History Lessons and Lessons About History
Julie Leung has some comments about history.
However, reading the chapter on Columbus shocked me. I was surprised at my own surprise. I know that no one is perfect and no one is as he appears in a history textbook. Yet I had forgotten or was never taught the extent of Columbus’ actions in the Americas. The atrocities and domination he perpetuated horrified me. I’m left with the dilemma of how to teach my children what happened in 1492. Do I tell my daughters that Columbus rewarded his lieutenants with the rape of native women? Whether or not he discovered America, that debate aside, it seems from Loewen’s arguments that a pattern of associating Christianity with conquering began in the Americas, thanks to Columbus and his contemporaries. False ideas about what God wants people to do to other people continue to this day in this continent.
Other chapters describe “the truth of the first Thanksgiving” (including the decimation of the native population that allowed the Europeans to succeed), “John Brown and Abraham Lincoln”, the myth of progress and stories from the civil rights movements.
I was surprised to learn that Lincoln was racist and was fighting for the Union, not for the abolishment of slavery. He valued the Union above abolition. Perhaps I did learn these things as a child, but I have forgotten them, and our culture only emphasizes “The Great Emancipator”, not his statements that black and white could never live together.
I’m reminded of that old saying, “The survivors write the history books.”
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