it
unintelligible to anyone without extensive exposure and training.
• It has no alphabet or symbols, and is spoken only on the Navajo lands of
the American Southwest.
8. The Navajo Code Talker's
Dictionary
• When a Navajo code talker received a message, what he
heard was a string of seemingly unrelated Navajo words.
• The code talker first had to translate each Navajo word into
its English equivalent. Then he used only the first letter of
the English equivalent in spelling.
• Thus, the Navajo words "wol-la-chee" (ant), "be-la-sana"
(apple) and "tse-nill" (axe) all stood for the letter "a." One
way to say the word "Navy" in Navajo code would be "tsah
(needle) wol-la-chee (ant) ah-keh-di-glini (victor) tsah-ah-
dzoh (yucca)."
9. The Navajo Code Talker’s
Dictionary—continued
• Not all words had to be spelled out letter by letter.
• The developers of the original code assigned Navajo words
to represent about 450 frequently used military terms that did
not exist in the Navajo language.
• Several examples: "besh-lo" (iron fish) meant "submarine,"
"dah-he-tih-hi" (hummingbird) meant "fighter plane" and
"debeh-li-zine" (black street) meant "squad."
10. Success in the Pacific
• At Iwo Jima, Major Howard Connor, 5th Marine Division
signal officer, declared, "Were it not for the Navajos, the
Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima.“
• Connor had six Navajo code talkers working around the
clock during the first two days of the battle. Those six sent
and received more than 800 messages, all without error.
• The Japanese chief of intelligence, Lieutenant General Seizo
Arisue, said that while they were able to decipher the codes
used by the U.S. Army and Army Air Corps, they never
cracked the code used by the Marines.
11. Department of Defense
Honors Navajo Veterans
• Long unrecognized because of the continued value of their
language as a security classified code, the Navajo code talkers
of World War II were honored for their contributions to
defense on Sept. 17, 1992, at the Pentagon, Washington,
D.C.
• Thirty-five code talkers, all veterans of the U.S. Marine
Corps, attended the dedication of the Navajo code talker
exhibit. The exhibit includes a display of photographs,
equipment and the original code, along with an explanation
of how the code worked.
12. Early Proponents- continued
• Coolidge issued a proclamation on Sept. 28, 1915, which
declared the second Saturday of each May as an American
Indian Day and contained the first formal appeal for
recognition of Indians as citizens.
• The year before this proclamation was issued, Red Fox
James, a Blackfoot Indian, rode horseback from state to state
seeking approval for a day to honor Indians. On December
14, 1915, he presented the endorsements of 24 state
governments at the White House. There is no record,
however, of such a national day being proclaimed.
13. Prepared by Andrew Jones—
Purchase College
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