@shondagoward My dad was a high school teacher & announced football games for YEARS. My job — basically since I was old enough to write — was to go down to the opposing sidelines before each game and ask an assistant coach to clarify names my dad wasn’t sure how to pronounce. It matters!
It's #WomensHistoryMonth! Day 3 of influential Native women: Ola Mildred Rexroat (1917-2017), the only Native woman to serve as one of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) in WWII. Joined the Air Force after the WASP was disbanded in 1944; worked as an air traffic controller.
It's #WomensHistoryMonth! Day 1 of influential Native women: Wailacki (Round Valley Indian Tribes) Nicole Aunapu Mann, the first Native woman in space. Mann is a Colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps & part of the SpaceX Crew-5 mission that went to the ISS in October 2022.
It's #WomensHistoryMonth! Day 2 of influential Native women: Mi’kmaw runner Patti Catalano (1953-), who set US marathon record for women in the 1980 New York City Marathon. Later set 8 American records (5 miles, 10K, 15K, 10 miles, 20K, half, 30K, full) + held some world records.
Whirlwind trip to Philly for #AHA23, but grateful to @lmansley for curating this amazing panel on writing history for kids, to @UNC_Press for lugging my book to the conference, and for randomly finding historian friends wherever I go.
It’s the first day of Native American Heritage Month, and my newest book is here! I’m thrilled to be part of this @Scholastic series — and, as always, grateful for the opportunity to write about incredible Indigenous women!