So, in thanks, they scurry to prepare a feast fit for a chief: fish, turkey, bread, corn, fruits, and vegetables.  Soon, they hear rustling in the bushes and a tribe of 90 Wampanoag Indians enter the clearing, a great chief leading the pack.  They are dressed in feathers, leather, and beads.  They are a striking group with strong bodies, painted faces, and long flowing hair.  They walk with pride and grace.  Between 12 proud warriors are strung the carcasses of five deer tied to wooden poles.  The poles are perched atop bronzed shoulders and the sight of these plump deer reminds the pilgrims how hungry they are.

Greetings are exchanged – a mixture of hand signals, English, and Wampanoag words – as well as gifts of food, beads, clothing, and tools.  One Wampanoag knows English and he acts as an interpreter between the leaders of the Pilgrims – William Bradford, Miles Standish, Edward Winslow, Stephen Hopkins and John Carver – and the Chief.  The interpreter’s name is Tisquantum (later nicknamed “Squanto”).  On previous visits with the pilgrims, he stated that the Chief’s name was “Massasoit Ousamequin.”  The pilgrims mistakenly think that “Massasoit” is his first name, but it is his title, meaning “great leader.”  This mistake by the pilgrims is further compounded when they write down the chief’s name as “Massasoit” in their journals.  From then on, the chief is known by the name “Massasoit” by the pilgrims – and later by history.

Pilgrim Edward Winslow is awed and a little anxious at the site of this sturdy, striking chief. He describes the leader “in his best years, an able body, grave of countenance, and spare of speech.  His attire is a great chain of white bone beads about his neck, and behind his neck hangs a little bag of tobacco.  His face is painted red and he oils both head and face.” 

The Wampanoags get to work building fires and erecting spits to roast the venison.  The pilgrims help them prepare the carcasses and position them above the flames.  The men then go hunting.  They gather turkey, ducks, deer, and rabbits.  The teenagers scramble along the rocky shore harvesting seafood: mussels, clams, and lobsters.  The woman and children mash corn porridge and fill wooden bowls with berries and nuts.  

The hunting party returns and everyone settles around the spits to smoke, drink, laugh and trade.  The pilgrims show the Wampanoags how to use the tools they brought from England and in turn they show them how to plant native seeds and where to fish.

By midday, the feast is ready and everyone gathers to dine. The venison is juicy and tender.  Never has anything tasted so good to the grateful pilgrims.  Everyone dives into platters of fish and turkey mixed with an array of cranberries, blueberries, and gooseberries.  Hot squash and cooked pumpkin simmer in the chilly afternoon air as a warm treat.  

The men light their pipes and sit around the fire as nighttime descends.  The women and children clear the feast and store the remaining food so that pesky possums and predators will not steal the spoils.  The Native Americans erected tents to use as shelter during the three-day celebration.  Soon sleep overtakes the revelers and everyone retires after a long, busy day.  

The next two days are much the same, filled with hunting and feasting.  On the third afternoon, Chief Ousamequin, Tisquantum, and the warriors head back into the forest, back to their own villages and families.  It has been a truly memorable time for all – and one that will go down in history thanks to President Abraham Lincoln who declares it as the first American Thanksgiving.

We know a lot about the Mayflower pilgrims and their first years in Massachusetts from the journals and manifests they left behind.  But what do we know about Chief Ousamequin and Tisquantum who were involved in this historic Thanksgiving?  

It is believed that Chief  Ousamequin was born around 1581 and was the leader of the Wampanoag people, also known as the Pokanokets, living in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. For years, the Chief had been dealing with epidemics raging through his villages.   Early explorers from Normandy, Brittany, and Bristol arrived on their shores fishing for cod to take back home. The travelers brought diseases with them that quickly swept through the tribes.  The American Indians, having no natural resistance to foreign diseases, quickly succumbed.  

In addition, the Wampanoags were battling the Narragansetts, also from Rhode Island.  With his dwindling tribe, the Chief knew he needed strong allies.  The pilgrims then landed on his shores with healthy men and strong weapons – weapons the Wampanoags did not have. Such as mighty muskets with buckshot that could fly further than tomahawks or arrows.   Chief Ousamequin might have taken this as a sign from the heavens that these new people were here to help him against his enemies, the Narragansett. Or he wisely knew that he could barter with these men.  He could make a peace agreement with them: he and his tribe would not attack the pilgrims and would teach them where to hunt, farm, and fish.  In return, the pilgrims would help him protect his people against the Narragansett.  

But in order to communicate his proposed peace treaty, he needed an interpreter.  He knew someone named Tisquantum who was familiar with the strange language called “English” and he sent him to speak with the pilgrims.

And how did Tisquantum know English?  Well, that is a sad story.  Tisquantum was part of the Patuxet tribe and their summer village was in Plymouth, Massachusetts.  In 1614, when he was in his 20’s or 30’s, Tisquantum was taken captive by an English explorer named Thomas Hunt.  Thomas Hunt was sailing along the New England coast gathering furs and cod to sell in Spain.  He decided that in addition to gathering pelts and fish, he would take captives.  Hunt landed near Plymouth and lured 20 Patuxets onto his boat, including Tisquantum, to discuss trade.  But instead of a friendly discussion, he took them captive and sailed with them to Malaga, Spain, to be sold into slavery.  Some kindly monks took pity on Hunt’s captives and paid for them. The monks then taught them English and religion.  Sometime thereafter, Tisquantum traveled to London, maybe as a worker or a helpmate to a merchant or ship’s captain.

In 1619, Tisquantum returned to America, possibly by convincing London businessmen that he could make them rich with expeditions to America.  He joined a ship bound for America. When they landed, he found that his whole tribe, which once numbered 2,000 members, had died from diseases.  Tragically, he was the last of the Patuxet tribe.  History does not record how or when he met Chief Ousamequin – possibly upon his return from England.  

A year later, in late 1620, the pilgrims arrived at Plymouth and the tribes held a three-day meeting to decide what to do with these new people.  Tisquantum urged Chief Ousamequin to make friends with them.  He told the chief of the great wonders he had seen in England and convinced him that if he befriended the pilgrims and made them their allies, the other Native Americans would have to bow before him.  

In March 1621, Chief Ousamequin sent Tisquantum to speak with the pilgrims on his behalf.  Tisquantum then stayed with the pilgrims for 20 months, teaching them where to fish and hunt, and how to plant and fertilize their seeds for a bountiful harvest.  He also helped rescue a small boy taken captive by another tribe.  Tisquantum introduced the pilgrims to the fur trade and went on sailing and trading trips with them along the Cape Cod coast, acting as a guide and interpreter.  Unfortunately, on one of these trips, Tisquantum fell ill from a fever.  William Bradford stayed by his side for days before Tisquantum passed away on November 30, 1622, two years after the pilgrims’ arrival.  He was approximately 42 years old.  It was a great loss to Chief Ousamequin and the pilgrims, and they dearly mourned his passing. 

As for Chief Ousamequin, he lived a long life and worked to keep the peace between various warring tribes and the expanding colonies.  He was once taken hostage by an enemy tribe, but with the help of Tisquantum and the pilgrims he was released.  He had five children: sons Wamsutta, Pometecomet, and Sonkanuchoo, and two daughters, Amie and Sarah.

In the early 1620’s, Chief Ousamequin became very sick and was nursed back to health by pilgrim Edward Winslow.  The chief was forever grateful and stated, “The English are my friends and love me….and I will never forget this kindness they have showed me.”  And he was true to his word. When he learned about plans by another tribe to attack two pilgrim colonies, Chief Ousamequin warned the pilgrims.

But tensions between the growing colonies and the American Indian tribes only grew worse through the years.  In 1649, Chief Ousamequin sold 14 miles of land to Miles Standish and other pilgrims near Duxbury, Massachusetts, in an effort to keep the peace and give the pilgrims some land of their own.  This site is now listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Chief Ousamequin passed away between 1660 and 1662 in his 80’s or 90’s.  His eldest son became the leader after his death.  However, he died within a year and the chief’s second son became the next leader.  

During his lifetime, Chief Ousamequin was a dedicated peacemaker, skilled mediator, and honorable leader.  Today, statues in his honor are displayed at Plymouth Rock, Brigham Young University, the Utah State Capitol, the Springville Museum of Art, and in Kansas City, Missouri.  Two places in Massachusetts are named after him: Massasoit Community College and Massasoit State Park. 

Unfortunately, there are no statues for – or even a description of – Tisquantum.  Some say that the peninsula named Squantum in Quincy, Massachusetts, is named after him.  

It is undeniable that the pilgrims, and the generations of immigrants who arrived on America’s shores in the centuries that followed, owe a huge debt of gratitude to Chief Ousamequin, Tisquantum, and the Wampanoag people.  Without their guidance, assistance, and protection, the first colony would surely have perished. These brave humans have provided us with examples of how to live an honorable life: respect nature, keep your word, live as a community, give as much as you receive, and help your fellow man.

It is sad that so little information remains about the life and times of these Native Americans, but maybe when you gather around your Thanksgiving table this year, you will take a moment to give thanks to Chief Ousamequin, Tisquantum, and all of the other Wampanoags.

