Revival History

he man in this photograph is not an “ancient figure.” He stands in the desert – where his ancestors lived, fought, and prayed – with a calm yet resolute gaze. Native American history is often told as a closed chapter. But the truth is: the indigenous people never disappeared. They lived on this land for thousands of years before borders were drawn, before history was written by the victors. They understood the land, the wind, the water, and the sky as one with their own being. This photograph is not about pain. It is about continuity. A bloodline that has never been broken. 👉 History is not just in books. History stands here – breathing, looking straight ahead, and asking no one's permission to exist.

I've done posting about 3 of the La Flesche siblings, so thought I would do one about their parents. We're fortunate to have pictures of them.  E-sta-mah-za “Iron Eyes” (Joseph) La Flesche (1822-1889), the last recognized chief of the Omaha Indians. His father was a French fur-trader and his mother was Omaha-Ponca. He was adopted by the Omaha chief, Big Elk, and became chief upon Big Elk’s death. He signed the last Omaha treaty that ceded land in the northern part of the reservation for the Winnebago Tribal reservation. Hin-nu-ags-nun “The One Woman” (Mary) Gale La Flesche (1827-1909). She was the daughter of Army physician, Dr. John Gale and his wife Nicomi, who was Omaha-Oto-Iowa. After the death of Gale, Nicomi married Peter Sarpy, a local trader. Sarpy paid for Mary’s education and she spoke both French and English.

**The evidence survived where stories did not.** In 2010, genetic analysis of Icelandic families identified a mitochondrial marker known as C1e, a lineage found almost entirely among Native American populations. In Iceland, its arrival can be traced to around 1000 AD, centuries before Columbus crossed the Atlantic. The timing matters. This period aligns precisely with Norse expeditions to Vinland, in what is now Newfoundland. Archaeology already confirms Viking presence there through remains at L’Anse aux Meadows, including Norse-style structures, ironwork, and tools dated to the same era. One detail reshapes the narrative. Mitochondrial DNA is passed through the maternal line, indicating that this genetic signature came from a Native American woman who entered the Norse world and whose descendants remained in Iceland for roughly forty generations. How she crossed the ocean is unknown. The genetic data does not explain whether her journey involved trade, alliance, or coercion. It only...

Victoria (Wishikin) Wacheno Howard (c. 1865-1930) Victoria (Wishikin) Wacheno Howard was the teller of Clackamas Chinook narratives and traditions transcribed by anthropologist Melville Jacobs and published by him as Clackamas Chinook Texts (1958-1959), one of the richest records of the Indigenous northwest Oregon storytelling art. While Jacobs referred to her invariably as “a Clackamas Chinook,” Howard’s origins were more complicated, though not unusually so for the tribally and linguistically diverse reservation community into which she was born and spent most of her life. Victoria (locally, Victoire) Wishikin was born in about 1865 on the Grand Ronde Reservation to William Wishikin, a Tualatin (Kalapuyan speaker), and Sarah, a daughter of gʷáyakʼiti, the Molalla tribal chief at Grand Ronde. In northwest Oregon, a person’s natal tribal affiliation customarily followed that of his or her father. Victoria Wishikin owed her knowledge of the Clackamas language and culture not to her nata...

The history of Indigenous peoples in the Americas after Europeans arrived is one of the most heartbreaking chapters in human history. When Europeans came, Native communities faced many tragedies. Deadly diseases like smallpox and measles spread quickly. Because Indigenous people had never been exposed to these illnesses before, they had no immunity. Entire villages were wiped out by sickness alone. There were also wars, forced removals, broken treaties, and violent attacks. Families were pushed off their land. Nations were divided. Many communities lost their homes and their way of life. You may have heard the claim that 100 million Native Americans were killed on American soil. Most historians say that number is not supported by strong evidence. The total population of the Americas before European contact is usually estimated to be lower than that, and deaths happened for many different reasons — disease, conflict, displacement, and harsh policies. Still, many scholars and Indigenous ...

Natives were aware of how important it was to prevent inbreeding to keep their dogs healthy. In order to prevent this, the tribes would introduce new blood from other tribe's dogs which accounted for the many types of dogs that were often portrayed in history books. The northern tribes developed a dog with more of a wolf like appearance while in the western regions the smaller Plains dog was developed. These dogs were very intelligent and versatile as they were expected to fill many roles in the village. In some tribes, dogs pulled a travois carrying the nomadic family’s belongings as they followed their food supply. Dogs were used to hunt for food and as faithful and protective watch dogs over the village. They were even reliable as “babysitters” for the children and elderly when the women were gathering roots, berries and herbs. In certain tribes ,some of the dogs even played important roles in the tribes’ religious ceremonies. Scientists say the "black wolves" are actu...

