Diné Bizaad yee Nidaazbaaʼígíí
(Navajo) Code Talkers
By: Brianna Derrick
Spring 2020
Table of Contents
Overview 3
Who were the Code Talkers and how did they help the United States? 3
Language Used 3
A Note on the Physical Box 4
Index of Items 5
Sources 6
Source 1 Code Talker Song 6
Source 2 Official Letter 7
Source 3 Meskwaki Code Talkers 9
Source 4 Iowa Heritage Illustrated Article 10
Source 5 A Code Talker’s Story 14
Source 6 Code Talker Deployment Maps 15
Source 7 Code Dictionary 16
Source 8 Code Talkers at Iwo Jima 17
Book 1 The Unbreakable Code 18
Source 9 2004 Hearing 20
Source 10 Gold Medals 23
Annotated Bibliography 24
Overview
Who were the Code Talkers and how did they help the United States?
During WWII everyone was trying to come up with new and better
codes that the other side wouldn’t be able to crack. Codes were time
consuming and took a long time to come up with, learn, and decode. In WWI
some Native Americans helped transmit codes in their language but the war
ended before it was used much. When WWII came around, some people wanted
to use the language of Native Americans once again. In Iowa, forty-six
Meskwaki soldiers served, eight of them as Code Talkers.
Language Used
The language used in some of these historical documents is dated and
we no longer use it. This language is now seen as offensive and hurtful to
the people it is used to describe. Some of the spelling and tribal names are
also different than the ones we use now.
The term we no longer use is “Indian”. Now we use the terms “Native
Americans” or “Indigenous People”. Additionally the name of the tribe or
nation can be used to describe that specific group.
Spelling Used by the Nation Spellings in Some Documents
Meskwaki Mesquakie
Navajo Navaho
Some sources refer to the Sac and Fox tribe. The Sac and Fox is a
confederacy that includes the Meskwaki and the Sauk tribes.
Explore the box in the order that the sources are listed (1-10). The
book should be read between sources 8 and 9.
A Note on the Physical Box
My recommendation for the physical box is that it should look like a
code talker radio, as pictured in my drawing on the cover sheet.
I would also suggest having manilla folders for each of the sources
with titles in code but numbers still as digits. The students will look at
the sources in order so the numbers will help if things get a little mixed
up. I would also put the full English name inside the folder, but so that it
would not be visible before the folder was opened.
A few of the sources require a computer so one would have to be
available for the students to look at those sources.
The translated sources would be as follows:
Aaníinii 1- Diné Bizaad yee Nidaazbaaʼígíí Sin
Aaníinii 2- Wááshindoon Naaltsoos
Aaníinii 3- Meskwaki Bizaad yee Nidaazbaaʼígíí
Aaníinii 4- Iowa Heritage Illustrated Beh-eh-ho-zinz
Aaníinii 5- Wol-la-chee Diné Bizaad yee Nidaazbaaʼígíí’s Bahaneʼ
Aaníinii 6- Diné Bizaad yee Nidaazbaaʼígíí A-kwe-eh Kah-ya-nesh-chai
Aaníinii 7- Diné Bizaad yee Nidaazbaaʼígíí Lexike
Aaníinii 8- Diné Bizaad yee Nidaazbaaʼígíí Ah-di Iwo Jima
Naaltsoos 1- The Unbreakable Code
Aaníinii 9- 2004 Wááshindoon Áłah néiidleehígíí
Aaníinii 10- Óola Kut
Index of Items
Source 1- Code Talker Song
Navajo Code Talkers. (2006, September 4). Retrieved from
[Link]
Source 2- Official Letter
"Enlistment of Navajo Indians" The Commandment, US Marine Corps. March 6,
1942
[Link]
[Link]
Source 3- Meskwaki Code Talkers
Meskwaki Code Talkers. (1941, February 26). Marshalltown Times
Republican. Retrieved from
[Link]
imary-source-sets/westward-expansion-and-native-americans/mes
kwaki-code-talkers
Source 4- Iowa Heritage Illustrated Article
Bennett, M. (2003). Meskwaki Code Talkers. Iowa Heritage Illustrated,
154–156.
Source 5- A Code Talker’s Story
Brown, B. (2018, January 29). The Code That Couldn't Be Broken. Retrieved
from
[Link]
[Link]#830L
Source 6- Code Talker Deployment Maps
Kimble, S. T. (n.d.). Code Talking. Code Talking.
Source 7- Code Dictionary
Navajo Code Talker Dictionary. (2020, April 16). Retrieved from
[Link]
om/title-list-alphabetically/n/[Link]
ml
Source 8- Code Talkers at Iwo Jima
MacDonald, P. (2019, February 18). Code Talkers at Iwo Jima. Retrieved from
[Link]
Book 1- The Unbreakable Code
The Unbreakable Code. Sara Hoagland-Hunter. 1996
Source 9- 2004 Hearing
Committee on Indian Affairs, United States Senate, One Hundred Eighth
Congress. Contributions of Native American Code Talkers in American
Military History. (2004).
