History 4 Kids

Future First Lady: Martha Washington's Childhood

Like most kids, I learned a lot about George Washington in school. He was celebrated as an American hero and someone whose childhood we should all admire. I knew almost nothing about Martha Washington, except that she was a supportive wife to America’s first president.

Of course, when she was born, Martha had a different last name. The first born of nine children, she was named Martha Dandridge, but her family nicknamed her Patsy. She grew up on a plantation near Williamsburg, Virginia. In the 1700s, the word plantation meant property that was devoted to a single crop, not necessarily thousands of acres of land with a mansion. In Virginia, plantation owners like Martha's father grew tobacco. Martha did not grow up in a fancy home, but it had two stories, two chimneys, and comfortably housed all the Dandridge children. 

With a total of eight siblings, Martha learned to care for children at an early age. Her father John Dandridge had slaves who worked in the fields, but could not afford household slaves. As a result, Martha’s mother taught her how to do every necessary chore. With her mother Frances by her side, Martha learned to kill and cook chickens and other fowl, make clothes and bed linens, wash clothes in a big boiling kettle without burning them, and how to preserve food and make home remedies for illnesses. Based on later accounts of her work stitching clothes for U.S. army soldiers, she learned her lessons well.

In addition to chores, Martha learned the skills she needed to be a success in Virginia society. Dancing was an especially important social skill. Dancing masters traveled to various towns to teach young people, boys and girls, to dance. Learning to dance was a break from chores, but some of the dances had such complex steps that practicing them seemed like a chore. Conversation was also considered an art, and Martha took to it easily. She genuinely enjoyed other people and cared about them—an asset that served her well as First Lady.

Although Martha did not have the same academic education as some young women from New England, she learned to read and enjoyed books all her life. Her grammar and spelling were inconsistent, but she got her point across in letters. She did better in math, which came in handy when she had to manage the business accounts of her first husband, Daniel Custis. 

At seventeen, Martha was considered an adult, and she became secretly engaged to Daniel Custis, a wealthy man twenty years older than Martha.  Though it seems strange to us that a young girl would marry someone so much older, young girls often got engaged to older men in the 1700s. Martha and Daniel also genuinely liked each other, which was probably less common.

According to a family account, even as a teenager Martha “excelled in personal charms, which with pleasing manners, and a general amiability of demeanor, caused her to be distinguished amid the fair ones who usually assembled at the court of Williamsburg.” She was not beautiful, but she was pretty and good-natured and conversed easily with everyone. Her charm also won over her future father-in-law John Custis, who originally objected to the match.

After she became a wife, mother, and then a widow, she was courted by George Washington.  

Image: Martha Dandridge Custis

Buffalo Bill Cody's Steer Roping Cowgirl

Though other women like Annie Oakley were called cowgirls, young Lucille Mulhall really lived up to the name by roping steers. As a child Lucille learned to ride a horse along with her brother Logan. After Logan’s death, Lucille became her father’s assistant on the family’s Oklahoma ranch. She learned to train horses, shoot, and brand cattle.

Despite all her talents, she excelled most in steer roping. Steer roping required her to ride her horse near a herd of cattle, and throw her lasso over the animal’s horns so the steer lay on its back. Then Lucille jumped off her horse and tied the feet of the steer together.

Luckily for Lucille, in the late 1890s and early 1900s the American West was full of opportunities for her to display her talent. Wild West shows were popular and performers traveled the country. Most performers were men, but Lucille’s father recognized that his daughter was unique. In 1899, Zack Mulhall created The Congress of Rough Riders and Ropers Wild West Show. Though Lucille was only a teenager, she and her horse Governor were the stars of the show.

Outside the show ring, the team of Lucille and Governor competed against some of the toughest cowboys. In 1903, Lucille set the world record by roping a steer in 30 seconds. At seventeen, she was the only female steer roper in the world.

