Columbus And The First Thanksgiving Summary

Reflection Présis 2, Columbus and The First Thanksgiving (February 13-15,2018) 108788
Part I: In these two sessions, Dr. Jendian introduced the term heroification and gave the definition from the book Lies My Teacher Told Me. The author of the book mentioned, James W. Loewen (11) explains that, “Through this process, our educational media turn flesh-and-blood individuals into pious, perfect creatures without conflicts, pain, credibility, or human interest.” Dr. Jendian explained that heroification presents history characters as superhuman heroes. Therefore, students can infer that not all people can be “superhuman heroes.” For example, students of color might not believe that they can accomplish or be recognized for doing something incredible as a “white” student or an European person.

Inclusively, the professor explained that stories such as the flat earth, and the challenges Columbus faced while discovering America, only help to empower the concept of heroification. Surprisingly, Loewen explains that these and other erroneous stories are learned through history textbooks. Dr. Jendian explained that these misconceptions, keep students unaware of the real nature of history. According to Loewen (32), “The authors of history textbooks have taken us on a trip of their own, away from the facts of history, into the realm of myth.” As mentioned previously, Columbus is presented to us as a symbol of heroification, demonstrating how history textbooks contain errors about his real life. According to Loewen, few textbooks explained how Columbus was involved in the slavery and the exploitation of Indians. Another error that we have learned in schools about Columbus is that he was the first person to “discover” America. However, this is an error because people from other continents had already reached America before 1492. In fact, we forget