Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: Minnie Spotted Wolf, first Native American woman to enlist in US Marine Corps

Minnie Spotted-Wolf, born in 1923 in Heart Butte, Montana of the Blackfoot tribe, was the first Native American woman to enlist in the US Marine Corps.  She enlisted in the Marine Corps Women's Reserve in July 1943.  During her service, she served on bases in California and Hawai'i, working as a heavy equipment operator and a driver for general officers.  She left the Corps in 1947 and spent 29 years as a teacher.  She passed away in 1988.

A section of US Highway 89 in Montana was dedicated to her in 2019.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Barbara Morgan!

Barbara Morgan, born November 28, 1951 in Fresno, California, went into space aboard Endeavour (STS-118) in August 2007.  She had trained as a backup to Christa McAuliffe as NASA's Teacher In Space.  She was listed as mission specialist for the mission to the International Space Station.

While in space, she participated in an education event with students at the Challenger Center for Space Education in Alexandria, Virginia (I used to live there!).  A few days later, she talked to students at a school in L Ronge, Saskatchewan.