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Where I live in the state of Arizona, there are many amazing Indian tribes including the Apache, Navajo, Hopi, Paiute, Hualapai, Yavapai, and more.  These amazing tribes of hunters, gatherers, and warriors have a long and rich history across the United States of America.  They were the first stewards, or guardians, of this nation, living on the land thousands of years before Columbus discovered its rugged shores.  I have always been fascinated with Native American history and the impact of various tribes on our culture throughout the centuries. And with November being Native American Heritage Month, I thought it would be a great chance to explore more about the impact of Native American Indians on the nation of America.  Did you know that more than half of all U.S. states are derived from Native American words or were named after Native American tribes?  Can you guess any?  I gave a clue when talking about the Mayflower landing.  If you thought of the state of Massachusetts, you are correct!  This state was named after the Algonquin word “Massadchu-es-et,” meaning “at the big hill” or “a place of hills.”  And I found more incredible history, so let’s discuss the states in alphabetical order.  (And please excuse me if I mispronounce any names.)  First is Alabama.

1. Alabama is named after the Alabama – or Alibamu – tribe. Some say the word “Alabama” means “clearers of the thicket” or “herb gatherers.”  Others say it comes from the Creek language meaning “tribal town.” Maybe one of our listeners in Alabama can write in and tell us more.

2. Alaska is named after the Aleut word “Alyeska” meaning “great land.”
   
3. Arizona, my home state, is named after the O’odham word “alĭ ṣonak” meaning “small spring.”  Speaking from experience, Arizona is very vast, hot, and dry, with temperatures reaching 120 degrees Fahrenheit or more in the summer.  If you live in Arizona, you have to be very good at finding water and I’m sure the Native Americans in this area are experts at finding the small springs!
   
4. Connecticut comes from the Mohican word “quonehtacut” meaning “beside the long tidal river.”

5. Hawaii in the Hawaiian language means “homeland.”   This is a very beautiful island with lush green jungles, sandy beaches, palm trees, waterfalls, and amazing sunsets.  I am sure the natives are incredibly happy to live there and call it their homeland.

6.  Idaho is a little tricky.  It can come from several origins, including the Salmon River tribe and their words “Ida” meaning salmon, and “ho” meaning tribe – so, the land of “Salmon eaters.”  Or it could come from the Comanche word “Idahi,” although I couldn’t a meaning for that word.  A third source states that the name “Idaho” is a made-up name!  Records indicate that a mining executive named George Willing spoke to Congress about land around a specific mountain peak and made up the name “Idaho,” saying it was a Shoshone phrase “E Dah Hoe (How),” meaning “gem of the mountains.”  Eventually, his lie was discovered but by that time, the name was in common usage and was never changed.  I’d love to hear more from a listener in Idaho!

7. Illinois is derived from the Illini’s word “illiniwek” meaning “best people.” 

8. Iowa is named after the Iowas – or Ioways – a Sioux tribe.  It comes from their word “ah-hee-oo-ba” meaning “sleepy ones.”

9. Kansas is named after the Kaws – or Kansa – Indians, who are another Sioux tribe, with the word meaning “south wind people.”

10. Kentucky is a bit more difficult to determine.  It may be named after the Iroquois word “Ken-tah-ten” meaning “land of tomorrow.” It may have other meanings, too, such as “cane and turkey lands” or “dark and bloody ground.” If you live in, or come from, Kentucky, we’d love to hear from you.

11. Michigan comes from the Chippewa word “Meicigama” meaning “great water.”  Michigan is home to over 64,000 lakes and waterways, including Lake Superior, so it sure does have a lot of great water! 

12. Minnesota comes from the Dakota Indian word “Minisota” meaning “cloudy water” or “sky-tinted water.”

13. Mississippi is derived from the Ojibwe or Algonquin word “misi-ziibi” and means “great river.”  It is named after the great Mississippi River that runs through the state.

14. Missouri comes from a Missouri Sioux word meaning “town of the large canoes,” “wooden canoe people,” “he of the big canoe,” or “river of the big canoes.” I think we can safely say that most people in Missouri back then traveled by canoe!

15. Nebraska comes from the Oto Indians and their word “Nebrathka” meaning “flat water.”

16. New Mexico is said to mean “place of Mexitli,” an Aztec god.

17. Ohio is derived from an Iroquois word meaning “good river.”

18. Oklahoma comes from the Choctaw words “okla humma” and means “red people.”

19/20. South and North Dakota comes from the Sioux word “Dahkota” meaning “friend.”

21. Tennessee comes from Creek and Cherokee origins.  The word “Tanasqui” is said to mean “meeting place,” “winding river,” or “river of the great bend” and was also the name of a Cherokee village.

22. Texas derives from the Caddo Indian word “teyshas,” meaning “friends” or “allies.”

23. Utah comes from the Apache language and their word “yuttahih” meaning “people of the mountains.”

24. Wisconsin is another bit of tricky history.  One source states that the name comes from an Indian word “Wishkonsing” meaning “place of the beaver.” Another source states it comes from Indian words meaning “river running through a red place,” referring to the Wisconsin river running through the red bluffs of the Wisconsin Dells. Maybe someone from Wisconsin can write in and tell us.

25. Wyoming comes from the Delaware Indians and the shortening of their word “mecheweamiing” meaning “at the big plains.” 

We owe a large debt of gratitude to the Native American Indian tribes who settled America long before immigrants arrived from other countries.  They honored the land and took great care of it, only taking what they needed and giving something in return to keep the universe in harmony and balance.  They had great wisdom and were in tune with the land, waters, mountains, and stars.  They listened to, and watched, their environment and mastered how to survive on the land.  They knew the best seasons for hunting, planting, gathering, migration, hibernation, celebrations, and more.  

I think we can learn a lot from these amazing Indian tribes and their timeless wisdom, including some of their proverbs, such as: 

Each of us is put here in this time and this place to personally decide the future of mankind.  Did you think the Creator would create unnecessary people?  Know that you yourself are essential to this world. (Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 1954, Lakota, Dakota, Nakota Nation)

The Earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it.  (Chief Joseph)

Treat the Earth well.  It was not given to you by your parents.  It was loaned to you by your children.  We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. (Ponca Chief White Eagle)

It does not require many words to speak the truth.  (Chief Joseph Nez Perce)

Man has responsibility, not power.  (Tuscarora proverb)

What you do not know, you will fear.  What you fear, you will destroy.

Nothing in nature lives for itself.  Rivers don’t drink their own water.  Trees don’t eat their own fruit. The sun doesn’t shine for itself.  Flowers don’t spread fragrance for themselves.  Living for others is the rule of nature.

Take only what you need and leave the land as you found it.  (Arapaho)

Regard Heaven as your father, Earth as your mother, and all that lives as your brothers and sisters.

Listen to the wind – it talks.  Listen to the silence – it speaks.  Listen to your heart – it knows.

May the footprints we leave behind show that we walked in kindness toward the Earth and every living thing. 

Give me knowledge so I may have kindness for all.

Listen or your tongue will keep you deaf.

So, what do you think about all this amazing Native American Indian history?  Do you live in a town, city, or state with an Indian name?  Or is there a park, river, or mountain in your community with an Indian name?  My friend grew up in the state of Vermont, which means “Vert Mont” or “Green Mountain” in French, but her town also has a river running through it called the Ottaquechee (AWT-ah-KWEE-chee), meaning “swift mountain stream.”  As we have learned from history, early European explorers sometimes changed the names of places they discovered or explored.  So, even if your state’s name does not come from Native American origins, maybe it has a town, river, or mountain with an Indian name.  Why not hunt for these names or ask your parents to help you look on a map for these names?  I would love to hear from you and learn more about your discoveries regarding Native American influences where you live.

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Jim was born on May 28, 1887, in Prague, Oklahoma. He was born on a Native American reservation of the Sak and Faux Nation and was first given the name Wa-Tho-Huk, which means “Bright Path.” His mother was Native American but his father was Irish, so he was also given an English name Jacobus Franciscus Thorpe. Later he became known as James or Jim.

Jim had a tough childhood. His parents were farmers, so he spent time helping them grow crops to survive, but he also learned to hunt and trap animals for food from an early age. He spent much of his time running across the wilderness of Oklahoma, which gave him strong legs and lungs. This is called endurance and he was able to run many miles without stopping to catch his breath. 

Growing up, Jim’s parents tried to get him to attend school, but he usually ran away from school at the first chance he got to instead spend time outdoors. There was a lot going on in Jim’s life at this time. His brother and mother passed away, and he and his father argued and fought. Eventually, his father sent him to a new school in Kansas.

In 1904, life would change for Jim when he started attending Carlisle Industrial School in Pennsylvania. One day he noticed the track-and-field team practicing the high jump. Still wearing his work clothes, he thought he’d give it a try. Jim ran across the field and leapt over the 5 foot 9 high bar and broke the school’s record! No one could believe what they had just seen! One of the coaches named Pop Warner saw what Jim did and encouraged him to join the track-and-field team. Of course, with his strong body and strong heart and lungs, Jim excelled at track-and-field and many other sports at Carlisle. He went on to football, lacrosse, baseball, and even ballroom dancing! Jim ended up winning a very big competition for ballroom dancing in 1912.

But, Jim became best known for his skills on the football field. Coach Pop Warner wasn’t sure how he’d do, but when he gave Jim the chance, he grabbed the ball and dodged around the defending team faster than anyone he’d ever seen. Jim played running back, defensive back, and punter for Carlisle’s football team and scored big wins against teams such as Harvard and West Point. His team went on to win the college national championships thanks to Jim’s skill, strength, and speed. He scored 25 touchdowns that year and 198 points. 

Jim played many sports but football became his favorite and around this time he also started training for the Olympics in the Sprint of 1912. At the practices, he amazed the other athletes with his abilities at jumps, hurdles, and shot-puts. He prepared to compete in several other Olympic events as well. Also, while many of these athletes had been training for years, Jim started just a few months before the Summer Olympic Games. 