First Native American Woman Doctor: Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte (1865-1915) Eight-year-old Susan La Flesche sat at the bedside of an elderly woman, puzzled as to why the doctor had yet to arrive. After all, he had been summoned four times, and four times he had promised to come straight away. As the night grew longer, the sick woman’s breathing grew fainter until she died in agony before the break of dawn. Even to a young girl, the message delivered by the doctor’s absence was painfully clear: “It was only an Indian.” That searing moment stoked the fire inside Susan to one day heal the fellow members of her Omaha tribe. “It has always been a desire of mine to study medicine ever since I was a small girl,” she wrote years later, “for even then I saw the need of my people for a good physician.” Born in a buckskin teepee on the Omaha Indian Reservation in northeast Nebraska on June 17, 1865, Susan was never given a traditional Omaha name by her mixed-race parents. Her father, Chief Josep...

Rudy Youngblood is a Native American actor born on September 21, 1982. He is a member of the Comanche and Cree tribes. Youngblood is best known for his leading role as Jaguar Paw in Mel Gibson's film "Apocalypto," which gained acclaim for its use of the Maya language and indigenous actors. In addition to acting, Rudy Youngblood is involved in various cultural and social activities, particularly related to the Native American community. He often participates in charity events, workshops, and educational programs to raise awareness about the culture and rights of Indigenous communities. Rudy Youngblood is not only a talented actor but also a passionate community activist, always supporting efforts to improve the vision and lives of Native American communities. He frequently engages in charitable activities, contributing to improving living conditions and education for Indigenous communities.

The history of Native Americans is one that’s often overlooked or glossed over in mainstream discussions . As this powerful image reminds us, Native Americans have suffered immense losses: their history, their land, their culture, and even their lives in one of the least discussed genocides in world history. For centuries, Indigenous peoples have been subjected to violence, displacement, and cultural erasure, yet their resilience has carried them through. It’s crucial to understand the extent of the trauma they’ve endured, not only for the sake of historical accuracy but also to honor their continued fight for justice and recognition. The genocide of Native Americans is a painful chapter in history, one that many still do not fully understand. It wasn’t just about the loss of life, but the destruction of entire ways of living, the forced removal from ancestral lands, and the forced assimilation into foreign systems that were never designed for Indigenous peoples to succeed. This dark h...

Did You Know? One of the Earliest Photographs of a Native American with a Wolf Captures a Forgotten Harmony A rare late 19th-century photograph depicts a Native American standing beside a wolf, embodying a profound sense of companionship and mutual respect. This powerful image reflects a deep cultural connection rooted in survival, symbolism, and a profound appreciation for the natural world. In many Native American cultures, wolves were revered as powerful symbols of loyalty, courage, and perseverance. Their remarkable adaptability, complex family dynamics, and impressive hunting abilities earned them a special place in the cultural and spiritual practices of these communities. The photograph serves as a poignant reminder of a lost era, where humans and animals coexisted in harmony. As westward expansion disrupted the delicate balance between Native communities and the natural world, the importance of preserving cultural heritage and promoting coexistence became increasingly evident. ...

On this day in 1725, in the American colonies, a group of armed volunteers in New Hampshire stumbled upon a group of Native Americans and "scalpelted" 10 of them, marking the first time European colonists adopted this Native American custom. The armed group received a reward of 100 pounds from the colonial authorities in Boston for each piece of scalp.Although scalping had been practiced in Europe and Asia, it is generally believed to have originated with Native American groups in North America. In the act of scalping, the skin surrounding the top of the head was cut and separated from the enemy's skull, often resulting in death. Beyond its value as a trophy, a piece of scalp was often believed to bestow upon its owner the strength of the decapitated enemy.In the early wars with Native Americans, European colonists in North America retaliated against rival indigenous groups by adopting their own scalping practices. The bounties offered by the colonial authorities led to a...

This is a picture of the last legal public hanging in America. Rainey Bethea was convicted of rape after confessing to the crime and sentenced to death by hanging in Owensboro, Kentucky on August 14, 1936. Had he been convicted of murder, of which he was also charged, he would have faced life imprisonment or at the worst the electric chair, but an obscure law in Kentucky at the time required for convicted rapists to be hanged in the county in which the crime occurred. The law was amended in 1938.. It is estimated that 20,000 people showed up to witness this event. One more interesting note: the sheriff of Daviess County, Kentucky at the time was a woman, Flo by prence Shoemaker Thompson.

On the island of Luzon , in the Philippines , lives a nomadic tribe of the Aeta people , an indigenous tribal people who have been isolated, by choice, from the rest of the world for thousands of years. All previous attempts to "civilize" them by Spanish and British colonizers failed, and they were left in their world. The island itself is ancient and remote jungles are the hunting grounds for a wide range of fascinating and giant creatures, such as this 22.6-foot-long (6.88 m) reticulated python is the longest snake species in the world, it was killed by the tribe in 1970. Some centuries ago they live from the fruits of the jungle, caring very little about the problems of the outside world.

