The American Spirit is in the DNA of this nation. The world scoffed at Gen. George Washington’s ragtag freedom fighters drawing the line for King George III to trip over. The monarch sent his best warriors to quell the revolutionaries: the most feared, revered professional, disciplined, well-equipped fighting force in the world. But in the end, freedom from tyranny won. What other army would cross a frozen river at Christmas and kill the enemy while they slept? What woman in her right mind would fight for voting rights, or black man get a salute from Hitler? And who in the world thought riding a tin can to the moon was a good idea?
Being American is simply being alive. And it has been demonstrated – time and again – by folks you know and applaud and those you don’t but need recognition.
Lewis and Clark’s Holy Moly Expedition
What was itching Merriweather Lewis and William Clark that the pair decided it was a good idea to head west and into the unknown to encounter new dangers, hostile Native Americans, and snakes? They traveled in a keelboat and two pirogues (canoe-like craft) on the Ohio River with supplies and a few soldiers. Also along, because no one was allowed to say “Oh, hell no, sir,” Clark’s African American slave York and Lewis’ Newfoundland dog Seaman, who were on hand to administer emotional support, friendship, and free labor.
When they reached the confluence with the Mississippi at Cairo, IL, in late 1803, near what is now Hartford, camp was made, and the Corps of Volunteers for Northwest Discovery stayed put for winter to figure out where to go and how in spring 1804. Personally, after seeing the giant Mississippi River that had to be navigated upstream, I would have headed home.
Wham Bam, Thank You, Ma’am
Before the women’s rights television show Maude. Before the bra-burning protests of 1968. Before the civil rights movements, there were the suffragettes – an undeniably well-organized and oiled massive group of women who said enough is enough. We want a seat at the table. But they had to earn it and, to do so, snub fathers, husbands, and brothers, act angelic at times and demonic when necessary, and rebuff thousands of years of social norms. The group was militant, unapologetically goal-oriented, guerrilla-trained, and clever at getting their point across.
You may know some of these women because they made the history books: Susan B. Anthony, Carrie Chapman Catt, Dr. Alice Paul, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
There are too many to count but every young historian today should get to know these two extraordinary suffragettes: Lucy Burns and Maud Malone, as different as night and day.
Maud, a shy gal, grew up in a family always fighting for the underdog. When it came to take things public, she shed her reticence and bulldogged her way to the bullhorn. A strategist who could rival any military general, Maud took the crusade for voting rights out of the parlor and into the streets. Open-air lectures and meetings were her specialty, along with fomenting girl-power parades replete with chants and signs.
Lucy Burns, a born warrior, carried a banner into every march and outdoor meeting that read “Resistance to Tyranny Is Obedience to God.” A tall redhead with bright blue eyes, she was not afraid of the consequences that would soon be inflicted on her by the male-dominated world. Instead, she relished them. Burns was simply fierce, and the suffragette movement was right up her alley. Lucy went to jail – a tactic that some suffragettes could not face again. For Lucy, it was six incarcerations, each one inflaming within her a more powerful American Spirit. Women today can thank her for enduring beatings and force-feeding when guards figured out there was a hunger strike afoot. All to earn the right to vote.
God bless the lass, she emerged from prison, rallied the other suffragettes who had endured imprisonment, and scheduled rallies. Burns called them “Prison Special” tours because they donned replica prison uniforms and told their stories of abuse. Even the menfolk were rattled, and no more so than President Woodrow Wilson, who in 1918 finally decided it was best to support the gals lest no one would be around to make supper. A few months later, Congress passed the 19th Amendment in June 1919, and it was ratified Aug. 26, 1920.
It was a different time, but the sentiment was the same: “That uncompromisin’, enterprisin’, anything but tranquilizin’, Right on Maude!”
Jesse Owens Was Just Superior
Carl Lewis was an Olympic inspiration with his four gold medals in 1984, but he is no Jesse Owens, who did the same in Nazi Germany during the 1936 Games in front of the Fuhrer. After the torch run, Adolf Hitler released this statement: “The sportive, knightly battle awakens the best human characteristics. It doesn’t separate but unites the combatants in understanding and respect. It also helps to connect the countries in the spirit of peace. That’s why the Olympic Flame should never die.” Weird, I know.
The stands were filled to capacity in Berlin with Hitler in attendance. Track and field were the first sports played in the Games of the XI Olympiad. On field and at practice, Owens befriended German athlete Carl Ludwig “Luz” Long – a man who helped the American overcome a mental issue with his long jump. The two battled back and forth in the hottest, most humid conditions. Each jumper bested the athlete before him. On the final attempt, Luz fouled but was already going to be on the podium. Owens, even with his title already cemented, pulled an American Spirit with a final leap of 8.06m – setting an Olympic record that would stand for 24 years.
Was Hitler displeased? Of course, but he did salute Owens during the medal announcement and then went back angry, decrying that Jesse had undermined his Aryan supremacy nonsense while white-knuckling Mein Kampf.
The American Spirit Defies Gravity
The Apollo Program: the first US effort to explore going to the moon. It was initiated in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy, who set the goal of landing a man on the moon before the end of the 1960s. Most Americans did a double-take at that, still believing it was impossible to shoot a tin can in the air, land on the wheel of cheese, and then come back safely. But successors of the fallen president made sure his dreams were realized. Apollo 11 landed on the moon July 20, 1969.
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin defied gravity.
The American Spirit will rise and defeat the odds at every turn. Our blood runs patriotic. Our fight is never extinguished. Generations have grown up this way, and no matter the indoctrination attempts, the bullying, the violence, someone will get up tomorrow and ride a tin can into the sky – maybe even just for the thrill of being American.
