Ask yourself, how long are you going to let other people decide the future for your children, are you not the founders of your own destiny? We have a number of firsts of our own to take pride in, such as in Athletics, the Arts, the Military and Politics:
FIRST ATHLETE TO BREAK THE RACIAL BARRIER IN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
Meet Louis Sockalexis, a member of the Penobscot Indian tribe of Maine, played in only 94 major league games, but is remembered today as the first Native American, and first recognized minority, to perform in the National League. The Cleveland Spiders signed him in 1897
FIRST TO BE NAMED WORLDS GREATEST ATHLETE
Describing Jim Thorpe as a great athlete would be doing him a severe injustice. A better description would be calling him the greatest athlete of the 20th Century. This label will probably be debated by many, but Thorpe’s accomplishments speak louder than words. King Gustav V of Sweden told Thorpe: “Sir, you are the greatest athlete in the world.” In 1950, the nation’s press selected Jim Thorpe as the most outstanding athlete of the first half of the 20th Century and in 1996-2001, he was awarded ABC’s Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Century.
FIRST MAJOR PRIMA BALLERINA IN AMERICA AND FIRST TO BREAK THE RACIAL BARRIER
Elizabeth Marie Tall Chief (Osage family name: Ki He Kah Stah Tsa;[2] January 24, 1925 – April 11, 2013) was considered America’s first major prima ballerina, and was also the first recognized minority to hold the rank
ACTOR, PHILANTHROPIST, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE AND GUINESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS HOLDER
Meet Will Rogers, Born William Peen Adair Rogers, a Cherokee-Cowboy, “Will” became best known as an actor, a Vaudvillian, a philanthropist, a social commentator, a comedian, and a presidential candidate. Known as Okalahoma’s favorite son, Rogers was born to a well respected Native American Territory family and learned to ride horses and use a lasso/lariat so well that he was listed in the Guiness Book of World Records for throwing three ropes at once—one around the neck of a horse, another around the rider, and a third around all four legs of the horse. He ultimately traveled around the world several times, made 71 films (50 silent and 21 “talkies”), wrote more than 4,000 nationally-syndicated newspaper columns, and became a world-famous figure.
FIRST AMERICAN MINORITY TO BE AWARDED THE Chevalier de L’Ordre National du Merite
Charles Joyce Chibitty (November 20, 1921 – July 20, 2005) was a Comanche Numunu code talker He also reportedly was the last hereditary chief of the Comanche, having descended from the great leader, Chief Ten Bears. Chibitty was among the 17 Comanche code talkers who served with the 4th Infantry Division. The French presented Chibitty and other Comanche code talkers with their second highest medal for valor, the Chevalier de L’Ordre National du Merite breaking the racial barrier in the United States to be the first to do so. Chibitty served in the Sixth Army Signal Company in the 4th Infantry Division, and survived the Battle of Normandy. He earned the World War II Victory Medal, the European Theater of Operations Victory Medal with five Bronze Stars, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, the Good Conduct Medal and also Combat Infantryman Badge
AMERICA’S MOST HIGHLY DECORATED SOLDIER THE EPITOME OF A TRUE HERO
Pascal Poolaw has been called America’s most decorated Indian soldier with 42 medals and citations. Among his medals are four Silver Stars and five Bronze Stars. He also earned three Purple Hearts, one for each of the wars in which he fought, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. His devotion to his soldiers was exceeded only by the love of his family. Poolaw served in Vietnam trying to spare his son the horrors of war. When his son, Lindy, received orders for Vietnam, Poolaw volunteered for the combat zone with the hope of serving there in place of his son. Regulations prohibit two members of the same family from serving in combat at the same time without their consent. First Sgt. Pascal Cleatus Poolaw, Sr., served this country through three wars, and gave up his life in Vietnam.
Charles Curtis (January 25, 1860 – February 8, 1936)
Its important to note that he was a United States Representative, a longtime United States Senator from Kansas that was later chosen as Senate Majority Leader by his Republican colleagues and he was also the 31st Vice President of the United States (1929–1933),
Most importantly, what makes him unique is that he was also the first person with significant acknowledged American Indian ancestry and the first person with significant acknowledged non-European ancestry to reach either of the two highest offices in the United States government’s executive branch. He was enrolled in the Kaw tribe and his maternal ancestry was three-quarters American Indian: Kaw, Osage and Pottawatomi. He was also raised on the Kaw Reservation.
As an attorney, Curtis entered political life at the age of 32, winning multiple terms from his district in Topeka, Kansas, starting in 1892 as a Republican to the US House of Representatives. He was elected to the US Senate first by the Kansas Legislature (in 1906), and then by popular vote (in 1914, 1920 and 1926), serving one six-year term from 1907 to 1913, and then most of three terms from 1915 to 1929 (when he became Vice President). His long popularity and connections in Kansas and national politics helped make Curtis a strong leader in the Senate; he marshaled support to be elected as Senate Minority Whip from 1915–1925 and then as Senate Majority Leader from 1925–1929.
In these positions, he was instrumental in managing legislation and accomplishing Republican national goals.
Curtis ran for Vice-President with Herbert Hoover as President in 1928. They won a landslide victory. Although they ran again in 1932, the population saw Hoover as failing to alleviate the Great Depression, and Franklin D. Roosevelt and John Nance Garner defeated them.