In the Summer of 1912, Jim traveled to Stockholm, Sweden with the other members of the U.S. Olympic Team. Jim competed in many events, but his biggest win was in the decathlon, which includes 10 different events – four runs, three jumps, and three throws. He beat the expected winner and placed in the top 4 in all 10 events earning a score of 8,413, which held the record for 20 years. 

During one of the races, Jim went to put on his shoes but couldn’t find them! He looked all over but finally decided to just use whatever he could – a shoe that was way too small, and another shoe that was too big! He used a sock to make the big shoe fit and rushed out to start the race. For the first three laps of the race, Jim was behind, but giving it his on on the final lap, he burst ahead and ended up winning the race, even with his mismatched and odd-fitting shoes!

People from all over the world watching the games were astounded at Jim’s athletic abilities. He brought great attention to the United States and his Sac and Fox Native American heritage. At the 1912 Summer Olympic Games, Jim won two gold medals and legend has it that when he did King Gustav of Sweden said to him “You, sir, are the greatest athlete in the world.” 

After returning to America, Jim Thorpe became a star. This was his first time being famous, so he was surprised to see his name in so many places and have so many people recognize him.

Next, Jim played professional baseball for the New York Giants and with them became the 1913 National League champions. They then went on to tour around the United States with the Chicago White Sox where Jim was a celebrity and attracted even more spectators to the games. On the tour, Jim met the pope and one of the kings of Egypt. He also went on to play baseball for the Cincinnati Reds and the Boston Braves. 

Jim Thorpe was talented in many sports, so after baseball, he decided to take up football again, his favorite sport, and in 1920 joined the Canton Bulldogs. They won three championships together. Two years later the National Football League (NFL) was formed and Jim got to become their first president while he continued playing for the Bulldogs until 1928. 

It’s not as well known, but Jim also played basketball for two years, traveling with a team. Jim loved a variety of sports and more than anything just wanted to stay active, doing what he enjoyed most. 

After he retired from professional sports, Jim continued working but found that he didn’t enjoy most of the other jobs as much as he loved being active and competing as an athlete. It was also a tough time to find jobs because it was the Great Depression when work was hard to come by. One of the jobs was acting in movies such as Westerns or sports movies. In 1951 a movie was made about him called “Jim Thorpe – All American.” 

In many surveys, Jim Thorpe has been voted the greatest athlete of the 20th Century along with athletes such as Michael Jordan, Muhammed Ali, Babe Ruth, Jesse Owens, and Wayne Gretzky. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963 and in 2018 was printed on the Native American dollar coin.

Take a minute to think about what you might learn from the life of Jim Thorpe. Staying active when he was young helped build his body to be strong and healthy. Jim loved to be out and move around. How might you find more ways to stay active? Jim tried many different sports. There are lots of ways to be active. For you, it may be a sport or something as simple as getting out and riding a bike or playing at a playground. What are your favorite ways to stay active? Think about Jim’s willingness to try lots of different things. The first time we try something new, everyone is a beginner! Don’t be afraid to try new things even if you aren’t good at them at first. This is important as you seek new ways to learn and grow.

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Today we’re going to learn about a few of the people who were born in the Navajo Nation and their adventures that started back in 1942, around 80 years ago.

At this time in Europe, World War II has been raging for two years, but in the United States, people are still going about their daily activities – attending school, working in stores, tending family farms, and raising children.  But suddenly, on December 7, 1941, the US state of Hawaii is attacked by enemy planes.  Big battleships are sunk.  Many lives are lost.  The US must respond and save their nation – but how?

A Military Plan

Military leaders get together to discuss a battle plan.  They gather soldiers, ships, tanks, and planes.  Next, they need to find a battle language – a secret code – to relay messages back and forth.  Their enemies are good at cracking codes – they did it in World War I and they are currently doing it in Europe during World War II.  So, what kind of code can they use?  They need a language that is unknown, and very difficult to speak and understand.  During the first World War, the US used Native American languages like Choctaw for their codes. Nineteen Choctaw warriors were sent into battle to relay secret messages.  The enemy couldn’t understand this Choctaw language; they thought the US had created some type of machine to record voices underwater!  However, after WWI, the enemy learned about this code and sent students to the US to learn Choctaw, plus other Native American languages such as Hopi, Comanche, and Cherokee.  The US military leaders need to find a new language – something unknown to most people.  An article about this search is printed in the papers.

The Navajo Code

Philip Johnston reads about this search in the paper and has an idea.  As a child, he was raised on a Navajo reservation with missionary parents, meaning religious people, who helped the Navajo.  He knows how to speak Navajo – a language that is not written has no alphabet and is very difficult to understand.  The same Navajo word can mean different things based on the tone of voice used or if the word is spoken in a high voice, a low voice, or even a rising or falling voice.  This would make a perfect code! 

Philip contacts the US military and, after a lot of convincing, they agree to use Navajo as their code!  They find 29 young Navajo men who are bilingual – meaning they speak Navajo and English – from the Navajo Nation spread across the US states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah.  The men are sent to Camp Elliott in San Diego, California, for boot camp and training.  There is so much to learn:  they need to learn how to jump over high walls, crawl quietly through jungles with huge backpacks, shoot rifles, and hone survival skills like reading maps, building fires, and bandaging wounds.  But these Navajo soldiers have to learn even more.  They have to create and memorize a secret code – plus use a special radio to transmit these codes!

Writing the Code

These young men are smart.  They know that the enemy might understand certain Navajo words, so they turn their language into a secret code!  Sometimes they will use their original Navajo words and sometimes they will change words.  For instance, in English, the word “cat” starts with the letter “C”.  The Navajo word for “cat” is “mosi” (mo-see).  So, now they will use the word “mo-see” to mean the letter C!  They do this trick with all the letters of the English alphabet.  And then they do something even more amazing!  They think of military words like “Captain” or “Patrol Plane” or “Mine Sweeper” and think of animals or objects that look or act like those military objects.  For example, a captain wears a pin with two metal stripes on his uniform.  This striped pin reminds the Navajo of railroad tracks.  So, the code for captain is now “two tracks.”  A patrol plane soars through the sky looking for things below, like troops, or tanks, or ships.  This reminds the Navajo of a bird that likes to fly and look for things on the ground.  Thus, they call a patrol plane a “crow!” And a mine sweeper ship cruises through the water looking for things in its way.  The Navajo code talkers say that’s a “beaver.”  And that is how they build their code – by turning military words into Navajo words with a secret meaning.  Now even a Navajo speaker will not know what they are talking about!  

Implementing the Navajo Code

The Code is ready.  Now it needs to be tested in battle!  Four hundred trained Navajo code talkers are sent to the Pacific islands of Iwo Jima, Tarawa, Guadalcanal, and Bougainville.  The fighting is fierce.  The noise of guns and grenades is deafening at times.  The code talkers work in pairs with no code books; everything is memorized.  They can’t risk the enemy finding the books and learning the code.  They can hardly think, speak, or hear each other with all the noise during intense battles.  And other times they have to be very quiet when speaking on the radio, especially at night, so their voices or the squawk of the radio will not give them away. 

They relay messages day and night – such as where US planes and ships should land or fire, where the enemy is located, where to send more troops, or where to pick up injured soldiers.  This is incredibly important work and is very stressful and tiring – plus they have to stay safe themselves through all this action.  They are always the first to land and the last to leave in battle. They are on the front lines of battles learning important information to pass back to their commanders. It is very hard for them to stay alive and send accurate messages every day; however, they successfully send over 800 messages during the battle of Iwo Jima alone without one mistake! Due to their heroic actions and their secret code, the US wins the famous battle at Iwo Jima.

The Navajo Code Talkers serve for three years in battles all across the Pacific Islands, relaying thousands of messages, saving countless lives, and securing victory in the Pacific with the US Marines.  The enemy never cracks their code.  

Finally, the war ends and the Navajo code breakers return to their homes and families in the Navajo Nation.  Some have died bravely in battle, but many have miraculously survived.  Their code and mission remain secret and confidential for more than 20 years, until details are released in 1968.  That is because the US military continued to use their Navajo code in other battles, such as Vietnam and Korea.

In 1982, President Ronald Reagan honored the code talkers and declared August 14 “Navajo Code Talkers Day.”  In 2000, President Bill Clinton awarded Congressional medals of honor to 29 of the original code talkers, followed by additional award ceremonies in 2001 by President George W. Bush and 2017 by President Donald Trump.  

Code Talker Peter MacDonald states, “What a privilege God had given to us to do that job, for selecting the Navajo!”  He opens his old, faded code book. With a gnarled finger, he traces across the page and lands on the word “America.”  Beside it is the Navajo code: “Our Mother.”  His weathered face breaks into a grin – the Navajo have helped save America, their nation’s mother.

Our Debt to the Navajo Code Talkers

I think we owe a large debt of gratitude to the Navajo Nation and the brave young men who fought so valiantly in the Pacific relaying thousands of messages swiftly and accurately while under extreme battle conditions.  They offer us many important life lessons about duty, honor, service to others bravery, courage, and so much more.  Each of us in our own way has something to offer to the world: a skill, a talent, a helping spirit, or a language!  Just think what amazing things we can accomplish if we work together and help one another.  What is your special gift and what could you do to better your community?

