Poet Laureate of the United States Joy Harjo
Credit: Shawn Miller, Library of Congress

April is National Poetry Month, an annual celebration of this unique form of literature. Each week, Behind the Headlines will feature the art of poetry or a famous poet.

National Poetry Month promotes the appreciation and awareness of poetry. So, too, does Joy Harjo, the poet laureate of the United States. The poet laureate is the official poet of a state or nation. Harjo is a writer, a musician, and a member of the Muskogee (also spelled Muscogee or Mvskoke) Creek Nation. In 2019, she became the first Native American chosen to be poet laureate of the United States.

Harjo was born Joy Foster in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on May 9, 1951. Her father was Muskogee Creek, and her mother was of Cherokee and European ancestry. At age 19, Joy became a member of the Muskogee Creek Nation and took the last name of her father’s mother—Harjo—a common last name among the Muskogee. Harjo earned a B.A. degree in creative writing from the University of New Mexico in 1976 and an M.F.A. degree from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop in 1978. She has since taught at the Institute of American Indian Arts in New Mexico and at universities in several states.

In 1975, Harjo published her first collection of poems in a short book called The Last Song. Her first full-length volume of poetry was What Moon Drove Me to This? (1979). Her poetry became well known with such collections as She Had Some Horses (1983), In Mad Love and War (1990), and The Woman Who Fell from the Sky (1994). Her forceful, intimate style draws on both natural and spiritual influences. Her poems often incorporate elements of Native American mythology and imagery. Harjo’s later collections include A Map to the Next World (2000), How We Became Human (2002), Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings (2015), and An American Sunrise (2019). She has won many awards for her work.

Harjo also wrote The Good Luck Cat (2000), a children’s picture book about a girl who worries about her lucky cat, who has used up eight of his nine lives. A poetic picture book for young adults called For a Girl Becoming (2009) celebrates the birth of a baby girl and the girl’s path to adulthood. Harjo’s memoir, Crazy Brave (2012), describes her own youth and her discovery of her creative voice.

Harjo has written screenplays for television and contributed, as a writer or narrator, to several documentaries on aspects of Native American culture. As an accomplished musician and saxophone player, she has released several recordings. She also is an activist for Native American and other causes.

February 21, 2020

The month of February is the shortest—normally only 28 days—on the Gregorian calendar. In the Northern Hemisphere, many people may be grateful for that, as February is the typically cold last full month of winter. (In the Southern Hemisphere, February is the last full month of summer.) In parts of North America, some Native Americans referred to this time of year as the “snow moon” because of the month’s heavy snows. Other Native Americans called it the “little famine moon” because of the scarcity of food at the end of winter. The ancient Celts of Europe referred to the frigid time of year as the “ice moon.”

Ancient Celts referred to the February time of year as the “ice moon,” a name that better describes Enceladus, a satellite of Saturn. Enceladus has active geysers that spout water ice. The moon’s icy surface is continually smoothed by this activity and shows few craters. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

According to legend, the first calendar of the ancient Romans had only 10 months. But in about 700 B.C., the ruler Numa Pompilius added January and February. February became the last month of the Roman year. The month takes its name from the Latin word februare, meaning to purify. The Romans purified themselves in February to prepare for festivals at the start of the new year. Later, the Romans moved the beginning of the year from March to January, making February the second month.

February usually had 28 days until the time of the Roman statesman Julius Caesar. Caesar gave it 29 days in standard years and 30 every four years. According to tradition, the Roman emperor Augustus took one day off February to add to August, the month named after him. Today, February has 28 days in standard years and 29 in leap years.

In the United States, February is designated as Black History Month, a time to honor the accomplishments of African Americans and their contributions to society. The third Monday in February was chosen as Presidents’ Day to honor the nearby birthdays of Abraham Lincoln (February 12) and George Washington (February 22). February 2 is recognized in a more whimsical fashion as Groundhog Day.

