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Navajo Code Talkers Research Paper

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World War II was one of the biggest wars the world has ever witnessed. If the US hadn’t stopped the Japanese and Germans our way of life could be completely different. The balance of the world could be shifted forever. Although many Americans give credit to the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki for ending the war other things or people contributed majorly to the ending of World War II. A code, still undeciphered to this day, should be given major credit for the US’ success during the war. The Navajo Code Talkers were Native Americans who translated, encoded, and decoded messages during World War II. (Demma) What the code talkers accomplished amounts to much of the US’ success at Iwo Jima and Guadalcanal. After the Choctaw code talkers success in World War I the US was open to new code ideas during World War II. As normal American citizens learned that the American codes were being deciphered, an …show more content…

Remembering how difficult the language was to speak and understand he urged military leaders to use the language in a code. Leaders finally took a chance and recruited 30 Navajos to test out the code.(McCabe) Because the Navajo people didn’t keep birth records many of the Navajos were able to lie about their age and enlist with the original 30, people as young as 15 were enlisted. During training one Navajo dropped out due to undocumented reasons. In the 19th century the US government persecuted the Navajos, forcing the children to stop speaking and learning the language in boarding schools designed to eradicate the Native American culture.(Kirkus Reviews) Ultimately, the Navajo, who at one time were forbidden to speak their own language by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, used that language to help the United States win the war. Eventually the 382nd platoon was created specifically for Navajo code talkers.(Pash) The Navajos served in all six marine divisions, taking part in every assault the

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During World War II, United States Marines who fought in the Pacific possessed a powerful weapon that was also unbeatable: Navajo Code Talkers. Creating a secret code, Code Talkers sent and were translating vital military information. Four hundred twenty Navajos memorized the code and it was used by them. It consisted of both common Navajo and there were also about 400 invented words. For example, Code Talkers used the Navajo words for owl, chicken hawk, and swallow to describe different kinds of aircraft.

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Imagine going to school to learn new things; now imagine going to school to get beaten and never to return home. Indian Horse, written by Richard Wagamese, is a very emotional book that enables people to see what true horror it was to take part in Residential Schools as Saul Indian Horse and the after effects his parents portrayed. Wagamese establishes a very strong story line to examine how life was in Residential Schools including pain, punishments, and suffering. Punishments included mouths being washed out with soap, children being beaten (sometimes to death), laborious chores, strict rules to be followed along with certain religions, and racism. Residential schools caused Saul Indian Horse to forget his Ojibway heritage, follow his hockey

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Throughout history, there have been many literary studies that focused on the culture and traditions of Native Americans. Native writers have worked painstakingly on tribal histories, and their works have made us realize that we have not learned the full story of the Native American tribes. Deborah Miranda has written a collective tribal memoir, “Bad Indians”, drawing on ancestral memory that revealed aspects of an indigenous worldview and contributed to update our understanding of the mission system, settler colonialism and histories of American Indians about how they underwent cruel violence and exploitation. Her memoir successfully addressed past grievances of colonialism and also recognized and honored indigenous knowledge and identity.

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His cultural aspects and renewed self-worth are grown by the war and help him along the way. Ned’s cultural Navajo identity is affected by World War II. For example, Ned says that he, "Pray[s] that none of you have to go to battle as I did. I also pray that you will fight to keep our language, to hold on to it with the same warrior spirit that our Indian people showed during that war.” (214) Ned’s language is an important aspect of his culture.

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For the Majority of Johnson's life he had traveled around the country with his mother and father, both of whom worked as missionaries on reservations (31). His father worked to expand the rights of the Native peoples. Johnsons time spent with the Navajo people enabled him to learn the Navajo language, which was rare because only about another 28 non natives new how to speak the language fluently at that time(15). In total there were around 180-230 tribes, with a total of 361,816 people in the native population (71). Of those tribes only 47 had between 1,000 and 10,000 Bilingual speakers, meaning that they could speak both

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Navajo Code talkers were heros to our country and have waited years to be properly acknowledged for their heroic deeds. The unbreakable code based around the Navajo language and the language is one of the hardest to learn. The code had 411 terms that the Navajos turned words into military terms. The code was never broken even after the War. The Navajos life before the war consisting them never leaving there reservations.

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They did more than overcome death and genocides but they have victoriously kept their identity, their values and heritage alive and finally reviving their native language. Bringing their language alive again after many generations with no native speakers reflects how strong the Wampanoag are as a nation and a culture. It is actually a victory to their whole culture, because the language is not simply a group of words but as Toddie explains: “family and language and culture is all important, and it grounds you; it keeps you connected. I believe that when we lost connection with that language, we lost connection with everything else” (2011). Even though they have lost a lot of what they had before, they were strong to survive the fatal path of traveling from their old world where they have been the master of their lands for long years to the actual “American” world.

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A popular theme in the Reel Injun was the portrayal of Native Americans as savages. In addition to the cinematic examples of this, the idea of “Cowboys and Indians” comes to mind. A simple childhood game where the two sides are depicted in battle over territory. Now I 'm not sure if this is just my own personal connotation of the game, but as a child I remember the Indians always being the “bad guys,” and the goal was to protect your land from them. In reality it was the entire opposite way around, the Native Americans were trying to protect their land from the settlers.

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They felt that this country was taken away from them by the white man and should not be required to help in the case of attack, but when war was declared against the Axis powers, The Navajo Nation declared: “We resolve that the Navajo Indians stand ready… to aid and defend our government and its institutions against all subversive and armed conflict and pledge our loyalty to the system and a way of life that has placed us among the greatest people of our race” (Takaki 60). Altogether forty-five thousand Indians served in the U.S. armed forces. Despite this, Indian workers received lower pay that that of whites, In the cities, Indians also experienced discrimination. Ignatia Broker of the Ojibway wrote “Although employment was good because of the labor demand of the huge defense plants, Indian people faced discrimination in restaurants, night clubs, retail and department stores… and worst of all, in housing” (Takaki

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GGrowing up on the Navajo Nation is an experience, compared to residing in a city. I grew up in Tuba City, an hour north of Flagstaff, AZ. Tuba City, a town with a population a little over 8,500, several restaurants, one grocery store, two high schools, and two stoplights. On the other hand, the town is growing.

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