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When was the last time you saw a train? You may have seen one when your car was stopped and you had to wait to watch it pass. Or, maybe you’ve even taken a ride on a train. Trains are extremely important because they move goods and people from one place to another and can do it very quickly. Railroads are one of the most important parts of American History because the country is very big and they helped connect the East and the West.

Many years ago it took a very long time to travel from the East to the West. Most people had to take a boat all the way around the continent, a journey that took months to complete. Travelers could also take a wagon across the dangerous wilderness and tall mountains to get from one side of the country to another. Either way, it was a very difficult journey and kept the country separated in many ways. 

In the 1800s gold was discovered in the West, and many Americans moved there to try and strike it rich. But one major problem was how long it took to get to the gold. One man, Asa Whitney, believed a railroad could be built through the middle of the country. Many doubted this could be done, but Asa made a plan and went to the government with his idea. Unfortunately, at first, no progress was made.

Later, an American named Theodore Judah decided to find a way to build a railroad across the country. He was a surveyor. A surveyor is someone who looks at the land with special tools and finds ways to build roads and buildings on it. Theodore had many good ideas about how the railroad could be built. He had to learn much about math and other sciences in order to design maps that could be used to make a path for the railroad. 

Eventually, two big companies, the Union Pacific Railroad and the Central Pacific Railroad caught the vision of the railroad and decided to make it happen. They would call it the Transcontinental Railroad. “Transcontinental” because it crossed the continent. 

In January 1863, the Central Pacific railroad broke ground on the first part of the railroad in Sacramento, California. In October of the first year, the first rail was laid. In December 1863, the Union Pacific Railroad broke ground on its part of the railroad which started in Omaha, Nebraska. But because of the Civil War, the first rail wasn’t laid until July 1865. One company would be building East, the other building West, with plans to meet somewhere in the middle.

Building the railroad across the United States was a dangerous task and extremely difficult at times. General Grenville Dodge was one of the first chief engineers working for the Union Pacific Railroad. During the first part of the construction, he and his teams laid rails on Native American land. Members of the Sioux, Arapaho, and Cheyenne tribes were outraged by the invasion of their lands. They called the train an “iron horse” and feared it would only bring more settlers to their sacred lands. The tribes attacked the workers, doing anything they could to try and slow the progress of the railroad. But the railroad continued to be built anyway and as it did, new towns popped up along the way. These towns became wild places with saloons and outlaws. The kind of places you can imagine from Wild West books and movies. Construction by the Union Pacific railroad moved very fast because it was flat plains. The Central Pacific, on the other hand, was built through the Sierra Nevada mountains. 

Building through huge mountains and wide rivers was a very difficult task, as you can imagine. They had to build tall bridges across the rivers. For mountains, they laid tracks around them when they could, but often they had to build tunnels through the mountains. To do this they dug deep holes, placed gunpowder in them, and blew up the rock to create even deeper holes. Pickaxes and explosives were used to create 15 tunnels through the mountains. Many smart engineers worked on creating a path for 2,000 miles of track. Railroad tracks were laid by pounding spikes into railroad ties. All of this work was done by hand, pounding each spike in with a hammer.

One ethnic group that did most of the work was Chinese immigrants. An immigrant is someone who moves from a different country. Chinese immigrants moved to the United States hoping for a better life where they could find work. The railroad was that opportunity for work that many Americans weren’t willing to do at the time. Eventually, over 15,000 Chinese immigrants applied for the job. They worked long and hard hours through hot summers and freezing cold winters. They moved the rock with shovels and wheelbarrows and pounded railroad ties with hammers. They built scaffolding and did blacksmith and explosive work, too. Sadly, the work was extremely dangerous and workers were often treated poorly. Many didn’t survive the hazardous job. At one point the work was so dangerous, that the Chinese immigrants striked. This means they refused to work until conditions and pay improved. Company leaders didn’t raise their pay, but after the strike, they were worried about another strike so agreed to improve their work conditions.   

In 1869, after eight years of work, the Union Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific Railroad met in the middle at Promontory Point, Utah. They threw a big party to celebrate the completion of the railroad. A gold spike had been prepared as the last spike in the railroad. The President of the Central Pacific Railroad, Governor Stanford gave a speech and then lifted a hammer to pound the last spike into the ground. But the funny thing was, he swung and missed! The crowd burst out laughing. Stanford swung again and pounded the gold spike in. Everyone cheered! 

News of the finished railroad was sent by telegram to both parts of the country. When it reached New York and California people fired off cannons to show their excitement. It was an exciting time for the United States of America! A trip across the country that had taken many months now only took 10 days! Before the railroad, it cost $1,000 to travel from the East to the West coast. Now it was only $150, which gave more people the opportunity to travel across the country. It united the East and West and also meant families could also be more easily united and business could happen faster. It also brought more immigrants and Americans to the West Coast. And as you can imagine resulted in more conflicts with Native Americans who were desperately fighting for their land. 

The new Transcontinental Railroad was an engineering miracle involving many smart engineers, ambitious business people, and very hard workers who gave so much to make this new technology a reality. Spend some time thinking about the technologies in your life that make it easier. Cars that get you places, trains that move goods around, and airplanes that can take you to distant places. Also, think about the people who invented these amazing technologies and the hard work and determination it took to make these big ideas a reality.

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Today, I’m going to ask you to close your eyes and imagine. But I don’t need you to picture anything in your imagination this time. Instead, just imagine you’re in a dark place. It’s chilly and a little damp. The walls are cold and hard, like they’re made out of rock. You say something, and you hear your voice echo off the walls and back to you. Finally, you find a flashlight in your backpack and turn it on. 

Where are you? 

If you guessed that you’re in a cave, you’re right! If you’ve ever wanted to go spelunking–that’s what it’s called when you explore a cave–then this episode is for you. And we’re not just exploring any old cave. We’re going deep into the history of the longest cave system in the world: Mammoth Cave in the state of Kentucky, in the USA. Mammoth Cave became a National Park in 1941, but it had a long and fascinating history before that.

Caves like Mammoth form when water slowly wears away at the rocks underground, creating underground caverns and tunnels. Mammoth Cave has over 400 miles of tunnels and caverns, and it’s still being mapped. In fact, explorers recently found 8 more miles of passages! The cave is also home to some unique animal life, such as bats, salamanders, and  blind cave fish. Did I mention there are actually rivers inside the cave?!

Not only are there rivers in the cave now, but 300 million years ago, the whole area was a sea! Limestone formed slowly from fine sands at the bottom of the ocean and created fossils of ancient sea creatures. So today, scientists and visitors can find fossils of everything from small shellfish to giant, ancient sharks, even though the oceans are thousands of miles away now! Later on in the cave’s history, other animals were fossilized in the cave as well. 

Mammoth Cave isn’t just interesting for what it can tell us about Earth’s past though. It’s a part of many fascinating stories about human beings too!

The first humans to explore Mammoth cave were Native Americans. Woodland Native Americans explored and used the cave over 4,000 years ago. There’s evidence that they explored at least 19 miles of the cave’s passages. They mined minerals from the cave walls, which they may have used for medicinal or religious purposes, but scientists aren’t really sure. They left many items behind in the cave, like gourd bowls, torches used to light the way, and sandals. They also made artwork by carving into the rock walls or drawing on them using charcoal.  

European Americans discovered Mammoth Cave in the 1790s. They discovered that the cave contained saltpeter, which was used in making gunpowder. They began mining for saltpeter using enslaved laborers. This went on through the war of 1812, but after that, the need for saltpeter for gunpowder decreased. Within a few years, the owners of the cave started giving tours to curious visitors. 

In the 1840s, one owner of the property, Dr. John Croghan, built a small hospital for tuberculosis patients inside the cave. He had noticed that logs and artifacts inside the cave didn’t seem to break down like things left outside on the surface. He reasoned that maybe something about the cave had the power to keep things from decaying. Maybe the cave air could help people suffering from the disease to recover. If the cave worked as a treatment, he planned to set up a whole hotel inside for treating sick people. Unfortunately, the cave didn’t turn out to be a magical cure for tuberculosis: his patients got worse instead of better, and he closed it down after a few months.

It wasn’t a total loss for Dr. Croghan though. By this time, the cave had become a very popular tourist destination, and Dr. Croghan, like the previous owner, sold tours of the cave in addition to having his hospital. This was still before the Civil War that ended slavery in America, and sadly, most of the tour guides were enslaved African American men. This brings us to one of the most interesting parts of Mammoth Cave’s history.

The most famous of these tour guides was Stephen Bishop. He explored many new areas of the cave, using ropes to find his way back and torches to light the pitch-black passageways. He built a bridge over one of the caves’ deepest chasms, known as the Bottomless Pit, so that tour groups could see more parts of the cave. He also drew one of the first maps of the system based on his explorations. 

But Stephen Bishop wasn’t just a brave explorer. He had an expert-level knowledge of geology and mineralogy. Professors of geology who visited the cave were astounded by his knowledge. Bishop was famous well beyond Kentucky. Well-known and influential visitors to the cave spread the word about his brilliance and recommended that others request him as their guide should they visit. 

Two other early guides were Nick and Mat Bransford. Nick and Mat weren’t brothers but instead shared the same last name because, sadly, they were both owned by the same man. It was a common practice for enslaved people to be given their owner’s last name. Mat was one of the earliest tour guides. He was eventually freed and continued to work at Mammoth Cave as a guide, but paid. His son Henry and his grandchildren, Louis and Matt also worked as paid tour guides at the cave well into the twentieth century. The family tradition didn’t stop there though: his great-great-great-grandson works there as a park ranger now! 

