By Marilyn W Seguin
Young people are fascinated by the courageous stories of people their own age throughout history. Young people, after all, no less than adults, helped make our nation's history. Consider the following historical contributions from young Americans, and share their stories with your youngsters:
• John Darragh was fourteen when he acted as a Revolutionary War spy. When he got important information, his mother sewed messages inside large cloth covered buttons that she then sewed onto John's coat. Once he was behind British lines, he cut off the buttons and sent them straight to George Washington.
• Sacagawea was a teenager when she helped to guide Lewis and Clark and the Corps of the Discovery on their journey to the Pacific Ocean.
• Young sisters Abbie and Rebecca Bates of Scituate, Massachusetts, became famous for saving their town from the enemy British during the War of 1812.
• Thirteen- year- old Emily Edmonson and fifteen-year-old Mary Edmonson, sisters, were among the 77 enslaved Americans who participated in the single largest known Underground Railroad escape attempt. Although the escape attempt failed, the girls were eventually freed from bondage, and they attended Oberlin College in Ohio.
• Teenager Adam Lowry Rankin and his family helped more than 2000 slaves to freedom. One of the fugitives they helped was an inspiration for Harriett Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin.
• Nine-year-old Johnny Clem joined the Union Army, was a lance corporal by age 11, and later became a major general.
• Ten-year-old Gilbert VanZandt was ten years old when he signed on with the Union Army as a drummer boy. After the war, the President offered him a commission in the U. S. Army, but Gilbert chose his pony instead.
• Young Belle Boyd was a brave spy for the Confederacy during the Civil War. She is credited with providing information that helped General Stonewall Jackson win victories in the Shenandoah Campaign of 1862. She was captured and imprisoned multiple times.
• As a nineteen-year-old teenager in 1888, Minnie Freeman led her young pupils to safety through one of history's worst blizzards. As many as 200 people or more, perished during what became known as the Children's Blizzard, because so many of the dead were children.
• Fifteen-year-old Claudette Colvin was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat---nine months before Rosa Parks took a similar stand!
These examples offer role models to contemporary youth who are similar in age and gender, and perhaps, circumstances, so that they too can be inspired to one day make a difference in their world.
Marilyn Weymouth Seguin
Author of Young and Courageous: American Girls Who Made History
http://marilynwseguin.com
Young people are fascinated by the courageous stories of people their own age throughout history. Young people, after all, no less than adults, helped make our nation's history. Consider the following historical contributions from young Americans, and share their stories with your youngsters:• John Darragh was fourteen when he acted as a Revolutionary War spy. When he got important information, his mother sewed messages inside large cloth covered buttons that she then sewed onto John's coat. Once he was behind British lines, he cut off the buttons and sent them straight to George Washington.
• Sacagawea was a teenager when she helped to guide Lewis and Clark and the Corps of the Discovery on their journey to the Pacific Ocean.
• Young sisters Abbie and Rebecca Bates of Scituate, Massachusetts, became famous for saving their town from the enemy British during the War of 1812.
• Thirteen- year- old Emily Edmonson and fifteen-year-old Mary Edmonson, sisters, were among the 77 enslaved Americans who participated in the single largest known Underground Railroad escape attempt. Although the escape attempt failed, the girls were eventually freed from bondage, and they attended Oberlin College in Ohio.
• Teenager Adam Lowry Rankin and his family helped more than 2000 slaves to freedom. One of the fugitives they helped was an inspiration for Harriett Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin.
• Nine-year-old Johnny Clem joined the Union Army, was a lance corporal by age 11, and later became a major general.
• Ten-year-old Gilbert VanZandt was ten years old when he signed on with the Union Army as a drummer boy. After the war, the President offered him a commission in the U. S. Army, but Gilbert chose his pony instead.
• Young Belle Boyd was a brave spy for the Confederacy during the Civil War. She is credited with providing information that helped General Stonewall Jackson win victories in the Shenandoah Campaign of 1862. She was captured and imprisoned multiple times.
• As a nineteen-year-old teenager in 1888, Minnie Freeman led her young pupils to safety through one of history's worst blizzards. As many as 200 people or more, perished during what became known as the Children's Blizzard, because so many of the dead were children.
• Fifteen-year-old Claudette Colvin was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat---nine months before Rosa Parks took a similar stand!
These examples offer role models to contemporary youth who are similar in age and gender, and perhaps, circumstances, so that they too can be inspired to one day make a difference in their world.
Marilyn Weymouth Seguin
Author of Young and Courageous: American Girls Who Made History
http://marilynwseguin.com
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