In Japan, people celebrate a holiday called Setsubun on February 3 or 4. According to the lunar calendar used in the past, this date marks the changing of the seasons and the end of winter. Another holiday in Japan is National Foundation Day, celebrated on February 11. According to tradition, Jimmu founded the imperial dynasty and the empire of Japan on that day in 660 B.C. People in most Western countries celebrate Valentine’s Day on February 14. February 21 is Shaheed Dibash (Martyrs’ Day) in Bangladesh. On this day, people remember those who died during demonstrations that called for the Bengali language to have equal status with the Urdu language in 1952, when Bangladesh was still part of Pakistan.

January 6, 2020

The month of January marks the beginning of every new year on the Gregorian calendar. In the Northern Hemisphere, January is the first full month of winter, and it is typically one of the coldest months of the year. (In the Southern Hemisphere, January is known for warm temperatures during the first full month of summer.) Because of its harsh weather, January in the Northern Hemisphere has long been a time of hard outdoor living for people and animals. In North America, some Native Americans referred to the time of year as “wolf moon” because hungry wolves could be heard prowling near their villages. Similarly, the Anglo-Saxons of Great Britain called the first weeks of winter Wulf-monath (Wolfmonth) because wolves came into villages in search of food.

The month of January is associated with harsh outdoor living–and wolves–in the Northern Hemisphere. Native Americans and Anglo-Saxons both named the time of year for the hungry wolves they encountered. Credit: © Shutterstock

Cold and wolf-infested January is named for Janus, the Roman god of beginnings. According to Roman legend, the ruler Numa Pompilius added January and February to the end of the 10-month Roman calendar in about 700 B.C. He gave the month 30 days. Later, the Romans made January the first month of the year. In 46 B.C., the Roman statesman Julius Caesar added a day to January, making it 31 days long.

January may be dreary, but the month’s holidays can brighten the mood.  January 1 is celebrated as New Year’s Day in most countries. Most Christian churches celebrate Epiphany on January 6, the 12th day after Christmas. The holiday commemorates the arrival of the wise men from the East bearing gifts for the infant Jesus. In Latin America, this day is celebrated as Día de los Reyes Magos (Three Kings Day). Children receive gifts on this day, supposedly from the wise men—the magi, or magos. In Sweden, St. Canute’s Day (also spelled Cnut or Knut), is celebrated on January 13. This holiday marks the end of the Christmas season. In Norway, a similar holiday is called Tyvendedagen (Twentieth Day), because it falls on the twentieth day after Christmas. Many Hindus celebrate a harvest festival called Makara Sankranti or Pongal in mid-January. During this holiday, many people bathe in the sacred Ganges River. They give alms (charity), eat newly harvested rice, and eat sweets to symbolize the wish for sweet words throughout the year. In the United States, the third Monday of January is a federal holiday in honor of the civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday falls on January 15. In Australia, people celebrate Australia Day on January 26.  The holiday commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet, the ships that brought the first immigrants to Australia in 1788.

December 4, 2019

Tomorrow, December 5, is the 180th anniversary of the birth of the United States Army officer George Armstrong Custer in 1839. Custer won fame as an American Civil War general and later as an “Indian fighter.” Indian fighter is a historical term that was once used to describe a soldier or other individual who was noted for battling Native Americans. Custer is best remembered for his role in the Battle of the Little Bighorn on June 25 and 26, 1876, in the Montana Territory. In this battle, which is also known as “Custer’s Last Stand,” warriors of the Sioux, Cheyenne, and other Native American nations killed Custer and all the men under his direct command.

George Armstrong Custer was born 180 years ago on Dec. 5, 1839. Credit: © Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Custer was born in New Rumley, Ohio, on Dec. 5, 1839. He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1861, ranking last in his class. But during the Civil War, which had just begun, Custer quickly gained attention as a fearless cavalry leader. In 1863, at the age of 23, he was made a brigadier general, and in 1865, a major general, both temporary ranks.

Many who served with the bold “boy general” admired his bravery and success. Many others felt that Custer was overly proud and too sure of his abilities. Some people were jealous of him and called Custer a “glory hunter.” But he captured the public’s attention and became a hero in the North.