Unlike other cowgirls, Lucille was considered ladylike and beautiful. She never wore pants; she always wore long skirts. Will Rogers, who rode in the Mulhall show, said Lucille “never dressed like the Cowgirl you know today, no loud colors, no short leather skirts and great big hat…her skirt was divided, but long, away down over her patent leather boot straps…a grey broadcloth, small stiff-brim hat and always a white silk shirt waist.” Her ladylike qualities attracted the attention of Buffalo Bill Cody, who had his own show. He tried to convince her to tour with him, but Lucille continued to work for her father.

Her decision to dress like a lady did not mean she was weaker than other cowgirls, however. Steer roping was dangerous, but Lucille showed determination and strength in times of adversity. One reporter asked her, “Aren’t you afraid your horse will slip and fall?” She replied, “Oh, I expect that. I’m not afraid of getting hurt.” Sometimes Lucille did get hurt by hurting a leg or bruising a rib, but she always returned to the work she loved.

She continued to perform when she grew up. In 1916 she finally joined Buffalo Bill Cody’s Farewell Tour Program. This was Cody’s first chance to work with Lucille, and even though her career was ending he still thought she was one of the greatest women riders he ever had in his show.

Image: Lucille Mulhall, 1909 

 

 

Growing up Maya: The Roles of Boys and Girls in Mayan Culture

Most people today remember the ancient Maya for their architecture, their skilled workers, or their predictions about the future. Yet the Maya should also be known for their love of children. Although family members did not give baby showers in Mayan culture, parents eagerly anticipated the birth of their children. Mothers prayed to the gods for numerous healthy babies. If the mother delivered a boy, his name was determined by the Mayan calendar. For example, if a child was born on the seventh day of the month and the name of the day was Ahau, he was named Seven Ahau. Historians don’t know how girls received their names.

Both girls and boys received a lot of affection from their parents and extended family members. Once they were around the age of five, however, they had to help with chores. Like many other ancient societies, Maya children’s tasks were determined by their gender. 

Most families lived on farms, so boys helped their fathers plant maize--another name for corn. They also learned to fish, hunt, and make their own tools. A farmer’s son would be expected to work for the Mayan king constructing temples or other buildings when he grew up. 

No public schools existed for Maya boys or girls; however, wealthy families sometimes sent their sons to live with members of the priesthood so he would learn how to serve the gods as a priest someday. Boys could inherit their father’s occupations, which meant that family members often passed down their knowledge to the next generation. For elite families, this meant that boys trained to become scribes—one of the few professions that required literacy—or artisans. 

Girls had fewer opportunities to work outside the home than boys. They learned to weave cloth from cotton and wool and to cook food. They made clothes for the family (loincloths for the men, skirts for themselves) and cooked tortillas from maize and dough. When the tortillas were cooked, they were stuffed with beans or meat. Although girls did much of their work at home, they spent a lot of time at the local market. Women and girls brought homemade food and dyed clothing to the market to sell. Here, girls learned to trade and barter by watching their elders. 

Job opportunities for Maya girls were limited, though some became midwives or matchmakers. Historical evidence indicates that some Maya women learned to read and write and a few may have been scribes.  

Image: depiction of the Maya godess of childbirth

Discoveries in King Tut's Tomb

On January 3, 1924, Howard Carter discovered the sarcophagus [a coffin made of stone] of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen. He had uncovered the pharaoh’s tomb two years before, but there were many different chambers inside. Carter’s team cleared these chambers, stuffed with furniture, clothing, and other items, before they entered the actual burial chamber. In the first few chambers, Carter said he found “strange animals, statues, and gold—everywhere the glint of gold.” So many items filled the tomb that it took Carter ten years to record everything inside.

The sarcophagus was considered the most spectacular discovery of Carter’s excavation. Finding a burial chamber of an Egyptian pharaoh still intact was a rarity already in the 1920s. Tomb robbers often tore coffins open because dead Egyptian rulers wore valuable jewelry under the mummy wrappings. Fortunately, Tutankhamen’s tomb remained hidden by debris from the excavation of another nearby tomb. Robbers didn't have the chance to get this far into the tomb.

