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Why We Should Rethink The Columbus Legacy

1008 Words5 Pages

Howard Zinn’s point on how we regard on how we teach and learn about Columbus is that the historians only focus on one criteria on how Columbus had found this land but didn’t focus on the crueler facts that the Arawaks faced, like how they were enslaved to work for the Spaniards. Howard Zinn thinks that we should rethink the Columbus Legacy and it’s implications for the present and future because of the factors that the historians didn’t put in their teachings and books.
In History textbooks, Christopher Columbus is known for the man who founded North America. Which is technically not true since the Arawaks were already there. In the textbooks, they usually only point out the good things about Columbus, not how he acted or the actions he …show more content…

Not only to show just their perspective, but to show the facts that were revealed by the experiences from their side and not the Spaniards. A quote from Chapter 1, “If history is to be creative, to anticipate a possible future without denying the past, it should, I believe, emphasize new possibilities by disclosing those hidden episodes of the past when, even if in brief flashes, people showed their ability to resist, to join together, occasionally to win” (Zinn 8). This quote tells us how Zinn wants history to reflect on our human actions as a country. Zinn doesn’t want to go on in the future and have future possibilities without the knowledge of the past.
Many historians and textbooks argue that Christopher Columbus should be celebrated for his accomplishment, of finding new lands. A quote from the text,“When we read the history books given to children in the United States, it all starts with heroic adventure-there is no bloodshed-and Columbus Day is a celebration” (Zinn 5). With this in mind Zinn had made an argument as to how this was wrong. That there was …show more content…

The quote from the text, “‘The cruel policy initiated by Columbus and pursued by his successors resulted in complete genocide.’... But there was no flaw, no dark side to the most outstanding and essential of all his qualities-his seamanship” (Zinn 6). This argues Zinn on how he says that historians did not focus on reality of what happened back then, but Samuel Morison did tell what was happening during that

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