In the 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn, Native American warriors killed U.S. Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer and more than 250 of his soldiers. Kicking Bear, a Sioux leader, showed how the battle unfolded in this painting from the 1890′s. In the center of the painting stand the Sioux leaders Sitting Bull, Rain in the Face, Crazy Horse, and Kicking Bear. Credit: © Southwest Museum Pasadena / Laurie Platt Winfrey (The Art Archive)

After the Civil War ended in 1865, the Army dropped Custer to his regular rank of captain. He joined the Seventh Cavalry Regiment in 1866 as a lieutenant colonel. Custer won greater fame—and made more enemies—as an Indian fighter in the southern Great Plains region and in the Dakota and Montana territories. In early 1876, Custer’s regiment joined troops organized to force the Sioux and Cheyenne onto reservations. General Alfred H. Terry commanded the expedition. In June, the main part of the army force reached an area in the Montana Territory where Terry expected to find many Sioux who had refused to settle in reservations. Terry ordered Custer’s regiment to get in a position south of the Sioux encampment (which included people of several Native American groups).

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This map shows the movements of the Battle of the Little Bighorn on June 25 and 26, 1876. Credit: WORLD BOOK map

On the morning of June 25, Custer’s scouts found a Native American village in the valley along the Little Bighorn River. Custer expected to find about 1,000 warriors. He believed his 650 soldiers could easily capture the village. However, the camp really had at least 2,000 Native American warriors. This group, whose leaders included Crazy Horse, Gall, and Sitting Bull, was probably the largest gathering of Native American warriors in Western history.

Custer attacked immediately. He split his regiment into three main groups—one under Captain Frederick W. Benteen, one under Major Marcus A. Reno, and one under himself. He sent Benteen to the south to prevent anyone from escaping in that direction. He ordered Reno to cross the Little Bighorn and attack the village. Custer’s group turned north and went downstream, probably to attack a weak point in the village.

After intense fighting in the valley, Reno’s badly beaten troops retreated up the hills on the other side of the river. Benteen’s group joined Reno’s men there. About 4 miles (6.5 kilometers) away from this site, Native American warriors killed Custer and his entire unit. The fighting may have lasted only about one hour. The Native American warriors continued to fight Benteen and Reno’s troops until June 26. Later that day, they disbanded their camp and left the territory. Terry arrived with his soldiers on June 27.

September 18, 2019

Tomorrow, September 19, writer Joy Harjo will become the first Native American poet laureate of the United States. The poet laureate, appointed by the librarian of Congress, works to increase the national appreciation and awareness of poetry. Harjo is a member of the Muskogee (also spelled Muscogee or Mvskoke) Creek Nation. Harjo will succeed the American poet Tracy K. Smith, who has served in the position since 2017.

Native American writer Joy Harjo will become poet laureate of the United States on Sept. 19, 2019. Credit: Shawn Miller, Library of Congress

Harjo was born Joy Foster in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on May 9, 1951. Her father was Muskogee Creek, and her mother was of Cherokee and European ancestry. At age 19, Joy became a member of the Muskogee Creek Nation and took the last name of her father’s mother—Harjo—a common last name among the Muskogee. Harjo earned a B.A. degree in creative writing from the University of New Mexico in 1976 and an M.F.A. degree from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop in 1978. She has since taught at the Institute of American Indian Arts in New Mexico and at universities in several states.

In 1975, Harjo published her first collection of poems in a short book called The Last Song. Her first full-length volume of poetry was What Moon Drove Me to This? (1979). Her poetry became well known with such collections as She Had Some Horses (1983), In Mad Love and War (1990), and The Woman Who Fell from the Sky (1994). Her forceful, intimate style draws on both natural and spiritual influences. Her poems often incorporate elements of Native American mythology and imagery. Harjo’s later collections include A Map to the Next World (2000), How We Became Human (2002), Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings (2015), and An American Sunrise (2019). She has won many awards for her work.

Harjo also wrote The Good Luck Cat (2000), a children’s picture book about a girl who worries about her lucky cat, which has used up eight of its nine lives. A poetic picture book for young adults called For a Girl Becoming (2009) celebrates the birth of a baby girl and the girl’s path to adulthood. Harjo’s memoir, Crazy Brave (2012), describes her own youth and her discovery of her creative voice.

Harjo has written screenplays for television and contributed, as a writer or narrator, to several documentaries on aspects of Native American culture. As an accomplished musician and saxophone player, she has released several recordings. She also is an activist for Native American and other causes.