History of World Olympic (Formerly Greek Olympic) During the ancient Olympic games, the truce, or  'Ekecheiria' was announced across Greece and it's City states. This meant that no war was permitted, and no arms could be carried into Olympia, insuring safe passage for athletes and spectators to the festival. Began in 776 BC and were held every four years in Olympia, did not have international participation in the way we understand it today. The ancient Olympics were a strictly Greek affair, with only free male Greek citizens allowed to compete. The Games were a religious and athletic festival dedicated to the god Zeus, and participants were required to be of Greek descent. While the ancient Olympics were not open to athletes from other countries, there were occasions where individuals from Greek colonies or territories outside of mainland Greece may have participated. These individuals were still considered Greek, as they were part of the broader Greek world. However, the c...

It's Báck then, When I was Still a Chíld of about 14 years old, I was In Children Church. The Pastor Told us that Everybody Must Give Testimony That Particular Sunday.  I told Them that I dón't Have any Testimony, But The Pastor said that ANY ONE WHO DÓESN'T GIVE TESTIMONY WILL NÓT GO HOME😟😭😭.  As Everybody started rúshing out to give Téstimony, I had nó choice than to joín them🙆😩😭. My parents Were Very Happy seeing me Giving Testimony 😩🥰 When it was my Túrn, I shouted "Church praíseee The Lorddd!!🥰🥰", and I started Cryíng🥺😳.  "Chaiii, It's a Lóng Story, God is too Góod!!☝️🥺😭😭",  The Moderating Pastor told me "Please Gó stráight to the Point!!" 😔😒😒 "The Testimony Is too Lóng And páinful to tálk, chaiii", I was Just shóuting and rólling On The Floor. 😳😭  When The Pastor saw that, the Testimony Was Too Lóng And I was crying so so múch, He told the Rest 8 Testifiers that was Waiting to Go and Sít down, and Let...

My wife went to the market earlier, leaving me alone with the kids, including the baby. At first, I felt confident. How hard could it be? I’m a grown man. A responsible father. A provider. A champion. After feeding everyone successfully (yes, successfully, this detail is important), I looked around the house and decided to go the extra mile. I told myself, “Let me wash the dishes and mop the floor so when my wife comes back, she will be impressed.” Simple plan. Except… the baby had other plans. The moment I started working, the baby began crying. So there I was, carrying a baby with one hand and washing dishes with the other, moving around the kitchen like a confused octopus trying to keep life together. But I didn’t give up. I finished the dishes and moved on to mopping the floor, still holding the baby, sweating like a man training for Olympics nobody registered him for. I was tired, but proud. The house was finally looking good. That was when my daughter entered the kitchen. You kn...

The Pilgrims were dying. Half of the Mayflower's 102 passengers had perished during the brutal winter of 1620-21. The survivors huddled in makeshift shelters, weakened by disease and starvation, nervously watching the treeline. They'd seen smoke from distant fires. They'd discovered abandoned cornfields. But for four agonizing months, no direct contact with the Indigenous people whose land they'd occupied. They had no idea how to survive. Their English seeds failed in New England's rocky soil. They didn't know which plants were safe to eat, how to fish these unfamiliar waters, or when to plant crops. Death seemed more likely than survival. Then, on March 16, 1621—a Friday afternoon as the Pilgrims discussed military defenses—a tall Indigenous man walked directly into their settlement. He was alone. Unarmed. And he spoke to them in perfect English. "Welcome, Englishmen," he said. Then he asked for beer. The settlers were stunned into silence. In what th...

From 1940 to 1945, millions of Jews, along with other prisoners, were subjected to forced labor in Nazi labor camps, a key component of the Nazi war machine. These labor camps were scattered across Nazi-occupied Europe and included both concentration camps and subcamps of extermination camps, such as Auschwitz, Buchenwald, and Mauthausen. Prisoners were coerced into performing grueling, often life-threatening labor in factories, construction sites, and military industries that supported the Nazi war effort. The conditions in these labor camps were brutal and inhumane. The workers were often forced to work long hours under harsh conditions, with little regard for their safety or well-being. They were made to toil in hazardous environments, such as in ammunition factories, mining operations, and on major infrastructure projects like the construction of roads and railways. Many laborers were employed by major German companies, including Siemens, IG Farben, and Krupp, who profited from th...