Source 10- Gold Medals
Speer, J. (2013, November 29). Congressional Gold honor Meskwaki Code
Talkers. T oledo Chronicle, Tama News-Herald. Retrieved from
[Link]
[Link]?nav=5006
Sources
Source 1 Code Talker Song
Video Link: Navajo Code Talkers
DBQ: What weapon did the Code Talkers use during the war?
DBQ: What did Code Talkers do on the radios?
Source 2 Official Letter
DBQ: What did the demonstration show?
DBQ: Why did Mr. Johnston want to use people from the Navajo tribe for the
code?
Source 3 Meskwaki Code Talkers
DBQ: What kind of equipment did the Code Talkers use?
DBQ: What kinds of things did Code Talkers have to learn in training?
Source 4 Iowa Heritage Illustrated Article
Follow this link to the full article!
This is a full copy of the text article but the link provides some
more photos of people on the homefront during WWII.
DBQ: Why did the men decide to join?
DBQ: What happened the Meskwaki once they were in war?
Source 5 A Code Talker’s Story
Video Link: A Code Talker Tells His Story
DBQ: How did they come up with names for things that didn’t have names in
Navajo?
DBQ: What does the Code Talker think of the Navajo language?
Source 6 Code Talker Deployment Maps
DBQ: Where were the Iowans (Meskwaki) located? Which map is that?
DBQ: How many major battles did Code Talkers help in?
Source 7 Code Dictionary
Follow this link to look at the full dictionary!
DBQ: What are two ways you could say “battleship advance north”? Why is it
good to be able to say this in multiple ways?
DBQ: Look at the names of ships and airplanes. What do the literal
translations tell you about the English word?
Source 8 Code Talkers at Iwo Jima
Video Link: An Unbreakable Code
Watch the video of the Code Talker talking about Iwo Jima and war.
DBQ: If the army only used English, what would have happened at Iwo Jima?
DBQ: What does the speaker ask you to never forget? Why?
Book 1 The Unbreakable Code
by Sara Hoagland Hunter
Code Talker Questions
What did the Code Talkers call America? How does this explain why
the grandfather left?
How did the grandfather feel about going to the government boarding
school? Why?
The grandfather is proud to be a Code Talker but he didn’t want to
talk about some parts of it with John. Why does he say no?
Theorizing Questions
Why do you think they wouldn’t let the students speak in their
language?
Do you think the grandfather’s choice to enlist was easy? Why or why
not?
Would you have enlisted if you were in the same situation?
Source 9 2004 Hearing
Follow this link to read the full hearing!
The statements included in this box are the statements made by
Iowans. Many more people spoke about the need to recognize the Code
Talkers for their service.
DBQ: Why is it important to give the Code Talkers an award for their
service?
DBQ: Why is the timing of this important? Why do they say “time is of the
essence”?
Source 10 Gold Medals
DBQ: When did the Meskwaki get awarded? How
does that compare to the date on the hearing?
DBQ: What does the medal show?
Annotated Bibliography
(n.d.). Retrieved from
[Link]
[Link]
Here you can find many documents pertaining to the history of the
Code Talkers. It is a government run website and you can get many
resources faxed to you if you know what they are (and they’re open).
They have a whole section for Code Talkers where I was able to find
resources that I hadn’t seen anywhere else.
Behrman, S. (n.d.). Meskwaki History Timeline. Retrieved April 16, 2020,
from
[Link]
1/Local%20Root%20Folder/[Link]
This is a great resource for learning about what happened to the
Meskwaki tribe over time. The formatting and design of the website
is not very finished but the next page with the bibliography is
filled with more sources about the Meskwaki and they corroborate
the dates and detail of the first page.
Code Talking. (n.d.). Retrieved April 2020, from
[Link]
[Link]
I think that this resource was my favorite due to the organized
information and kid-friendly set up. This website is great for
student exploration and it offers lesson plans for teachers on how
to teach about Code Talkers.
Glosbe: the multilingual online dictionary. (n.d.). Retrieved from
[Link]
This resource helped me translate all of the source titles into
Navajo. If it doesn’t find a word that is an exact match it will give
suggestion words and text documents in the language that use the
word.
Lynch, J. Q. (2013, December 3). Iowa code talkers’ families to get medals,
but hard feelings remain. Sioux City Journal. Retrieved from
[Link]
ers-families-to-get-medals-but-hard-feelings/article_982fe44f-c
[Link]
This is a more recent article that talks about how the Meskwaki’s
families felt about getting the medals and what happened when they
did. It is a reliable source as it incles interviews and even a video
of people talking about what they think and the whole situation.
MESKWAKI NATION. (2017). Retrieved from [Link]
This is a website run by the Meskwaki Nation. I used this source to
learn about their history and that of the Sac and Fox tribe. It is a
unique look into the lives and history of the Meskwaki Nation, in
their own words.
Reese, D. (2007, March 26). Children's Books on Navajo Code Talkers.
Retrieved from
[Link]
3/[Link]
I used this source to help me find my children’s book. If offered a few
different books about Code Talkers for grades 3 and up. It also gives
some of the highlights of each book and some information about how
they thought of themselves that many other sources did not cover.