February 25, 2019

Arizona’s spectacular Grand Canyon National Park celebrates its 100th birthday in 2019. Credit: © Digital Vision/SuperStock

To mark the anniversary, the park worked with Arizona State University and other partners to create the Grand Canyon Centennial Project—also known as “100 Years of Grand”—a series of programs at the park and online throughout 2019. On February 26, a special Founder’s Day Centennial Celebration at the park will include cultural, educational, and musical programs. In the following months, special events will highlight President Theodore Roosevelt (who created the Grand Canyon National Monument in 1908), the past and present efforts to map the massive canyon, and the history of the park. Traditional Native American arts and crafts will be demonstrated and presented all year long by the Desert View Cultural Demonstrators, members of the Grand Canyon’s 11 traditionally associated native peoples.

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Grand Canyon National Park Celebrates its centennial on Feb. 26, 2019. Credit: National Park Service

Various Native American cultures have lived in the Grand Canyon during the last 4,000 years. Today, about 450 members of the Havasupai people live on a reservation in a side canyon called Havasu Canyon. Other main Native American groups of the Grand Canyon include the Hopi, Navajo, Paiute, and Zuni. In 1540, a group of Spanish explorers led by García López de Cárdenas became the first Europeans to see the Grand Canyon. They were part of Francisco Vásquez de Coronado‘s expedition to the area. In 1869, the American geologist John Wesley Powell led a river expedition through the vast canyon, which he named the Grand Canyon. A forest preserve was created in the Grand Canyon in 1893.

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This map shows the location of the Grand Canyon National Park in northwest Arizona. Credit: WORLD BOOK map

About 5 million people visit Grand Canyon National Park every year. The majority of visitors drive along park roads and stop at scenic viewing points about the Grand Canyon. Visitors may also walk along the canyon’s rim. Many tourists hike along trails in the park. Some people ride mules into the canyon, and others enter by boat or raft on the Colorado River.

Grand Canyon National Park is home to a wide range of mammals, including bats, desert bighorn sheep, American bison, coyotes, elk, mountain lions, mule deer, and skunks. More than 450 species of birds live in the park, and reptiles such as gila monsters, short-horned lizards, and several species of snakes are commonly seen. Varied plant populations thrive in the park’s desert scrub, grassland, meadow, woodland, and high elevation communities.

November 7, 2018

November is Native American Heritage Month in the United States. To celebrate the month, World Book looks at the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) in Washington, D.C. The NMAI is devoted to the histories and cultures of the native peoples of the Americas. The museum works in cooperation with Native American communities to present objects, exhibits, and artworks of historical significance. The museum’s collections also showcase modern Native American arts and cultures. The NMAI, which is part of the Smithsonian Institution, has three facilities: the main museum campus on the National Mall; the George Gustav Heye Center in New York City; and the Cultural Resources Center in Suitland, Maryland.

The National Museum of the American Indian is devoted to the history and culture of the native peoples of North, Central, and South America. The museum’s building, in Washington, D.C., has smooth, rounded forms that were inspired in part by windswept rock formations. Many Native American architects and designers worked on the design. Credit: Pixabay

George Gustav Heye, an American art collector, established the Museum of the American Indian in New York City in 1916. In 1989, the United States Congress created the NMAI and moved Heye’s collection to the Smithsonian. The museum opened in 2004.

November is Native American Heritage Month in the United States. Credit: © Native American Heritage Month

This November, the NMAI is featuring an exhibit called “Patriot Nations: Native Americans in Our Nation’s Armed Forces.” The exhibit details the sometimes-conflicted participation of Native Americans in the U.S. military since the days of the American Revolution (1775-1783). It also details the new National Native American Veterans Memorial that will soon grace the museum’s grounds.

Native American Heritage Month began as American Indian Day in 1916, when certain states began honoring Native Americans with a day each May. President George H. W. Bush approved a joint resolution of Congress designating the first Native American Heritage Month in November 1990. The month honors all the native peoples of the United States, including Alaskan natives and Pacific Islanders.

