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NCR Diversity and Inclusion Newsletter – November 2021

November 25, 2021

National American Indian Heritage Month

The first American Indian Day in a state was declared on the second Saturday in May 1916 by the governor of New York. Several states celebrate the fourth Friday in September. In Illinois, for example, legislators enacted such a day in 1919. Presently, several states have designated Columbus Day as Native American Day, but it continues to be a day we observe without any recognition as a national legal holiday.

In 1990 President George H. W. Bush approved a joint resolution designating November 1990 “National American Indian Heritage Month.” Similar proclamations, under variants on the name (including “Native American Heritage Month” and “National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month”) have been issued each year since 1994.

DID YOU KNOW?

- The Sequoia tree is named in honor of Cherokee leader Sequoyah.

- Christopher Columbus came up with the term “Indian”.

- Names of many U.S. states are derived from Amerindian words, such as Connecticut, Kentucky and Arizona.

- Native Americans have made many contributions such as edible plants corn, squash, beans, sunflower which are eaten around the world. They were the first to raise turkeys, guinea pigs and honeybees.

- The government of Native Americans serves as the model of federated representative democracy. The system of the U.S. is based on the system in which the power is distributed amongst the central authority and smaller political units.

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American Indian Heritage Spotlights.

During the month of November, we celebrate and honor Native Americans. Let’s look at some notable Native Americans in aviation.

Bessie Coleman was the first person of Native American (Cherokee) and African American descent to hold a pilot’s license. Coleman was inspired by her brothers’ stories of French women pilots from The Great War. At the time, no flight schools in America accepted women so she applied to the Caudron Brothers’ School of Aviation in France and earned an international pilot’s license in 1921. She also became popular for her stunt flying and air performances across Europe and the U.S. Coleman wanted to own her own plane and open her own flight school, but she died in a plane crash before that dream could be realized.

Mary Riddle, a Clatsop and Quinault from Seattle, was qualified to fly solo in 1930. She earned her pilot’s license and later her commercial license but was best known as a performing parachutist. She was inspired to fly at the age of 17 when she happened to see a woman crash a plane. It was said women would never be successful pilots, but she wanted to prove them wrong and help “fill the sky with thunderbirds.”

John Herrington, a Chickasaw from Oklahoma, was the first Native American to walk in space. He was designated as a naval aviator in 1985 and has logged over 3,300 flight hours in more than 30 different aircrafts. NASA selected Herrington to participate in the 16th shuttle mission to the International Space Station in 2002. During his spacewalk, Herrington honored his Native heritage by carrying six eagle feathers, a braid of sweet grass, two arrowheads and the Chickasaw flag. He now travels the country giving presentations about his life.

Aaron Yazzie, a Navajo from Tuba City, Arizona, supported NASA’s Mars landing in 2018. He built the pressure inlet that functions as the “eyes and ears” of the InSight lander to help secure more accurate readings about the planet’s interior – a next step in NASA sending astronauts to Mars. Yazzie says the crust of Mars reminds him of the Navajo Nation and that he is learning Earth and Mars are not so different. Yazzie is currently focused on Mars 2020 to look for signs of microbial life and prepare for human exploration.

Cherise John, a Navajo from Fruitland, New Mexico, is an expert in thermal cooling and turbine design for military and commercial engines. Cherise was always environmentally conscious, good at math and encouraged from a young age to reach for the stars. She studied language abroad through a Dartmouth program and later earned two master’s degrees – one from Ohio State University in environmental engineering and one from Northern Arizona University in mechanical engineering. Today, John is a lead engineer in turbo-aerodynamics for GE Aviation and a STEM advocate for Native youth.

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