Inside the stone sarcophagus lay three smaller coffins. The first two were wooden but covered in gold. The final coffin, made of solid gold, held the body of the pharaoh. Its worth is estimated at over a million dollars. Inside this coffin lay the body of the pharaoh with his face covered in the now famous golden mask. Carter wrote, “The contents [of the coffin] were completely covered with linen shrouds. As the last shroud was removed a gasp of wonderment escaped our lips, so gorgeous was the sight that met our eyes; a golden effigy of the boy-king of most magnificent workmanship.”

Unfortunately, Tutankhamen’s body was in poor condition because of the ancient practice of pouring perfumes and oils over the mummy during the embalming process. Over time, the oils caused the pharaoh’s body to stick to the inside of the coffin. The golden mask covering King Tut’s face was also glued down; however, once Carter freed the mask with hot knives, he discovered that the mask had protected the pharaoh’s face.

Thanks to this preservation, later scientists successfully performed an autopsy. The test suggested that the pharaoh died at age eighteen, perhaps of a head injury. Exactly how he died is still debated among Egyptologists. Theories range from murder to an accidental wound which doctors at the time could not heal.

Image: Tutankhamen's face mask in the Cairo Museum. Photo by Michael Reeves.

 

Juliette "Daisy" Gordon Low: Founder of the Girl Scouts

As a young Southern debutante, Juliette Gordon Low seemed to have little purpose in life other than entertaining herself and her friends. At age fifty-two, however, Juliette, nicknamed Daisy, founded the Girl Scouts of America. Finally she had found her purpose and she devoted the rest of her life to making the Girl Scouts a successful organization. 

Despite her love of parties as a young woman, Daisy always had an eccentric side that made her different from other girls. She adopted stray dogs and cats as a child. As an adult, she even had a pet bird that sat on her shoulder. Instead of paying attention in school, Daisy would often draw in her notebooks. Eventually she took art classes, which she loved. Though there were few athletic competitions for girls in the nineteenth century, Daisy was a good swimmer and even became captain of a rowing team.

After she finished school, Daisy traveled throughout the U.S. and Europe. She married an Englishman and went to even more extravagant parties but the marriage wasn’t happy. After her husband died, Daisy wandered aimlessly, trying to find a purpose for her life. She found it after meeting Sir Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides in England. She thought girls in America would also benefit from a similar program. After creating a few Girl Guide patrols in England, she took the idea to her native Georgia.

On March 12, 1912, eighteen girls over age twelve became America’s first Girl Guides. Activities included playing basketball on a vacant lot near Daisy’s home in Savannah, going on hikes, and attending formal teas at Daisy’s house. Daisy thought girls should be self-reliant inside and outside the home. “Her girls” as Daisy called them, learned first aid and cooking, but they were also taught that women could do men’s jobs. The first Girl Scout handbook gave examples of women doctors and airplane pilots. “The numbers of women who have taken up aviation prove that women’s nerves are good enough for flying,” the handbook said. When the handbook was published in 1913, Daisy received letters asking about the newly named Girl Scouts from across the U.S. Soon she set up a national headquarters for the organization in Washington.

Daisy was a role model to her scouts, whose meetings she happily attended until the very end of her life. Though she had lost most of her hearing in her twenties, she never allowed her disability to keep her from participating in activities. Her organization allowed girls with disabilities to participate in scouting at a time when they were excluded from other clubs.

Though Girl Scouts started with just eighteen girls, membership today has grown to 3.7 million members. Amazingly, the organization began thanks to the efforts of a Southern belle.

Image: 1887 painting of Gordon-Low by Edward Hughes, photo by cliff1066

The History of the Christmas Card

If you celebrate Christmas, you’re probably giving and receiving Christmas cards in the mail or in person. But do you know who sent the very first Christmas card?