August 6, 2018

About 8 million people in Andean South America speak one of the many dialects of the Native American language Quechua. Quechua, or Runa Simi as it is called by its speakers, is commonly heard in Peru and in parts of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, and Ecuador. Spanish is the official language of these nations, but Quechua has equal status in Peru. Quechua descends from the dominant tribal groups of the Inca empire. More than a quarter of Peru’s population speaks Quechua. In Bolivia, there are more people who speak Quechua than speak Spanish.

Quechua is an ancient dialect of the Inca empire. Many people speak the language in Peru, where Inca religious ceremonies—here, the Festival of the Sun—still take place. Credit: © M. Timothy O’Keefe, Alamy Images

Quechua originated as the language spoken by the Inca. The Inca were a native South American people who ruled one of the largest and richest empires in the Americas. The Inca empire emerged in the early A.D. 1400’s and occupied a vast region centered around the capital of Cusco, in modern-day southern Peru. The empire extended over 2,500 miles (4,020 kilometers) along the Andes Mountains. Different peoples within the empire spoke Quechua and a variety of other native languages. A second important language in the empire was Aymara, which is still heard in Bolivia and other nations.

The Peruvian flag flies over millions of Quechua speakers. Credit: © Gil C, Shutterstock

The Inca did not have an alphabet. They did have quipu, however, a cord with knotted strings of various lengths, colors, weaves, and designs that served as a system of record keeping. Special officials throughout the empire read the quipu and maintained the knotted strings. Archaeologists have discovered how the Inca recorded numbers and dates using quipu, but they are still trying to understand what other information might be encoded in the knotted strings.

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The map at left shows the location of the Inca empire along the Andes Mountains of South America. The empire’s capital, Cusco, is in modern day Peru. Credit: WORLD BOOK map

Without an alphabet or written language, information was passed along the Inca empire’s system of royal roads by messengers called chaski. Messages were passed by word of mouth or by quipu. Chaski were stationed every few miles, and messages would be passed from one messenger to the next so information would flow quickly throughout the empire.

The sons of rulers throughout the empire were sent to Cusco, where they were instructed in Inca language, history, and religion. They were also taught about the quipu and Inca fighting techniques by teachers called amauta. These teachers also recorded stories and legends in poems and songs that they retold at gatherings.

In the 1500’s, during the Spanish conquest, missionaries used Quechua to teach the Inca about Christianity. The missionaries were the first to record Quechua in written form. An official orthography—method of representing the sounds of a language by written or printed symbols—was drafted in 1939 and adopted in 1946 for the main Peruvian dialect of Quechua.

July 2, 2018

With around 150,000 speakers, Navajo is the most widely spoken Native American language in the United States. Navajo, known to its speakers as Diné Bizaad, belongs to the Apachean language complex, a group that includes Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Mescalero, and other languages of the American southwest. Apachean languages are part of the Athabascan family, a language group that includes languages spoken by the indigenous (native) people of Alaska, British Columbia, and other parts of North America.

A Navajo woman teaches her daughter how to spin thread for weaving. Many parts of Navajo culture—including the language known as Diné Bizaad—have been passed along from one generation to the next. Credit: © Thinkstock

Navajo is a verb-centered language. The verb conjugation is very complex. This allows a Navajo verb to give lots of information without the help of additional words. For example, to say it is very far in English requires one verb (is) and three additional words. Translated into Navajo, the sentence has just two words: Ayóó (very) ánizáád (it is far). The verb ánizáád provides most of the information, and it requires just one additional word to convey the full message. A single Navajo verb can sometimes serve as a rough equivalent of an entire English sentence. For example, the Navajo word Yidlą́ means he is drinking it.

During the 1800′s and early 1900′s, Navajo children were required by law to leave their families and live in government-run boarding schools. The purpose of “Indian schools” was to erase the traditional Navajo way of life, including the language, and to educate the children and instill in them the values of mainstream American culture. While living at these schools, children were only allowed to speak English. Speaking Navajo would often result in harsh punishment. In this way, a great many Navajo lost the knowledge of their native tongue. Luckily, many Navajo were still able to pass the language down to their children, and Diné Bizaad survives.