Nick Bransford was also an enslaved tour guide and may have also done other work above ground on the cave property. Nick didn’t want to wait to be freed: he made a plan to buy his freedom. He asked his master how much it would cost to buy his freedom. When he finished his required tours and other work each day, he went back to the cave and captured eyeless fish from the underground springs. He then sold the unusual fish to tourists to earn extra money. After years of doing this, he was finally able to buy his freedom. He went on to become an important person in his community, donating land for a school. He stayed on at Mammoth Cave as a tour guide for over 50 years! 

Some of the visitors to Mammoth cave were famous and powerful–writers, politicians, even royalty. Though outside the cave, Stephen, Mat, and Nick were viewed as property as slaves, tourists inside the cave relied on them to keep them alive and safe during their visit. The cave could be a dangerous place for people who weren’t familiar with its layout and hazards. There were chasms and underground rivers that tourists could fall into if they weren’t careful. This included dead ends, slippery pathways, and loose rocks that could fall. Lamps and candles could blow out, leaving people in total darkness. Stephen, Mat, and Nick made sure their guests were safe by knowing the routes and the dangers, and being alert and prepared for any accidents. Most visitors respected these men for their bravery, knowledge, and skills because without them, going into the cave would have meant risking their lives. 

Though they all eventually gained their freedom and ended up working at the cave as paid workers, their lives as enslaved workers were unfair and, at times, harsh. Conditions in the cave were dangerous, as we’ve seen. Three of Mat Bransford’s children were sold away from him to different owners. But all three men, as well as other enslaved guides who worked at the cave,  showed that they were brave, capable, and accomplished individuals who deserved respect and admiration.  The same might be said for millions of other people who endured slavery in the United States, but whose stories we don’t know. Stephen, Mat, and Nick all wrote their names on the walls of Mammoth Cave in candle smoke. Even when people are forced into terrible situations, they are still capable of rising up–or going deep in the case of Mammoth Cave–and leaving their mark.

Mammoth Cave is an amazing natural wonder, but people like Stephen Bishop, Mat Bransford, and Nick Bransford give it an important human history as well. The world is full of natural places that also have interesting human stories–stories with twists, turns, and strange surprises, just like Mammoth Cave. So grab your flashlight and go exploring!

Sources

https://www.livescience.com/mammoth-cave-system-kentucky-record

https://www.nps.gov/media/video/view.htm?id=4EF84A9E-54F7-483C-BB54-A940BFAECBB8

https://www.nps.gov/maca/learn/historyculture/native-americans.htm

https://www.nps.gov/people/mat-bransford.htm

https://www.nps.gov/people/nick-bransford.htm

https://www.nps.gov/people/stephen-bishop.htm

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/enslaved-tour-guide-stephen-bishop-made-mammoth-cave-must-see-destination-it-today-180971424/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Bishop_(cave_explorer)

Recommended Reading

Bradbury, Jennifer, 2015. River Runs Deep. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, New York.

Hensen, Heather, 2016. Lift your Light a Little Higher: The story of Stephen Bishop: slave-explorer. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, New York.

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In case you didn’t know, in the United States, November is Native American Heritage month when we take the time to recognize the importance of Native Americans in the history of our country. Learning about the First Americans and the history of indigenous peoples in North and South America has been one of my favorite subjects over the years. We’ve done episodes about the Mayans who lived in Central America and famous Native Americans like Sacajawea, Sitting Bull, and Bessie Coleman. But I’ve yet to do an episode about a broader history of Native Americans in North America, how they got here, and their fascinating history and contributions.

For a very long time, North America was full of plant and animal life. There were mammoths, bison, bear and wolves, and the vast forests and deserts we see today — but no humans. Some of the other continents like Africa, Europe and Asia had humans but not the Americas because they had started out on the other side of the world. During the Ice Age something extraordinary happened that would change the history of the Earth forever. Where Alaska and Russia are today there is water separating the two lands called the Bering Strait. But around 2 ½ million years ago much of the world’s water became trapped in ice and so the sea level lowered and a land bridge formed between Alaska and Russia. This land bridge was later named Beringia and ancient humans in Asia found this land and crossed it around 15,000 or more years ago. Some even think they may have come as early as 30,000 years ago. That’s a very long time! Evidence shows that this is how humans ended up in North and South American and over the years moved down through the continents to populate it in many different areas. It’s believed that multiple groups crossed the land bridge before the Ice Age ended and the land was once again covered up by the sea. 

One very important thing to keep in mind is that most Native Americans today trace their heritage back to these groups, but this doesn’t mean they ended up being just alike. So when you hear about groups like the Mayans or the Hohokam or Cherokee or Sioux, remember that they ended up being very different in language and culture and looks. I compare it to Europeans today. We don’t think of the Germans and English and French as one people but very different because their language and customers are very different along with their heritage. 

So over time these different groups ended up in different parts of America, but we’re mostly going to focus on the North America Native Americans, who settled all throughout what is today the United States and Canada. Some ended up in California, others in the deserts of Arizona. Some made their home in the forests of Washington or along the oceans of the East Coast in New York, South Carolina, and Florida. And as we said before, as each group settled in a new area, they became very different over the thousands of years that they stayed with their same groups. Their language changed, their looks changed, and they each had unique customs and beliefs that made them different. One mistake Europeans made when they came to America was assuming these people were all the same and falsely labeled them “Indians,” and often treated them as the same group, but in reality they were very unique and special in their own way.

In the Americas, the new people found many plants and animals to survive. They hunted mammoths and bison, the gigantic creatures that roamed the forests and plains of this new country. They learned how to survive by following these animals which they used for food, clothing, and shelter. Like most indigenous people, they worked hard and used their creativity and the natural world around them to keep their families alive. This was not an easy task as you can imagine! They often spent long hours hunting animals, scavenging berries, and other food, and building shelter to avoid the cold, rain and other harsh elements. We know some things about these people today based on the materials they left behind, the things they made. This is called material culture. For example, many Native Americans in the Clovis culture shaped sharp spear heads out of stone that they used to hunt big animals like the mammoths. Archeologists have found the bones of these animals with spear points in them from when the Clovis people hunted them. 

Many of these people were hunter-gatherers, which means that they were often on the move and followed the animals they were hunting, or changed locations depending on what food was available or the weather. For example, they went north when it was hot and south when it was cold. But over time, some of these groups discovered farming and were able to stay in one place. Usually this was by a big body of water like a lake or river so they had plenty of water for their food they grew, also called crops.

One of the biggest civilizations to form was called the Mississippian Culture around 1,000 years ago around the Mississippi River. They planted corn on huge farms. This let them stay in one place because they didn’t have to chase their food. They formed complex societies with kings and held religious ceremonies led by priests. Many of these Native Amerians were artisans, which means they created art and made beautiful jewelry. They also made pots out of clay called pottery and painted it in beautiful and creative ways. These people traded jewelry and pottery and food between cities that were spread out across the United States and Canada. In these cities, they built huge mounds of earth for their temples on top and to bury their dead beneath. These gigantic mounds can still be seen today in states like Illinois, which is one reason we know about the Mississippian Culture along with all of the artifacts they left behind.

So this morning, we all got up and ate breakfast. Then I loaded the kids into the car and we drove south of our home 40 minutes to the Casa Grande National Monument in Arizona. Casa Grande means Big or Great House in Spanish and was the home of the Hohokam people who lived throughout the Southwest, which includes California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas. The Hohokam were extraordinary people. They found ways to live in very hot, dry climates with very little water and lush plant life like other places in the country. They did this by making use of what plants they had and used rivers to irrigate their farms. They ate fruit from cactus and grew corn, beans and squash. Because their farms weren’t right next to the river, they spent years of hard labor digging canals and irrigation ditches to move water from the river to their farms. When white settlers eventually moved into these areas, they were able to reuse these canals to water their own farms. In fact, many of the canals we use today where I live were originally dug by these Native American people. 

The Great House we visited is one of the few structures of its kind in the United States and was made using the hard soil called caliche and rocks and other materials even though it was constructed nearly 1,000 years ago it still stands. Check out the video link in the show description to see more of our visit to Casa Grande. The kids enjoyed seeing this amazing structure, walking through its various rooms, and imagining what it might have been like to live among the Hohokam People. It gave them an appreciation for these people who lived long before us and their hardiness and talent for being able to live off the land, especially in a very hot and dry place without all of the modern conveniences we have. Be sure to look up to see if you have Native American ruins or sites near where you live. It’s an awesome experience if you get the chance.

The ancestors of the Hohokam and the Pueblo cultures who also lived in the Southwest were the Mogollon people and Ancestral Puebloans, many of whom lived in present-day Colorado and whose fascinating homes can be seen at Mesa Verde National Park. You’ll have to look up the photos of Mesa Verde, but the people there build their homes up on the side of the mountains called cliff dwellings. Here they were able to defend their homes using towers and tunnels to move around during battle. The Mogollon culture also farmed and traded with other tribes and were very talented basketmakers.  

In 1492, Christopher Columbus reached the shores of the Americas by boat. He was surprised to find it and thought he’d run into India not an entirely new continent. Once Columbus returned to Europe and told everyone about the New World he’d discovered, other explorers chartered ships and left to see what kind of land and riches they could discover there. Along with a new land, they were surprised to find new people and with each explorer the contact with the Native Americans was different. Some explorers came searching for gold and often they treated the indigenous people as slaves making them try and dig for gold. Sometimes the Europeans came as missionaries and tried to be helpful but weren’t respectful of the Native Americans cultures and way of life. In some cases fights took place between the Europeans and Native Americans and in other cases they got along and helped each other out. They often traded with each other. Europeans were interested in the new foods, plants, and animals in the New World and Native Americans were interested in the same things from the Old World. These plants and animals moved between the different continents and now we call this The Columbian Exchange.