 In 1843, an Englishman named Sir Henry Cole wanted to send Christmas greetings to his friends, but he had so many people on his list that he couldn’t write letters to all of them. Instead of sending letters, he asked artist John Horsley to create a card. The middle of the card showed a family celebrating the holiday with wine. The left and right sides showed people giving to the poor. The message on the card read “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you.” Horsley’s card was criticized because the family scene showed a child sipping wine, which was considered “fostering the moral corruption of children.” 

Sir Henry didn’t send any cards the next year, but the Christmas card became a tradition in England. By 1847, more people sent Christmas cards to each other and additional artists designed them. Holiday cards became more elaborate. Some were shaped like desserts or bells; some were pop-ups that revealed tiny skaters; others made noise or came in pieces as puzzles.

Americans imported Christmas cards for more than thirty years, until German immigrant Louis Prang published the first U.S. Christmas cards. He held contests for artists to design cards and offered the winners thousands of dollars. Prang produced the winning cards in bulk. The first cards showed only flowers and birds, but Prang’s line of cards began to include beautiful scenes of children playing in the snow and Christmas trees. In 1881, Harper’s Weekly wrote that “the American Christmas cards excel the imported cards this season, and many of them are framed and presented as separate gifts.” The high quality of Prang’s cards made them expensive to produce, and he was forced out of business with the appearance of cheaply made cards.  

Although Christmas cards have changed over the years to include cartoon characters and jokes, the tradition of sending cards at Christmas remains popular. Over 2.6 billion Christmas cards are mailed each year—more than the number of Valentine’s Day cards.

So when you gather with your family this Christmas, see if they can guess how the tradition of sending Christmas cards began.

Image: Christmas card by Louis Prang

Reindeer in World War II?

During World War II, reindeer were doing more than helping Santa bring presents to children’s homes. In addition to that task, reindeer from the Artic hauled supplies to the battlefront. Americans shipped guns and other supplies to a port in Murmansk, Russia to aid their Soviet allies. Though many ships didn’t make it to the port, the supplies that did needed to be transported to the battlefield. That’s when the reindeer, along with other pack animals like donkeys, were put to use.

Russian reindeer herders volunteered not only themselves but also their animals to serve in the war. Vladimir Kanev, a reindeer herder who served early in World War II, described the experience. “We rushed to the front, transporting as many shells and mines as we could load on the sledges. After that we spent all winter running between Murmansk and Litsa.”

British and American students of World War II tend to think of the tanks used by their militaries to carry men and supplies, but the Soviets did not have the same resources, especially in the Artic. This fact made reindeer important not only for bringing guns and ammunition to the battlefields but also in caring for the wounded soldiers. Vladimir says, “Often working under fire, we wrapped the wounded in deer skins, tied them down on the sledges and ran them to the hospitals.” Reindeer herders sometimes found pilots who had been shot down, and the reindeer helped carry them out of danger. During the winter of 1941, reindeer and their herders brought 6,000 soldiers to safety. On occasion, reindeer even towed some downed planes so the parts could be reused.

It was dangerous work for the animals and their human leaders. The harsh climate as well as German planes and ships put the supply route under constant threat. Out of eight hundred herders who went to the northern front in 1941, six hundred returned.

Reindeer remained important throughout the war. After 1941, thousands of additional reindeer contributed to the Soviets’ success. One herder recalls the Soviet invasion of Norway in 1944. Both the herders and their reindeer participated in chasing their German enemies. The herder says, “we harnessed all the deer we could and ran with the rest of the Army, swimming the deer across countless rivers and streams…sometimes we even caught isolated German soldiers by lasso!”

Given the contributions of reindeer to Allied victory in World War II, the director of the Lovozero Museum near Murmansk hopes to build a monument in honor of the animals. 

Image: Reindeer pulling sleigh on Russian farm. Photo by Elen Schurova.

