Untold Stories: Forgotten Voices in History

Untold Stories:
Forgotten Voices
in History
Slytherin

Story and image by Alex Liautaud

There was this kid whose favorite thing to do was to watch Dragon Ball with his twin brother all the time. Masashi Kishimoto is now the great writer of Naruto, the popular and very successful manga series.

Masashi Kishimoto was born on November 8th, 1974 in Nagi, Okayama, Japan and has a twin brother Seishi. When he was a child his hobbies were drawing anime characters from the anime that he watched. In elementary, he watched Dragon ball with his twin brother. Masashi then started recognizing the creator of Dragon Ball, Akira Toriyama. Not just for dragon ball but also for a series of role-playing video games that he designed. By high school, Masashi became less interested in manga and started playing more basketball and baseball. But then he saw a poster for the animated film Akira he was fascinated and wanted to imitate the series’ creator, Katsuhiro Otomo’s style. During his last years of college, he went to an art college drawing manga in the hopes he would become a manga artist. In his second year of college, he entered art contests and found the art style that he wants to work with. He later met Tetsuya Nishio, a designer from the anime adaption of the manga Niku, who he deemed to be a big influence. Now Kishimoto has a style of drawing from multiple artists.

Masashi has become someone who writes and illustrates manga. His most successful and for what’s he’s best known for is his creation of Naruto. A manga (Manga is a Japanese comic book or basically anime in comic book form)about a boy who lives in a ninja world and who wants to become the strongest out of everyone so they can acknowledge him.

People love this manga and Masashi sold over 250 million copies worldwide in 46 different countries. This was a very successful manga so he kept writing. Eventually, he finished Naruto the manga, which took about 15 years and that’s insane. But because he loved it so much it was easy to work on for that long.

However after he finished he had gotten too worn out from writing Naruto so he couldn't write Boruto, the continuation of Naruto. Instead, he decided to work on a new piece of work. He made a new manga called “Samurai 8: The Tale of Hachimaru”.
Manga: a Japanese comic book or basically anime in comic book form.

Masashi Kishimoto made something amazing that completely was something he loves and he is still doing his thing and writing. He will be remembered just from re-watching Naruto 1000 times. He got many fans and actually, people learned actual important things from this series cuz believe it or not Naruto has some pretty important life lessons.

Masashi Kishimoto
Manga Author

There was this kid whose favorite thing to do was to watch Dragon Ball with his twin brother all the time. Masashi Kishimoto is now the great writer of Naruto, the popular and very successful manga series.

Masashi Kishimoto was born on November 8th, 1974 in Nagi, Okayama, Japan and has a twin brother Seishi. When he was a child his hobbies were drawing anime characters from the anime that he watched. In elementary, he watched Dragon ball with his twin brother. Masashi then started recognizing the creator of Dragon Ball, Akira Toriyama. Not just for dragon ball but also for a series of role-playing video games that he designed. By high school, Masashi became less interested in manga and started playing more basketball and baseball. But then he saw a poster for the animated film Akira he was fascinated and wanted to imitate the series’ creator, Katsuhiro Otomo’s style. During his last years of college, he went to an art college drawing manga in the hopes he would become a manga artist. In his second year of college, he entered art contests and found the art style that he wants to work with. He later met Tetsuya Nishio, a designer from the anime adaption of the manga Niku, who he deemed to be a big influence. Now Kishimoto has a style of drawing from multiple artists.

Masashi has become someone who writes and illustrates manga. His most successful and for what’s he’s best known for is his creation of Naruto. A manga (Manga is a Japanese comic book or basically anime in comic book form)about a boy who lives in a ninja world and who wants to become the strongest out of everyone so they can acknowledge him.

People love this manga and Masashi sold over 250 million copies worldwide in 46 different countries. This was a very successful manga so he kept writing. Eventually, he finished Naruto the manga, which took about 15 years and that’s insane. But because he loved it so much it was easy to work on for that long.

However after he finished he had gotten too worn out from writing Naruto so he couldn't write Boruto, the continuation of Naruto. Instead, he decided to work on a new piece of work. He made a new manga called “Samurai 8: The Tale of Hachimaru”.
Manga: a Japanese comic book or basically anime in comic book form.

Masashi Kishimoto made something amazing that completely was something he loves and he is still doing his thing and writing. He will be remembered just from re-watching Naruto 1000 times. He got many fans and actually, people learned actual important things from this series cuz believe it or not Naruto has some pretty important life lessons.

Loading...

Loading...

Big Mama Thornton was an American Blues singer who played the drums & harmonica. She learned how to play & sing because her father was a Baptist Preacher at a church and she often played with the other musicians. Once she discovered her love for music, she began writing on her own & producing it. Many people seemed to enjoy her music!

Big Mama Thornton was born on December 11,1926 in Ariton, Alabama. She sadly lost her mother pretty early in life, to which caused her to feel a lot of pain as many other emotions. In order for her to cope with her mother’s passing, she made some bad decisions because she felt lost & alone. The result of her bad decisions made it a challenge to keep up with her career & all.

Loading...

Story by Andrea Escobar

Loading...

It took her some time to recover, but thankfully she overcame those difficult problems & continued with her career. She provided music for everyone so when people would hear it they felt many emotions. Something that Big Mama reminds us that no matter how hard things get, we should always keep pushing forward. The way Big Mama show's this is she came across challenges that weren’t easy & that changed her life, but she still managed to overcome them and continue doing what she loved and enjoyed the most.

