book source

Loewen, James W. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. Touchstone Books. 1995.

James W. Loewen’s book Lies My Teacher Told Me has a chapter dedicated to telling the menacing true tale of Christopher Columbus. He refutes the surrounding myths concerning Columbus documented in published historical texts by quoting from Columbus’ own journal. When looking upon the inhabitants of the island Columbus voyaged to, he wrote in his journal that he “could conquer the whole of them with fifty men and govern them as I pleased.” Columbus was a cruel and greedy man who kidnapped, stole, killed and tortured many of the Indians. Loewen writes that Columbus and his men were in consistent demand of food, gold, spun cotton, sex with their women, etc. If an Indian committed even a minor offence, their ear or nose was cut off. The Spanish were cruel and brutal to the indigenous peoples of the native land.
Christopher Columbus should be rejected as a national holiday because it creates a racial underclass. Columbus took land, took wealth, created the transatlantic slave trade, and forced labor on indigenous peoples, which led many of them to near extermination. He thought them “cruel and stupid and a people warlike and numerous, whose customs and religion are very different from ours.” (Loewen)
This book source will be helpful because it seeks to find the underlying myths behind historical stories. Elementary school students are taught at an early age that Columbus was a great man who discovered America, made friends with the Indians, and left with peace. The reality is the opposite. Celebrating Columbus Day is offensive to the Natives of the land. There was no rejoicing day when Columbus came. The Spanish mistreated the Indians to the point of near extinction. The true facts surrounding Columbus day are hopefully evident to most individuals in America. The myths need to be revealed and the holiday should change to something less offensive and brutal.