A Code Talker Chapter Summary

With waves of the American population moving westward, government attempted to assimilate, or integrate, Native Americans into American society. Their goal was for Native Americans to live and behave like white Americans, and for them “to cast off their savage habits and become an interesting, civilized, and Christian community” (Doc 9). Children were sent to boarding schools where they were given new clothes and haircuts, and taught English, Christianity, and American ways of life (Doc 13). While many Americans believed this would be good for the Native Americans, it effectively destroyed their culture and identity. By forcing them to learn English, they were unable to communicate the concepts, beliefs, and ideas their languages were based on. Americans did not consider the fact that English could not substitute for Native languages, because they are based on different realities, histories, and cultures (Doc 3). Assimilation turned the lives of Native Americans upside-down, forcing them to give up ideas and beliefs they had been practicing their whole lives, without any say. Slowly, Native American culture and lifestyle faded until it was nearly

Native American’s greeted the new colonists in a friendly, welcoming manner from the start. The new colonists considered this a sign of weakness, stating how easy it would be to dominate the native people. When Columbus arrived, there were 12-15 million Native Americans in the Americas, in 1890 there was under 250,000, with 98% of the population gone. With the belief in Manifest Destiny, the colonists forced the Native American’s off their own land, farther and farther from where they originated from, and eventually onto reservations, removing them from their way of life and their culture. During the transition from their homeland to reservations, many of the Native American’s died due to disease, cold, hunger, and the hardships of travel. Along with the annexation, the colonists demanded assimilation.

Although this idea had been successfully implemented during World War I using the Choctaw Indian's language, history generally credits Philip Johnston for the idea to use Navajos to transmit code

In this article, “ From Rez Life: An Indian’s Journey Through Reservation Life,” by David Treuer, he talks about the struggles that Native Americans have gone through. Mr. Treuer brings to the reader’s attention the struggles that most people don’t even realize have happened. Mr. Treuer has one big struggle that is still happening today that needs help to change, which is the lack of Native American language. This is such a high priority struggle due to the fact that without Native American language, there is a loss of heritage.

The book starts out with Ned, a young boy, who is unable to speak any English, living in a Navajo village with his parents. He is sent to a white man’s school with his uncle to learn English and later become a communicator between his tribe and the American people. At the elementary school, where Ned attends, all Navajo children are prohibited to speak their native language. They must speak English or remain silent. Life is extremely unpleasant for the Navajo children

In order for the plan to go into action, on October 31, 1862, the establishment of the Fort Sumner was declared and war was made against the Mescalero Apache and Navajo Indian tribes (Robert 2004). As shown in figure 1, a 300 miles route was walked by children, women, and men for about two months. Once they reached the destination, an estimation of 200 people had died from starvation. A couple years later had gone by when the United States decided to introduce a treaty in1868 that allowed the Navajos to return to their homes also now called the reservations.

“Here, at last, we begin to appreciate the enormity of the calamity, for the disintegration of native America was a loss not just to those societies but to the human enterprise as a whole. . . . The Americas were a boundless sea of novel ideas, dreams, stories, philosophies, religions, moralities, discoveries, and all the other products of the mind”(137).

From its birth, America was a place of inequality and privilege. Since Columbus 's arrival and up until present day, Native American tribes have been victim of white men 's persecution and tyranny. This was first expressed in the 1800’s, when Native Americans were driven off their land and forced to embark on the Trail of Tears, and again during the Western American- Indian War where white Americans massacred millions of Native Americans in hatred. Today, much of the Indian Territory that was once a refuge for Native Americans has since been taken over by white men, and the major tribes that once called these reservations home are all but gone. These events show the discrimination and oppression the Native Americans faced. They were, and continue to be, pushed onto reservations,

Native Americans have played an important role in the United States for over thousands of years. The Native Americans once lived on their land with little disturbance, having made their own meals and lived in a traditional culture up until Columbus had discovered their land. From their first arrival into the Native land, the Spanish mistreated and disrespected the Indians by trying to enforce their way of life and their beliefs upon them.

