11:00-12:00PM, Assimilation and Written Native American Language, Extra Credit

I attended the Assimilation and Written Native American Language with Professor Joshua Whitehead. Professor Whitehead was well informed and is a member of the Choctaw Nation which resides in Oklahoma City. He has been practicing Typography for twenty years and is a professor here at Baruch College. His great, great, great grandfather was a part of the Trail of Tears, so he is passionate about what he does. I’ve never encountered an individual with roots this close to Native Americans, so it was a great learning experience. Professor Whitehead did a quick summary of the forced migration and how the tribes were lied to, manipulated and stolen from. More then 30 different tribes ended up being placed in Oklahoma which created a diverse amount of languages being spoken in the one geographical area. This caused many problems when trying to decipher languages that were being written because a lot of the tribes began to over lap one another’s languages. The creation of the font, “Noto Sans” was a breakthrough as it was the first font which included all Native American Tribal languages which solved the problem of trying to decipher different languages within one another. This was developed by Google and took under a decade to develop. Professor Whitehead is currently in works with “The American Indian Cultural Center and Museum” In Oklahoma City, where they are going under a huge renovation. The museum got in contact with professor Whitehead and asked him if he could help them re-brand and rename the museum. Professor Whitehead drew up three different concepts and explained the meanings behind each one. The museum and mayor of Oklahoma ended up approving one of his concepts that was surrounded by the meaning of human value. They also approved the name change of the museum which will now be named, “First Americans Museum”. Professor Whitehead concluded with some Q&A’s where we went in depth about his personal beliefs about the history of Native Americans, where we are in present time and how the future looking holds. He said his work is still in the beginning stages even after twenty years which just proves how devoted he is and what more he has to contribute to his tribe.