This photograph shows young Navajo code talkers operating a radio during World War II (1939-1945). The Navajo language was unknown to the Japanese and proved impossible for them to decipher. Credit: NARA

During World War II (1939-1945), the U.S. Marine Corps recruited more than 400 Navajo to serve as “code talkers” against Japanese forces. The code talkers sent vital messages to each other between front lines and command posts. The Navajo language was chosen as the basis for the code because of the complex structure, difficult pronunciation, and singsong qualities that made it nearly impossible to decipher.

Code talkers used familiar words to represent military terms. When referring to a fighter plane, they used the Navajo word for hummingbird. A destroyer warship became a shark, and bombs were eggs. Code talkers also developed an alphabet based on English words to spell names. One or more Navajo words could stand for each letter. For example, the Navajo word for ant indicated the letter a, bear signaled b, cat was c, and so on. The Japanese never broke the Navajo code.

April 10, 2018

Last month, in March, scientists published results of a DNA study on an ancient, mysterious, and rather alien-looking skeleton found in the Atacama Desert of Chile. Some people claimed the well-preserved skeleton, only about 6 inches (15 centimeters) long with an an elongated skull and other unusual features, was proof that aliens exist and have visited Earth. The study, however, published in the journal Genome Research, showed that the skeleton (known as Ata for Atacama) was in fact that of an infant human. The unusual skeleton is quite real, however, and the study explained the skeleton’s extraterrestrial appearance.

This mummified skeleton from the Atacama Desert in Chile had been described as “alien.” Genetic analysis showed that the skeleton was human and may have had a previously unknown bone disorder. Credit: © Emery Smith

Ata’s remains were discovered in 2003 at La Noria, an abandoned saltpeter-mining town in northern Chile. Ata eventually passed to a private collector. The tiny skeleton is remarkable in many ways. Ata has an unusual elongated, cone-shaped head and possesses only 10 pairs of ribs instead of the 12 pairs normally found in humans. The skeleton looked to be about the size of a human infant, yet the bones were remarkably well developed, more like those of a child perhaps 6 years old.

Ata’s shocking features fueled wild speculation about the skeleton’s origins. Some considered it an obvious fraud, perhaps the skeleton of a monkey that had been altered for a side show attraction. Historically, such hoaxes were created by circuses or side-shows to fool gullible patrons. Other people thought the skeleton belonged to a human child suffering from an unknown, perhaps genetic, malady. However, a few people pointed out physical similarities to reported alien visitors and suggested that the skeleton was evidence alien astronauts had visited that region of South America centuries ago.

Beginning in 2012, scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine in California conducted studies in an attempt to solve the mystery of Ata. They initially identified the skeleton as unquestionably human. The skeleton appeared ancient, although scientists could not determine exactly how old it was. Explaining the skeleton’s size and many unusual features proved more difficult. The scientists simply had never seen a skeleton quite like this before. Only after colleagues at the University of California in San Francisco examined Ata’s genetic material was the mystery solved.

The scientists were able to extract Ata’s complete genome from the bones. A genome is the entire set of genes that control heredity in a human being. The genetic material confirmed that Ata was a female and closely related to the native peoples of Chile—thus not an alien. The scientists also found that Ata suffered from a variety of genetic mutations that created her highly unusual features. The researchers identified at least seven mutated genes that are known to cause significant skeletal malformation in humans. Some of the genes are known to cause dwarfism and scoliosis, an abnormal curvature of the spine, as well as other, less common deformities.

The severity of the genetic mutations unfortunately meant that Ata most likely died soon after birth. Some of her mutated genes are involved in skeletal maturation, making her bones appear older than her actual age. When discovered, her remains were reportedly wrapped in a white cloth tied with a purple ribbon. Although her life was tragically short, Ata was cared for by her family and given a loving funeral.

After the genetic study was published, officials in Chile protested that the researchers had violated ethical guidelines concerning the treatment of human remains. The National Monuments Council of Chile began an investigation to determine if Ata’s remains were illegally exhumed (dug up) and exported from the country. In Chile, the government has passed laws intended to protect graves and human remains as well as other cultural items of importance to Native Americans. These laws are similar to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) in the United States. NAGPRA makes it illegal to buy, sell, or transport for sale any Native American human remains or other cultural items. Chilean officials claim that American researchers violated the law by conducting the study on Ata’s remains without proper permission.