In the documentary short subject titled “The Story of the Navajo Code Talkers” by producer Jordan Haddad explains a short history of events starting with Mr. Philip Johnston. Mr. Johnston, a civil engineer living in Los Angeles, heard about the U.S. codes being intercepted by the Japanese military and wanted to help aid the war effort. While living with his missionary parents on a reservation, Johnston asked Lt. Col. James Jones, a Signal Corps Communication Officer for permission to experiment with thirty Navajo men to begin a new cryptograph program. The men enlisted in the military and were stationed at Camp Pendleton, in San Diego, California. Upon completion of boot camp and initial cryptograph school, the new code talkers were sent

Sense Joseph Bruchac has a keen interest in Native American history, this led him down the path of inspiration to write the book known as Code Talker. But what inspired him the most, was the story about the critical importance of a specific native language that had been needed for survival. This was the native tongue of the Navajo people. The Navajo language became a code in World War

The Code Talkers had a role during World War II. First, the main role of the Code Talkers was to use their native language as their primary weapon in the war. In paragraph one, the text states, “The Code Talkers were warriors who used their native language as their primary weapon during World War II (WWII).” This shows that the Code Talkers were warriors who used their native language as their primary weapon. Also, they used their language to send thousands of secret messages that regarded the Japanese troops and that also regarded different battlefield tactics. This proved critical to the war’s overall outcome. Paragraph eight states, “They sent thousands of secret messages regarding the movements of Japanese troops, battlefield tactics, and other details that would prove critical to the war's ultimate outcome.” This shows that they Code Talkers would send secret messages to each other so they knew what the Japanese were doing and better battle tactics to use against them.

“My people are few. They resemble the scattering trees of a storm-swept plain...There was a time when our people covered the land as the waves of a wind-ruffled sea cover its shell-paved floor, but that time long since passed away with the greatness of tribes that are now but a mournful memory.,” Chief Seattle Speech of 1854. The culture of the Native American people has been deteriorating ever since the Europeans arrived in the Americas. The impactful and immense loss of lifestyle that they faced is one that can never be recovered, what the United States has given them are generations of trauma and blatant suffering. However, the U.S. did not stop there, a multitude of cultures have been broken to help keep America pure. For instance, one of the most significant cultures that have been dismantled by the U.S. other than the Natives and their music were the languages and music of the African slaves. The apparent likeness of these two cultures in the ways in which their deconstruction impacted them is in more of an abundance, such as the dominating influence of the Christian religion and the gravely vital role of maintaining what little heritage they could through language. In contrast to this, the two groups had an opposing difference pertaining to how the Natives and slaves tried to compensate the immense loss of their culture through the generations.

Indian code talkers are a group of bilingual Navajo speakers that were used to transfer messages during World War II. The Marine Corps recruited many of these Code Talkers to help them in the war. The Marines were so protective of the Code Talkers that if there was any danger of the Indians being captured for the Japanese to learn the code the Marines would have to kill the Code Talker. After the Navajo Code, also known as the Type One Codes, were created the Marine Corps started a Code Talking School. Along with learning the language they learned how to march in cadence, obey orders, and keep their quarters very clean. It was here that over four hundred Navajos were recruited as Code Talkers. The Code Talkers were from at least sixteen

We did not get a chance to do our final presentation. Instead, we met with our book club group and celebrated our last day. We had three groups that read The Code Buster’s Club. We spent a few minutes at the beginning of our lesson to introduce ourselves and to the students who were not in our groups. Then I showed the package that I received from the author of the book filled with resources, codes and other materials. We created our own codes and the keys for the codes. Students wrote down secret messages for their teacher to decode. Finally, we played a game of jeopardy. We were divided into three groups and reviewed things we have learned together in the book. The jeopardy game was fun and it engaged the students to participate. It was