With the movement of people between the Old and New World also came diseases. In Europe, people lived in cities with huge numbers of people living in a very small area and around animals. They had experienced diseases, such as the Bubonic Plague, but having lived through the diseases they were immune to them. Tragically, the Native Americans were not. New diseases caused a massive loss of life. Where Native Americans once thrived across the continent from coast to coast, after years of disease they were left with very small groups. Some even think only 5% of the population was left. This left these small groups to try and survive and deal with more and more settlers coming to their land.

If you’re familiar with the story of Thanksgiving, one reason the Wampanoag tribe that held their harvest feast with the Pilgrims was so small, because of this disease that had ravaged their tribe. In this story, the Wampanoag were recovering from disease and small numbers and the Pilgrims were also suffering, too. The feast was a time of peace and Thanksgiving between the two groups of people. Like we said before, peace didn’t always last between groups like the Wampanoag and the Pilgrims. Sometimes the people of the Old and New World got along, but in many cases, they did not. 

In 1622, Powhatan Indians attacked colonists in Virginia to try and remove them from their land, and as is often the case with violent conflict, later the colonists fought back. Later, came King Phillip’s War between the Wampanoag and the Puritan settlers in Massachusetts. And as more and more colonists moved from Europe to North America, the Native American people had to move further away from the coasts and into more remote parts of the country. They increasingly found themselves battling settlers, on the run, and trying to find a safe place for their families as more of the land was settled by foreigners. 

For some groups, the safest places were the unsettled ones like the Plains. The Plains are a large area of flat land in the middle section of North America which now includes Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and other states. Here, for a time tribes like the Lakota, Sioux, Kiowa, Arapaho, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Comanche and Crow were able to survive and make a livelihood like their families. Their ancestors had lived as hunter-gatherers in these areas for thousands of years before, but one thing that changed their life after contact with Europe was the horse. You may not know it, but the horse didn’t make its way to America until the 1700s. Plains Indians were able to breed horses, tame them, and use them to move quickly across the land. They became excellent horsemen and used the speed of the horses to hunt. Also, roaming the plains at the time were huge numbers of bison, also known as buffalo. Have you seen a buffalo before? They are large cow-like animals with brown hair and horns. Groups like the Lakota Sioux, were also experts at archery, using a bow-and-arrow. They would ride up alongside the buffalo herds and fire at them until bringing down these massive animals. They used their skins for clothing and shelter and meat and other parts of their body for food. The Plains Indians were known for their bravery and skills in battle and were often feared by settlers who tried to take their lands. Some of the most famous Plains Indians and warriors were Sacajawea, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and Red Cloud. Sadly, over time, like other tribes, they were pushed further into more remote parts of North America. Eventually, many of them were forced onto reservations. A reservation was a place set aside where they could live in peace, but in most cases, this wasn’t the land of their ancestors, wasn’t desirable, land they didn’t want. 

Native Americans who those times have continued to be an important part of its history. As you know, I’m a big fan of World War II history, and sometimes a lesser-known part of the history there is that Native Americans played a big part in fighting in the war and also sending coded messages. Soldiers who spoke English and their tribal language were able to send messages back and forth by radio. Languages like Navajo and Choctaw were totally unknown to their enemies, so when the enemy tried to listen in to the messages going back and forth they couldn’t understand them. And enemy soldiers definitely didn’t have Native American translators on the battlefield. Along with the Navajo and Choctaw code talkers, there were at least 14 other Native American tribes who were code talkers during World War 2. Code Talkers were in both Europe and the Pacific and took place in major battles such as D-Day and Iowa Jima. If you’ve ever seen the photo or statues of soldiers raising a flag that’s Iowa Jima, and one of the soldiers is Ira Hayes, an Akimel O’odham Native American and United States Marine from Arizona. 

Later, during the Space Race, one of the NASA engineers who helped send the astronauts to the moon was a Native American Cherokee woman by the name of Mary Golda Ross. She also helped design top secret missiles and aircraft. 

The first Native American astronaut to go to space is named John Herrington of the Chicksaw Nation. He took place in the 16th shuttle mission to the International Space Station in 2002. To honor his people during the mission he carried six eagle feathers, a braid of sweetgrass, two arrowheads, and the Chickasaw Nation’s flag.

Other well-known Native American scientists and engineers are Aaron Yazziem, who worked on the Mars landers and Thomas David Petite, who has done work on smart grid technology.

In 2020, six Native American and Native Hawaiians were elected to Congress, and others have served in other parts of the government over the years, which include governors of Hawaii, New Hampshire, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.

With November being Native American Heritage, take the time to research the history of these different cultures and the contributions of their people in our day. I’ve enjoyed learning more about the cultures in my state such as the Hohokam, Pueblo, and Navajo. Check out the video in the show description of us visiting the Casa Grande ruins near us. Also, last night I was just reading that right where I live there were Native American settlements hundreds of years ago. Recently, I’ve had the chance to see sites where these people lived and hiked in places where they once walked. On these hikes, I’ve been able to spend time reflecting what it might have been like to live when they did. Thinking of them made me grateful for their way of life and even today we use miles and miles of canals that they dug hundreds of years ago. 

Also, if there’s someone you know that’s Native American, get the chance to know them better. Ask them stories about their life and their ancestors. There are also many great museums and shows on these topics. Take the time to learn more about Native Americans in your part of the country, or if you live outside of the United States, I’m willing to bet there were indigenous people who once lived in your area. Take the time to learn more about them and consider with respect their lives and what they did in their time.

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Have you ever gone camping? When you camp, you’re usually in a place where there isn’t wifi or cell reception, or even electricity. You have to figure out ways to entertain yourself that don’t involve movies, TV, or the internet. If you haven’t been in that situation, take a moment to imagine what you would do. You could take a walk and explore nature, read a book, or play a board or card game. 

But what about when it gets dark? If you’ve been camping, you know that once it’s dark, you can’t really do any of those things easily. Instead, you might build a fire and take turns telling stories– stories about your past, characters you’ve made up, or even ghost stories. 

If you’ve had this experience, then you know something about the topic of today’s episode. Today, we’re going to talk about how people entertained themselves, and learned, before there was electricity for things like lights, cellphones, and TVs. Before there were many books. And, in some cases, before there was even writing. Although humans have had writing for thousands of years, until the last few hundreds of year, most people in the world couldn’t even read. Books were also expensive and hard to find for a very long time, so even if you could read, you probably wouldn’t own a lot of books. 

Instead, people told each other stories. People have probably been telling stories to each other for as long as they’ve been talking. Since humans have always lived in groups, the really good stories would be told over and over again. They would be passed down from parents or grandparents to children, generation after generation. And over time they would change. Each person who told the story might add their own details, while keeping the basic plot and characters in place. Every culture in the world has stories that are passed down orally, which means they are telling them by speaking and by memory. Some stories are written down later, but many never are.  

Today we call this “oral tradition.” The “oral” part means it’s spoken–not written down– and the “tradition” part means it’s something that people pass down from generation to generation over a long time.  But this is just a modern way of talking about something that people have been doing for tens of thousands of years. 

We also just call it “storytelling.”

As you probably know, people still do this, any time someone tells a story from memory, without reading it from a book. Maybe it’s one that they’ve made up. Maybe they heard someone else tell it. Maybe their great-great-great- grandmother was the first to tell it, and it was so good, the family has been telling it to their children ever since.  

Many religious stories were passed down as oral traditions for hundreds of years before being written down. Many people today still memorize and re-tell them, even though they’re written down. The Christian Bible, the Jewish Torah, the Hindu Vedas – all of these religious teachings were passed down by people who memorized them and re-told them to the young in their families or communities. They wanted to keep the stories about their beliefs and morals alive.   

Families have their own stories as well. Some families have stories about a great-grandparent or aunt or other ancestor who did something exciting or remarkable, and these stories might be passed down orally too. 

Often, traditional stories would start out as real history. Imagine listening to a live Bedtime History podcast while sitting around a campfire!  A war would be fought, or a king would rule wisely and make sacrifices for his people. People who lived through the actual events would tell their families about them. As time went on, the children would grow and tell the stories to their children and grandchildren. 

Different storytellers would add things. They might change things in order to teach a lesson. A god might come into the story to help the wise king, or punish a bad ruler. A war might last ten years instead of two and start because of a quarrel between the gods. Magic and miracles would make their way in.

These stories would grow more exciting and fantastic over the years. There would be arguments between gods and people. Heroes would go on daring voyages and fight evil monsters. They would become stronger or larger than real-life people. They were a lot like the superheroes you find in comics or movies now. In fact, gods and heroes that started out in traditional stories do come up in modern superhero movies – Thor and Loki from the Marvel universe were originally Norse gods! Just like in the Marvel-universe, the same characters would come up again and again. They’d have their own habits and personalities. They would repeat the same mistakes. People would get to know them as if they were real.

But these stories didn’t just talk about history made by humans. Many traditional stories tell about the land and our planet as well. They tell people how to find food or water and survive where they live. Sometimes, stories talk about meteors, floods, and volcanic eruptions. Many of you have probably heard the story of Noah’s ark and the flood in the bible. This isn’t the only story about a flood though. The ancient Mesopotamians, who lived in what is now Iraq, had a story about a giant flood too. It’s part of the story of the hero-king Gilgamesh. The ancient Chinese, Native Americans, Australian Aborigines, and many other cultures also have flood stories.  

