Veterans Day
"Every year on November 11, people in the United States celebrate Veterans Day. The holiday honors veterans, or people who served in the U.S. military. The day especially honors those veterans who died while fighting in a war.
To celebrate Veterans Day, some cities and towns have parades. Veterans from the area may march in the parades. Sometimes people visit cemeteries on Veterans Day. People may put flowers or flags on the graves of veterans to honor them.
Veterans Day used to be called Armistice Day. (An armistice is an agreement to stop fighting.) Armistice Day was created to remember the end of World War I on November 11, 1918. The first Armistice Day in the United States was in 1919.
Armistice Day became an official national holiday in 1938. In 1954 Armistice Day was renamed Veterans Day to remember soldiers from all wars, not just World War I.
People in Australia, Canada, France, and the United Kingdom also honor veterans on a day in November. Canada and the United Kingdom call the holiday Remembrance Day. On November 11, people across Europe remember the end of World War I."
Thank you to all of our Veterans in the RCSD and in the Rochester Community!
Please reach out with your stories and pictures so we can highlight the amazing people you are!
National PTA: Organizational Resources for Military Families.
Activities/Resources:
Destiny Discover Education World Care.com PBS (Middle & High School) Lessons
What is Veterans Day? (Britannica Kids) K-5 6-8 Grade 9 + History Channel
Google Slides:
Books:
K-5: Hero Mom The Wall Letters to a Soldier Crow Call The Poppy Lady
Brave Like Me Barnes & Noble List Education World's List Epic!
6-12: HBook List Learning for Justice New York Public Library
Every WWII combatant appreciated the need for an unbreakable code that would help them communicate while protecting their operational plans. The U.S. Marines knew where to find one: the Navajo Nation. Marine Corps leadership selected 29 Navajo men, the Navajo Code Talkers, who created a code based on the complex, unwritten Navajo language. The code primarily used word association by assigning a Navajo word to key phrases and military tactics. This system enabled the Code Talkers to translate three lines of English in 20 seconds, not 30 minutes as was common with existing code-breaking machines. The Code Talkers participated in every major Marine operation in the Pacific theater, giving the Marines a critical advantage throughout the war. During the nearly month-long battle for Iwo Jima, for example, six Navajo Code Talker Marines successfully transmitted more than 800 messages without error. Marine leadership noted after the battle that the Code Talkers were critical to the victory at Iwo Jima. At the end of the war, the Navajo Code remained unbroken. -intelligence.gov
Listen until the end and identify who is missing. How do we let people know that this happens every November 11th and how do we get them There?
Canandaigua Treaty of 1794 on November 11th
The Canandaigua Treaty is a treaty between the United States of America and the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy - Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk and Tuscarora. It was signed in Canandaigua, New York on November 11, 1794 by sachems representing the Grand Council of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy and by Colonel Timothy Pickering who was the official agent of President George Washington. This treaty is sometimes called the "Pickering Treaty."
The Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Nations sent 1600 representatives to the treaty council - the Seneca sending an impressive 800 representatives. The United States sent both Colonel Timothy Pickering and General Isarael Chapin. It was General Isarael Chapin who chose the treaty council site to be at Canandaigua, New York. Quaker representatives, led by William Savery of Philadelphia, also attended this treaty council. These Quaker mediators had been invited to the treaty negotiations by the Seneca people because Quakers were a trust-worthy, peaceful people who could read English and help to ensure fair negotiations.
The Canandaigua Treaty established peace and friendship between the young United States of America and the Six Nations. The Treaty also affirmed Haudenosaunee land rights - the Canandaigua Treaty restored to the Six Nations lands in western New York State that had been ceded by the Fort Stanwix Treaty. The Canandaigua Treaty also recognized the sovereignty of the Six Nations to govern and set laws as individual nations.
Some notable signatories of this treaty included Cornplanter (Seneca), Handsome Lake (Seneca), and Red Jacket (Seneca).
While the chain of friendship that embodies this treaty has been strained and there have been violations of the treaty, the treaty has never been broken and is still actively recognized by the Six Nations and the United States governments.
The Canandaigua Treaty Today
As part of its continued observance of the Canandaigua Treaty, the United States each year provides $4500 for the annual distribution of cloth to the Six Nations peoples. This annual distribution of cloth is 200+ year old affirmation of the obligations the United States government made in this treaty.
The Canandaigua Treaty Day Celebration, held each year on November 11 in Canandaigua, New York, is an event commerating the continued observance of this treaty by the Six Nations people.
Please see our Canandaigua Treaty Day Celebration webpage for more information on this year's commerative event!
For further information:
Treaty Of Canandaigua 1794 by G. Peter Jemison, Clear Light Publishing, 2000.
Wampum by Kimberly Burkard