 

 

Eleanor Roosevelt: Champion for Youth

During the Depression, young people had little hope of finding work or attending college. In 1934 Eleanor Roosevelt showed concern for 3 million unemployed youth. She said, “I have moments of real terror when I think we may be losing this generation. We have got to bring these young people into the active life of the community and make them feel that they are necessary.”

Eleanor’s wish came true through a new government agency—The National Youth Administration. By 1935 President Franklin Roosevelt had received several proposals for youth aid programs. He gave these proposals to a private group, which included the future chairman of the NYA and Eleanor. The group advocated scholarship aid for high school and college students as well as a work program for youth who had graduated or dropped out. FDR established the NYA by Executive Order on June 26, 1935.

There was no greater supporter of the program during its eight year existence than Eleanor Roosevelt. She pressed the head of the NYA to do more during the NYA’s first year and received monthly reports on the status of youth projects.

Eleanor wrote extensively about the NYA in her newspaper column, “My Day.” She kept the country informed of the NYA’s progress by describing her visits to NYA project sites. On a trip to L.A., for example, Eleanor noted that the wood-working and sewing projects were set up like a real factory so that the boys and girls who worked there would be better prepared when they found full-time employment. Her visits to youth projects spanned the country. History Professor Margaret Rung points out that though Eleanor could be a controversial figure, her columns developed generally positive publicity for the NYA. Without her support, the program could have been marginalized.

Her columns reveal that Eleanor was not only interested in observing NYA projects, but she also attended NYA committee meetings. Eleanor invited both administrators and students to her Hyde Park, New York, home to discuss issues within the program. Through her invitations she gave everyone involved in the NYA a chance to be heard by someone who had direct access to the president.

Although Eleanor wanted the NYA to become a permanent organization, she realized its limitations. She wrote, “here, before our eyes, we see the proof that we have learned how to give these youngsters training…Yet, we have only developed this program for a limited number. The  NYA should cover every boy and girl coming out of school who is not able to obtain work in private industry, or who is not called to service under the selective draft.”

The NYA did not become a permanent program and could not cover all youth, but its accomplishments were aided by Eleanor’s enthusiasm. During the NYA’s eight year existence, 2,134,000 youth had the opportunity to continue their education. Students in the school program did clerical work, remodeled buildings, worked in libraries, and became lab assistants to earn money for school supplies and clothes. Students in the out-of-school program were often involved in construction work, but had other options such as clerical and agricultural training.

By 1942 work programs focused on producing materials needed in World War II. Students learned industrial sewing and how to repair planes and radios. In her column Eleanor shared a letter that five girls who worked on radios wrote to the director of the Kansas NYA after finding jobs: “On average we are making $50 a month and for the five of us it doesn’t cost very much for rent or groceries…The spirit of cooperation and working together [from their NYA experience] is largely responsible for the way we are getting along so well up here.”

Eleanor grieved when the NYA ended. She felt that young people would need job training after the war. By supporting the agency during its existence, however, she enabled millions of youth to earn wages during the nation’s worst economy. 

Image: Eleanor Roosevelt, 1933

 

 

Growing up as Samuel Clemens: The Childhood of Mark Twain

If Mark Twain were still alive, he would be celebrating his birthday this Wednesday. You are probably familiar with his name because of his fiction writing, which included The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. But how much do we know about the man behind the writing, whose real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens? (Mark Twain was a pseudonym, or pen name that Clemens used in his writings).

Twain was born in the ironically named town of Florida, Missouri. Although his family left the small town of about 300 people when Twain was a small child, there were some things that he learned there which would influence his writing. His uncle had slaves and Twain would often listen to their stories. One slave in particular, called Uncle Dan, told scary ghost stories. Twain looked up to him as a father figure because his relationship with his own father was strained. While Twain and his mother’s side of the family enjoyed singing, parties and a good joke, Twain’s father had no sense of humor.