Some traditional stories talk about specific natural events in Earth’s past. The Klamath people, a Native American tribe from the northwestern United States, have a story about how a specific mountain lake formed. The story tells about a god who lived under a mountain, who wanted to marry a woman from a nearby village. When she refused him, he began raging, throwing rocks and fire out of the mountain. Finally, another god helped the village people by pushing the mountain god and his fire back down under the ground, leaving a deep crater that became a lake. 

Stories like this give us an idea about how long oral traditions can be passed down. The lake, which is in Oregon, is now called Crater Lake. Scientists have discovered that the eruption that created the lake happened over 7 thousand years ago. It hasn’t erupted again since, which means this story may have been passed down from generation to generation for a very long time!

Often, a person in a community had a job to memorize and tell stories. These storytellers, sometimes called bards or rhapsodes, did their best to make the stories interesting and exciting. Sometimes, they would dance, wear masks, act out the action, or clown around while telling the stories. 

You may be wondering how on earth a storyteller could remember so many stories without writing them down. Today, we are very used to having things written down. Reading and writing are part of school, and we’re told they are very important skills. And they are. But in the past, before writing was invented, and then before most people could read, memory was just as important. People had to be able to remember a lot of information just to be able to survive – to find food and water, and make shelters. Stories helped them do this, and they also helped people learn about their culture’s history and beliefs. 

Still, some stories that were passed down orally were very long! Many of these stories were told as poems. They are often called epic poems. For the most part, the stories that went into these poems weren’t told all at once, and one bard probably wouldn’t memorize all of them. But still, many did memorize poems as long as books. 

Telling the stories as poems made them easier to memorize, because poems have a regular rhythm. Sometimes they were even set to music. They would also repeat certain lines over and over. For example, an epic poem might always describe the sunrise on a new day with a particular line, such as:

  Dawn stretched her rosy fingers over the sea.

A line like this might be in several different stories, and be repeated many times in one story. All this would help others remember as well, so they could go on to tell the stories later. 

Many stories have been collected and written down as epics. A Finnish epic poem called the Kalevala was told for hundreds of years before being written down in the 19th century. It tells the traditional Finnish myth of the creation of the earth and the life of the first man.

The most famous epics are probably the poems the Iliad and the Odyssey, from ancient Greece. The Iliad tells the story of a war the Greeks fought over a woman named Helen, who was said to be the most beautiful in the world. It focuses on the hero Achilles, who must put aside his argument with a friend in order to help win the war. The Odyssey tells the story of the journey another king, Odysseus, took to get home after the war. Both of these poems are hundreds of pages long.

But that’s nothing compared to the longest epic poem! That title goes to the Mahabharata, from India. It tells the story of a war between two royal families that took place in the 8th or 9th century BCE, and was written down in the 4th century BCE. Can you guess how long it was? The length of a poem is usually talked about in terms of number of lines. The Mahabharata is over one hundred thousand lines! As a book, that’s close to one thousand pages.

Every culture on Earth has its own set of stories that has been passed down over hundreds, if not thousands of years. The Australian Indigineous people have traditional stories about their coasts being flooded as the last ice age ended about 10 thousand years ago. Stories of a Swahili hero-king named Liyongo have survived since the middle ages. Many fairy tales that you likely know, like Little Red Riding Hood or Hansel and Gretel come from German stories that were passed down orally for a long time before being written down. These are just a few examples – there are hundreds more!

Take a few minutes to think about someone important to you who’s lived a lot longer than you. Maybe a parent or grandparent, a neighbor or a teacher. Take some time soon to sit down with them and ask them to tell you a story about what things were like when they were young. You might ask about an important event that they lived through, or how they played when they were children, what their house was like or if they had any pets. You never know what you’ll learn! Maybe when you get older, you can tell your children or grandchildren these stories. Or, you might like them so much, you decide to write them down. You will be continuing the oral tradition, but more importantly, you will hear some wonderful stories and be entertained and learn from them, too!

Sources

https://scroll.in/article/806662/the-mahabharata-how-an-oral-narrative-of-the-bards-became-the-didactic-text-of-the-brahmins

https://africanpoems.net/epic/introduction-to-epics/

https://www.britannica.com/topic/oral-tradition

Nunn, Patrick, 2018. The Edge of Memory: Ancient Stories, Oral Tradition and the Post-Glacial World. Bloomsbury Sigma, London. 

https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2015/marchapril/feature/how-the-grimm-brothers-saved-the-fairy-tale

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Imagine you’re a pilot, thousands of feet above the earth on an airplane. You look down from your cockpit at the patchwork of fields and tiny, Lego-sized houses below you. You’re planning your route, but you’re not trying to get from point A to point B. Instead of flying a straight line, you dive towards the ground, falling faster and faster until, just feet from the ground, you pull up the nose of the plane, thrilling the crowd of onlookers nearby. You corkscrew through the air, fly figure eights, and loop upside down as the crowds gasp and cheer below. You are a barnstormer, a stunt pilot in the 1920s, performing daredevil feats thousands of feet above your awestruck fans. 

Today we’re going to learn about a world-famous pilot, Bessie Coleman, who was remarkable but for many other reasons. She was not only a great pilot, she was also the first African American woman to earn a pilot’s license, and the first woman anywhere to have an international pilot’s license. Because her father was part Native American, she was also the first Native American female pilot. Not only that, she always tried to use her fame to help other black people and women. Sadly, at the time, both groups experienced a lot of discrimination in America. 

Bessie’s story begins before airplanes were even invented, and only 27 years after the end of slavery in the United States. She was born in 1892 to African American sharecroppers in Texas, one of nine children. As a child, and then teenager, she worked picking cotton and washing other people’s laundry. She attended segregated schools, but was a good student, especially in math. Under segregation, many states in the southern part of the United States had laws forcing blacks to go to different schools from whites, among other unfair rules. Even though she came from a poor background, and had to deal with unfair laws, Bessie had a goal of going to college, and as a young woman attended Langston University in Oklahoma. Unfortunately, she ran out of money and had to return home after one term. 

Soon after returning home, Bessie and two of her brothers decided to try to start a new life in Chicago. They moved north, where Bessie became a manicurist. She worked in a barber shop called the White Sox Barber Shop on the south side of Chicago. She became known for having the fastest hands in the city when it came to giving manicures.

She learned about piloting and airplanes from veterans, including her brothers, who had returned home from World War I. Bessie became fascinated by airplanes and flying. Her brothers would tease her though, saying she’d never be able to fly like some of the women they’d met in France during the war. 

But telling someone they can’t do something is often a sure-fire way to make them want to do it. So right then and there, Bessie decided she would become a pilot and prove her brothers wrong. But her brothers, weren’t the only people she’d have to prove wrong. At the time, there were no flight schools in the United States that would train women or African Americans. 

But there was France. Bessie didn’t have a lot of money, but she knew that if she could get to France, she could train as a pilot there. Her race and gender didn’t matter to the flight schools in France. To earn the money she would need, she began working a second job at a chili restaurant and learning French at night. She also began talking to some of the people who came to the barbershop. Many of the clients there were wealthy and influential.

It was at the barber shop that she met a lawyer and newspaper owner named Robert Abbot. Abbot published the Chicago Defender, one of the largest black-owned newspapers in the country. When he learned about Bessie’s passion to become a pilot, he decided to help. He published a story about her in his paper. His newspaper had more readers than any other black-owned newspaper in the country at the time, so the story got a lot of attention. A banker named Jesse Binga stepped up, and he and The newspaper helped pay for Bessie’s travel to Paris for pilot training. 

Since airplanes were so new, it was still not possible to fly across the Atlantic ocean from the US to France, so Bessie took a boat. She had been accepted to a flight school there, and completed her training in a biplane called a Nieuport 80. A biplane had two sets of wings, one on top of the other.

When Bessie returned to the US with her pilot’s license, she made headlines in black newspapers and aviation magazines across the country. She told reporters that she wanted to open a flight school for women and people of color. 

However, since aviation was so new, there weren’t many jobs for pilots at the time. There were no major airlines that flew people around the country like there are now. Most packages and mail were still moved by trains or ships. And again, Bessie faced discrimination because of her race and gender. She was unable to get one of the few piloting jobs there were.  

Instead of flying for airlines or shipping companies like they do now, many pilots in the 1920s earned money as barnstormers. They would fly to a new town, land in a farm, and ask the farmer to let them perform using their fields as runways. They performed stunts such as loops, dives, and figure eights. They also offered rides to people for money. Bessie decided to become a stunt pilot, and returned to France for more training. 

After Bessie returned to the US this time, she traveled around the country performing daredevil stunts for crowds of people. The Defender newspaper called her “the world’s greatest woman flyer.” She was nicknamed “Queen Bess” and “Brave Bess.”

Bessie loved her job, and used her growing fame to fight racism. In the 1920s, segregation and discrimination were still widespread in America, and were part of the law in many states. Bessie worked with other activists and gave interviews and speeches about ending racism. She refused to participate in any air show that didn’t allow black people to attend. In her hometown in Texas, she had to argue with the producers of an airshow to allow blacks and whites to come in through the same gate, but even then, they were forced to sit in a separate section.