Fall of the Republic   “Woe to the vanquished.”   In 390 BC, the Gallic chief Brennus defeated the Roman army at the Battle of Allia, entering the city itself, failing only to occupy the Capitoline Hill. After a lengthy siege that saw both sides ravaged by illness and lack of supplies, the Romans agreed to pay 1,000 pounds of gold for the barbarians to leave. When they complained that the scales he was using were weighted (and thus they were having to pay more gold than agreed), Brennus threw his sword on the scales too, laughing as he declared “Vae victis!” – woe to the vanquished. The exiled dictator Camillus would earn the title “the Second Founder of Rome” for allegedly expelling the Gauls from the city and reclaiming the gold, declaring: “It is not by gold, but by iron that our nation will be recovered.”   Three centuries later, the shadow of Brennus still loomed large over Rome. The Gauls, who had now been regularly defeated as the Romans claimed Cisalpine Gaul (nor...

Are private parts of a mother exposed to the doctors during C-section? the patient’s private parts are indeed widely exposed during a C-section. But please remember that your private parts are not really private to an OB/GYN or a urologist: they see them all the time on a daily basis, in all the shapes and sizes they come. And your OB/GYN should have seen yours well in advance, since you want the baby to be healthy Not that private, indeed. And yes, all the other people in the delivery room will see your private parts as well — the various nurses, OB/GYN(s), possible trainees, and least but not least: your spouse (who also should have seen them before). Not that private indeed, yet again. But the view will be medical, and not of romantic nature: there will be some tearing, pushing and screaming, a lot of sweat, a placenta, possible excrements and a lot more. But there will also be a baby, and it will make you forget the medical staff that is staring at your genitals in awe, and posting...

World War II Army Nurse Leila Morrison arrived on the beaches of Normandy 30 days after D-Day with just her duffle bag. She worked directly behind the front lines, trying to save the lives of our soldiers. Years later, Leila would say of her experience: "As we walked in that sand at Normandy, I couldn’t help but think of all the boys, young boys that had given their lives, and I just felt like I was on sacred land walking across where those fellas had walked and given their all.” Leila passed away a week after turning 100. God bless this amazing hero!

“Replacements” during basic training in the USA - 1944  These young men were drafted or volunteered in 1944, and were sent for basic training, they were destined to become replacements, ultimately being sent to their receiving units from a "Repple-Depple". Late in WW2 the duration of US Army basic training programs was reduced. As a consequence, although they arrived at the front well-fed & well-equipped, memoirs by vets reveal that in many instances they were woefully unprepared for what was ahead of them. One account of an 18-year old replacement arriving at his unit in the dead of night, completely disorientated and really not knowing where he was or what his duties were. On top of that, the "old-timers" in the platoon looked at him with a degree of suspicion because he was yet to prove himself...and he was filling the place of one of their fallen buddies. Being a replacement in WW2 evidently wasn't easy.

In a controversial move, the Trump administration removed panels honoring Black WWII veterans at the Netherlands American Cemetery, sparking widespread outrage. These panels, which celebrated the contributions of African-American soldiers during World War II, were part of a rotating exhibit, but their removal has been seen by many as an erasure of Black history. Local Dutch officials have condemned the act, calling it “indecent and unacceptable.” The move is particularly troubling given the historical context of these veterans, who fought not only against fascism but also against the segregation they faced at home. This incident has raised questions about the ongoing struggle for recognition and representation in the narrative of America’s military history.

During World War II, a young Belgian schoolteacher named Andrée Geulen noticed something strange. Her Jewish students began arriving at school wearing yellow stars. Most teachers stayed quiet. But Andrée couldn’t. She joined a resistance network and began secretly moving Jewish children into safe houses. At school, she quietly told them, “If someone comes for you, don’t say your real name.” She memorized each child’s identity to reunite them with their families after the war. The Nazis eventually discovered her work. Soldiers raided the school and questioned her. She stayed calm and denied everything. As soon as they left, she risked her life again—sending more children into hiding before it was too late. Years later, someone asked why she did it. She simply said, “What else could I do? They were children.” You don’t have to be powerful to protect others. Sometimes courage is just refusing to look away. Even one quiet voice can save a life when it chooses to act instead of staying sile...

A photo that absolutely haunts me is the photo below of Leni Riefenstahl, a famous movie director from Germany. Riefenstahl’s stylistic movie making skills had helped the Nazis make excellent propaganda for a few years, but Riefenstahl had been largely insulated from the brutality of their reign — she just made some nice films, attended red carpet events and dined with the high and mighty at their most charming. Everything changed in September 1939 when Germany invaded Poland and Riefenstahl decided to be a war correspondent… A German officer later relayed the story of the photo above. He said there was a group of Jewish Poles gathered in a square. Riefenstahl was shooting scenes and asked the soldiers to “remove the people from the square” so she could capture the square and the soldiers better… the officer to which Riefenstahl gave the command, relayed it to his men thus: “Riefenstahl says, get rid of the Jews!” And the soldiers nodded, aimed their rifles and opened fire on them. The...