Both Twain and his mother felt the loss of their extended family when they left Florida for Hannibal, Missouri; however, Twain’s maternal uncle bought a farm nearby where Twain and his siblings spent their summers. In fact, Twain had so much fun on the farm that he didn’t mind going to school a few days a week though he tried to avoid school at all costs when at home. In his autobiography Twain admits that his younger brother Henry was much better behaved but believed that “the unbroken monotony of his goodness and truthfulness and obedience would have been a burden for her [his mother] but for the relief and variety which I furnished in the other direction.” Given his mother’s sense of humor, that statement might have some truth in it, though she probably didn’t appreciate his daredevil attempt to catch the measles from his friend or his skating adventure on ice that was not completely frozen and might have resulted in his drowning.

During the summers Twain reconnected with Uncle Dan and the other slaves owned by his uncle. In his autobiography, Twain says “we had a faithful and affectionate good friend, ally and advisor in ‘Uncle Dan'l'…whose sympathies were wide and warm, and whose heart was honest and simple and knew no guile.” Later Dan became Twain’s inspiration for the character Jim in Huckleberry Finn. As a child, Twain was taught to accept slavery and saw nothing wrong with it, particularly since his uncle’s slaves were well treated. His father, however, beat a slave in front of his son. Throughout his writings, Twain struggled with these different impressions of slavery.

After his father died, Twain’s older brother Orion had him apprenticed to a printer. Eventually Twain worked for a Missouri paper that his brother owned, but the arrangement didn’t last. Twain wanted to write satire and humor, but Orion had no use for either. Twain felt trapped in a job where he could not express himself. He visited family in St. Louis where he made enough money to travel East. Now Twain was a young man determined to explore the world.

 

 

 Image: Young Samuel Clemens 

 

Childbirth in Aztec Society

If you’ve read about the Aztecs in your textbooks, you are probably familiar with their seemingly strange religious practices, which could include human sacrifice to pacify their gods. What you may not know is that the Aztecs often celebrated life, especially when a child was born. In fact, a Spanish priest who lived among the Aztecs said that he had never seen a society in which children were valued so much. A few months before the birth, the grandparents of the unborn baby would invite family members to a feast, which served as a kind of baby shower. Instead of gifts, however, the future grandparents selected a midwife to help the mother through her labor. They expressed their concern for the survival of the mother and the child to the midwife and urged her to do her duty.

On the day of the birth, the midwife returned to second feast with promises of her skill. After a successful delivery, the midwife gave the war cry, which meant that the mother had fought a good battle during labor. The Aztecs recognized the difficulty and pain of giving birth by comparing it to capturing an enemy in battle. 

Both boys and girls were welcomed joyfully as the midwife compared the baby to precious items like jade and turquoise. Depending on the gender of the baby, the midwife recited their different roles. To a boy she said, “you are pledged, you are promised, you are sent to the field of battle. War is your destiny, your calling.” In contrast, a baby girl was told, “You are to prepare drink, you are to grind corn, you are to toil, you are to sweat, beside the ashes, beside the hearth.” 

After the birth, the family brought in a soothsayer to tell the child’s fate. According to the Aztecs, the date and time of birth decided whether the child would be wealthy or poor, or have a good or bad character. If the child’s future seemed bleak, the family could wait to name the child on a more positive day, which would improve the child’s chances for a good life.

The child received its name during a bathing ceremony. During this ceremony, the midwife bathed the child and presented it with small symbols of its future tasks. For example, a boy received a small shield, bow and arrows. A girl was given tools used for spinning and weaving. After the bath, the baby was named. Aztec children were sometimes named for the day of their birth as in Ome Mazatl, which meant Two Deer. Names of flowers and other animals were also used, however. Regardless of their names or genders, all children in Aztec society enjoyed the love of their parents and extended family, as well as aid from their gods. 

Image: Aztec sculpture of kneeling woman photographed by Simon Burchell