Bessie became so well known, she was asked to star in a movie about a female pilot. Though the movie was to be made by a black-owned production company, Bessie was not happy with how they wanted to portray her. They asked her to wear rags and act as though she was uneducated, negative stereotypes of black people that were very common at the time. Bessie refused. She walked off the set and didn’t return. She wasn’t interested in being famous just for attention. She wanted to use her fame to improve conditions for other African Americans, and she realized  that this movie would not help her do that. 

But other opportunities awaited Bessie. A company that made tires in Oakland, California reached out to her. They wanted her to be their spokesperson and fly over the city dropping messages on paper about their tires. Bessie accepted the offer and went to California. There she flew and appeared in newspaper ads for the tire company. 

It was also in California that Bessie experienced another setback, this time a more serious one. In February 1923, she crashed her plane after the engine stopped working suddenly. She survived with a broken leg and ribs, as well as some cuts. The injuries didn’t stop her though: She said that as soon as she could walk again, she would fly. After several months, she fully recovered and went back to stunt flying. 

Bessie moved to Florida, where a preacher and his wife had offered to give her a room. She opened a beauty salon, still trying to earn enough money to replace the plane that had crashed. She began performing new types of stunts such as wing-walking and parachute jumps. Wing-walkers stunned their audiences by leaving the cockpit while another pilot controlled the plane, and walking out on the wings!   

Finally, in 1926, Bessie had earned enough money to buy her own plane! She had worked hard performing in airshows, giving lectures, and working at her beauty parlor. The new plane wasn’t fancy: an old biplane called a Curtiss JN-4, or “Jenny.” She hired a mechanic named William Wills to fly it from Texas to Florida. Sadly, the plane was not in good condition. During a test flight with the mechanic, the plane stalled and crashed. Bessie did not survive the crash.

News of Queen Bess’s passing was carried widely in African American newspapers. Ten thousand people attended her funeral in Chicago, where Ida B. Wells, a famous black activist, led the service. 

Bessie continued to inspire black aviators in the 1920s and beyond. William J Powell, another African American aviator and civil rights activist, started Bessie Coleman Aero Club in Los Angeles, fulfilling her dream of opening a flight school for African Americans and women. Powell later wrote in his book, Black Wings, that because of Bessie, “we have overcome that which was worse than racial barriers. We have overcome the barriers within ourselves and dared to dream.” 

She was also an inspiration to many of the Tuskegee Airmen. The Tuskegee Airmen were the first group of black aviators to fly for the United States Army. In 1992, Mae Jemison took a portrait of Bessie Coleman with her when she became the first black woman in space, saying that Bessie “exemplifies and serves as a model for all humanity, the very definition of strength, dignity, courage, integrity, and beauty.” The US postal service issued a Bessie Coleman stamp in 1995, and in 2006, she was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame. 

Bessie Coleman once said that “the air is the only place free of prejudices.” But, in order to get there, she had to shatter many barriers that were placed in her path by a society that was unwelcoming to people of her race and gender. Instead of accepting the place she was offered in this society, Bessie decided to pursue her own path and make her own opportunities. She didn’t let the lack of training or jobs for black, female pilots keep her from her dream of flying. She forged ahead with determination and held onto her principles, knowing that her race and gender were not barriers to her ability; that she could lift others up by her example; and there was a place for everybody in the sky! 

Sources

http://www.bessiecoleman.org/bio-bessie-coleman.php 

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Close your eyes and imagine you live in America in the 1800s, a time before cars, the Internet and TV. You are riding in a wagon pulled by your family’s best two horses. Your mom and dad are up front and you and your siblings are in the back. You look around and see many other families also riding towards the main event. When the wagon stops you climb out and hurry to a stand where your father buys tickets and hands you one. You give your ticket to attendant then rush into the large arena and climb up the stairs to what you think is the best seat with the best view. You smell popcorn and your mother hands you a bag with a smile. You take a bite and wait in anticipation for the show to begin. 

Suddenly a gun fires and you hear the thunder of hooves as a stampede of horses fill the arena. Dust clouds fill the air. Indians whoop and holler. Army men shoot their guns and flash their swords. Soon a battle begins. But this isn’t a real battle, it’s just a show, and the crowd watches in amazement as the showmen act out a battle from American history. An soldier cries out and falls off his horses. An Indian charges and waves his tomahawk. The smell of gunpowder fills the air. Soon the dust and the smoke settles. The battle is finished. The audience cheers wildly. 

Suddenly a lone man rides into the arena, waving his hat. From his leather coat, long hair and mustache, you instantly recognize the rider as the greatest showman of the Wild West — Buffalo Bill Cody. You wave your hat and cheer too. The show has just begun and you can’t wait to see what comes next.

Bill Cody was born in 1847 on a farm outside Le Claire, Iowa to Isaac and Mary Ann Cody. When Bill was young slavery was still happening in some parts of the country. Bill’s father, Isaac, was very much against it.  Many people didn’t like Bill’s family for this reason. One day when his father was speaking out against slavery someone hurt him very badly. After this Isaac had to move away to avoid his enemies. Later, the same group planned to catch Isaac and hurt him again. When Bill heard what they were going to do to his father, he jumped on his horse and rode 30 miles to warn him before they came. 

Not long afterward Bill’s father became very sick and soon passed away. This left Bill to help take care of his family when he was only 11 years old. His first job was with a wagon company. He rode his horse up and down the train of wagons and delivered messages to help them keep in touch with each other. 

When Bill was 14 years old gold was discovered in California and many Americans hurried there in hopes to mine gold and become rich. This was called a Gold Rush. Bill left on his horse for California, but along the way he found a job delivering mail from one place to another. Because there were no telephones, mail by horse was the only way people could talk to each other.

A few years later, Bill joined the Army’s 3rd Cavalry, which was fighting the Native Indians in what was called the Plains Wars. Bill was the Chief of the Scouts. His job was to ride ahead and see if they were going to be attacked. He fought in sixteen battles with the army.

While the army was on the trail they needed food, so one of Bill’s jobs was to hunt buffalo. Buffalo are huge, wild, hairy animals with horns that roamed the plains during the Wild West. At this time there were hundreds and thousands of buffalo and Bill became a very skilled hunter of them. Once, another hunter with the same name as Bill challenged him to see who could hunt the most buffalo within 8 hours. Whoever won would keep the name “Buffalo Bill.” The race was on. Bill took off on his horse and raced around the massive herd of buffalo, aiming his long rifle, and firing, picking them off one at a time. He kicked his horse faster and faster, aiming and firing, aiming and firing, buffalos dropping at every shot. When the time was up, someone rode around and counted the buffalo. Bill had killed more beasts than the other man and won the name “Buffalo Bill.”

Often people came from the East Coast or other parts of the world to visit the Wild West and hunt the famous buffalo. Buffalo Bill started taking these visitors on trips to explore the West and hunt. Some of the people who went with Bill wrote about him in the newspapers and someone even made him a character in a book. Soon many people knew about this famous hunter of the American West.

A few years later Buffalo Bill joined a traveling show called The Scouts of the Prairie. Together with the other actors he would act out famous battles for audiences. These shows were very popular and often they performed to sold out crowds. Everyone was excited to see the famous Buffalo Bill Cody and gun fighters such as “Wild Bill” Hickok. 

Before long, Bill had the idea to start his own show and called it Buffalo Bill’s Wild West. He and his crew dressed in colorful costumes and acted out battles with guns and horses while a live band played music. Many of the acts included horses and their riders from all across the world from Spanish Cowboys to Turks, Arabs, and Mongols from Asia. The American Indian war hero Sitting Bull was in the show along with famous women sharp shooters such as Annie Oakley and Calamity Jane. People came from all across the country to be entertained by Buffalo Bill and his talented performers. 

Later Buffalo Bill’s West West show took a ship across the ocean to Europe, where they performed before such royalty as the Queen of England and the Kings of France and Germany. They also performed nearby the Chicago’s Worlds Fair and were a huge hit.  

Buffalo Bill used the money from his world famous show to found his own town in Wyoming and called it Cody. There he bought land and built a beautiful hotel and brought in cattle for a very large ranch. He designed Cody so people from all over could visit the countryside and pretend to be cowboys, go on horseback rides, and hunt animals in the woods. These activities were some of his great loves and he wanted to share them with others.

Even though Bill fought against Indians early in his life, he later had great respect for them and their simple way of life. He knew the reason many of them attacked settlers was because they had been treated poorly in the first place. He felt bad for what had been done to them, that they had been driven from their lands by the new Americans. He believed they should be treated with respect and hired many of them to work for his show and paid the same as everyone else.

Bill spent much of his time in nature, so he came to have great respect for the land and animals of the American West. He later did what he could to help preserve these beautiful places. This is called conservationism. Americans like he and Teddy Roosevelt believed that much of the land should be kept safe, so it can be enjoyed by everyone. This is why we have National Parks today.

Today spend a moment thinking about what it would have been like to start taking care of your family like Bill did at a young age. It was hard and probably scary at times, but Bill learned new skills such as hunting and horseback riding. When you face challenges remember that sticking with things until you get better is the only way to learn and grow. So be sure to face hard things with courage and keep on trying. 

Like Buffalo Bill you can use your imagination to come up with new ideas to entertain others. Spend some time thinking of an act or show you could perform and share it with a family member or a friend. If you can make someone else smile or laugh, that is a very good thing. 

Also, spend a little more time outside. There is much to appreciate outdoors, even if it is your backyard. Take the time to look at the sky and clouds and the trees and the listen to the birds in them. There is much to be enjoyed in the natural world around you if you take the time to notice it. 

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