Loading...

Big Mama Thornton
Singer

Loading...

Loading...

Big Mama Thornton was an American Blues singer who played the drums & harmonica. She learned how to play & sing because her father was a Baptist Preacher at a church and she often played with the other musicians. Once she discovered her love for music, she began writing on her own & producing it. Many people seemed to enjoy her music!

Big Mama Thornton was born on December 11,1926 in Ariton, Alabama. She sadly lost her mother pretty early in life, to which caused her to feel a lot of pain as many other emotions. In order for her to cope with her mother’s passing, she made some bad decisions because she felt lost & alone. The result of her bad decisions made it a challenge to keep up with her career & all.

Loading...

It took her some time to recover, but thankfully she overcame those difficult problems & continued with her career. She provided music for everyone so when people would hear it they felt many emotions. Something that Big Mama reminds us that no matter how hard things get, we should always keep pushing forward. The way Big Mama show's this is she came across challenges that weren’t easy & that changed her life, but she still managed to overcome them and continue doing what she loved and enjoyed the most.

"The air is the only place free from prejudice."
-Bessie Coleman

Story by Ella Previtera

Bessie once said, “I refused to take no for an answer.”

Bessie Coleman was born in Atlanta, Texas in the year 1892. When she was young, she took care of some of her younger siblings when her mom and older siblings went to work. Bessie went to a school that was very small and had lots of kids, this wasn’t a great learning environment for her. At a very young age, she had to help collect cotton from fields for her family.

When Bessie was a young girl, she read stories about pilots who fought in World War One. This made her very interested in piloting and flying a plane. When Bessie wanted to become a pilot in the United States, she wasn’t allowed to because she was black and a woman. Bessie knew that this wasn’t fair so she decided to make a big decision. She went to France, a country far away just so she could get a pilot’s license. She had her first big accident while preparing for an exhibition in Los Angeles; her Jenny airplane's engine randomly stalled and she crashed. She broke her leg, cracked ribs, and received multiple cuts on her face. It took her over a year to fully recover, but she was eager to get back to piloting.

Bessie was the first-ever female of Native American and African American descent to hold a pilot's license. On top of that, she was also the first black person, male or female to earn an international pilot's license. Bessie then became the symbol for many women of color during the time of segregation and the fight for racial equal rights.

Bessie’s main goal was to inspire other women and minorities to follow their dreams. Bessie did many things to make the world a better place. She defied so many odds and persevered through many obstacles along her way to success. She is not recognized enough for her true importance and bravery she showed in her lifetime.

Bessie Coleman
Pilot

Bessie once said, “I refused to take no for an answer.”

Bessie Coleman was born in Atlanta, Texas in the year 1892. When she was young, she took care of some of her younger siblings when her mom and older siblings went to work. Bessie went to a school that was very small and had lots of kids, this wasn’t a great learning environment for her. At a very young age, she had to help collect cotton from fields for her family.

When Bessie was a young girl, she read stories about pilots who fought in World War One. This made her very interested in piloting and flying a plane. When Bessie wanted to become a pilot in the United States, she wasn’t allowed to because she was black and a woman. Bessie knew that this wasn’t fair so she decided to make a big decision. She went to France, a country far away just so she could get a pilot’s license. She had her first big accident while preparing for an exhibition in Los Angeles; her Jenny airplane's engine randomly stalled and she crashed. She broke her leg, cracked ribs, and received multiple cuts on her face. It took her over a year to fully recover, but she was eager to get back to piloting.

Bessie was the first-ever female of Native American and African American descent to hold a pilot's license. On top of that, she was also the first black person, male or female to earn an international pilot's license. Bessie then became the symbol for many women of color during the time of segregation and the fight for racial equal rights.

Bessie’s main goal was to inspire other women and minorities to follow their dreams. Bessie did many things to make the world a better place. She defied so many odds and persevered through many obstacles along her way to success. She is not recognized enough for her true importance and bravery she showed in her lifetime.

Story by Joriel Ortiz

Sylvia Rivera
Activist

Sylvia had a very difficult life growing up because she never felt right in the body she was born into. Even from a young age, she knew she wasn’t meant to live life as a boy. It wasn’t until she met other people like her that she felt she truly belonged and decided she would do whatever it took to make sure others never felt excluded like she did.

Sylvia was abandoned by her father and she had to live with her grandmother after her mother died. Her grandmother always wanted her to act more like a boy and was not very nice to her. She ran away from home and started living on the streets in New York City.

When Sylvia ran away from home she had to live on the streets and life was really hard for her for a long time. Here is where Sylvia decided to live her life as a girl. Luckily a group of drag queens, men who dress in elaborate costumes and put on shows, took her in as her own and protected and cared for her. Sylvia started working as a drag queen and loved the make-up and costumes she got to wear and she also loved being on stage.

Sylvia changed the lives of many people because she made them proud to be the person they are and to not feel ashamed of who they are or how they may be different from what society expects. Sylvia changed lives for other trans people/ communities and helped provide shelter for them.

Sylvia did so much for the trans community. She stood up to the world and reminded people it didn’t matter how you were born, what mattered was how you felt and how you presented yourself.

Story by Julianna Shattuck