Howard Zinn Underdogs

Historians who practice historiography agree that the writings from the beginning of what is now known as the United States of America can be translated various ways. In James H. Merrell’s “The Indians’ New World,” the initial encounters and relationships between various Native American tribes and Europeans and their African American slaves are explained; based on Merrell’s argument that after the arrival of Europeans to North America in 1492, not only would the Europeans’ lives drastically change, but a new world would be created for the Native Americans’ as their communities and lifestyles slowly intertwined for better or worse. Examples of these changes include: “deadly bacteria, material riches, and [invading] alien people.” (Merrell 53)

The first chapter of both A​People’s History of the United States (​Zinn, 1980) and​A Patriot’s History of the United States​(Schweikart and Allen, 2004) tells the story of the discovery of the New World. Beginning with the landing of Columbus in the Bahamas, these accounts are told from two separate perspectives. Zinn often refers to the telling of history as a tale between victims and executioners, saying that in the “inevitable taking of sides which comes from selection and emphasis in History” he prefers to stand on the side of the victim, whereas Schweikart and Allen tend to stand behind the executioner. Much of A​Patriot’s History​is spent arguing the accuracy of the number of natives murdered by invading European entities, attempting to minimize the blame reflected on these executioners.

The English had come more prepared and well aware of what they were stepping into, they brought provisions and supplies, even though they struggled. It was not until the Jamestown settlement was established in 1607, a full twenty years after John White bade farewell to his colonists, that the next serious attempts where undertaken by the English to find out what happened to the colony in 1587 (Fullam 128). In early 1609, the Royal Council in England received shocking news from Jamestown that Wahunsunacock, Chief Powhatan, had slaughter the 1587 colonist (Fullman 155). Unfortunately, the Powhatan’s cooperation was necessary for the success of the colony (Fullman 157). But 1608, a letter from John Smith was delivered to the Royal Council with evidence that the Powhatan Indians weren’t connected to the Lost Colony.

American History Education Reforms The definition as well as the specific parts of accurate American history is a highly debated topic- especially in regards to educating children on American history. In “Let’s tell the Story of All America’s Cultures” by Yuh Ji-Yeon gives her point of view on the controversial topic of the success of American history education. As the author is a Korean immigrant she has a special connection to this topic, and is writing this article to giver her opinion in the debate of reforming education in America. Ji-Yeon successfully persuades the audience that American history education in the United States is discriminatory by using her personal experiences and emotions as she informs the audience of a possible solution

As the goal of the writer was to educate, the book achieved success in both ways as the reader is left much more informed about early America than when they began reading the novel. The book covers the its main topics in three sections, Discovery, Conquest and Settlement. Each section includes information from various geographical regions in America with information pertaining to one of the specific sections above. Each section gave a comprehensive look at the main topic in a way that was easy to understand as well as

Christopher Columbus is a man who is known in society simultaneously as a hero and a villain of his time. What if the world had to pick only one, what would it be? Many new studies and scholars believe that Columbus was the villain of his story not a hero as past information would lead us to believe. Past documents were all written from the Europe’s point of view, this would lead to extremely biased documents because Europe was the side to profit unlike the Native

According to Chapter one of Major Problems in American History

Writing Prompt #1 The way we perceive history are through the eyes of those who write it, but we also have no knowledge if they’re being biased or not. In Frances G. Couvares’ work Interpretations of American History, he talks about historiography and how historians write history. This essay will talk about the providential, the rationalist, the nationalist, and the the professional, the four stages that helped shape how we write American history and the importance it has to historiography.

America was a new place that full of fertile lands and plentiful resources. In 17th century, Europeans broke the quiet life of America. Lots of Europeans decided to migrate to America. Some of them wanted to be rich and some of them sought religious freedom. All of them went to America with hope, however, Europeans’ migration interfered with Indians seriously.

Throughout the seventeenth century, conflict between Europeans and Native Americans was rampant and constant. As more and more Europeans migrated to America, violence became increasingly consistent. This seemingly institutionalized pattern of conflict begs a question: Was conflict between Europeans and Native Americans inevitable? Kevin Kenny and Cynthia J. Van Zandt take opposing sides on the issue. Kevin Kenny asserts that William Penn’s vision for cordial relations with local Native Americans was destined for failure due to European colonists’ demands for privately owned land.

“Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress”, chapter one of “A People’s History of the United States”, written by professor and historian Howard Zinn, concentrates on a different perspective of major events in American history. It begins with the native Bahamian tribe of Arawaks welcoming the Spanish to their shores with gifts and kindness, only then for the reader to be disturbed by a log from Columbus himself – “They willingly traded everything they owned… They would make fine servants… With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.” (Zinn pg.1) In the work, Zinn continues explaining the unnecessary evils Columbus and his men committed unto the unsuspecting natives.

A view of Americans as a special, exceptional people because Americans had progressively taken over the West and conquered primitive societies was firmly established in the minds of Americans by frontier myth. One of problems is that the frontier myth is a story, and “all stories are partial; that is, in creating narrative coherence, they leave things out, and emphasize other things”. They are not necessarily false, but neither are they history. As the society evolved, the concept of the frontier is consequently redefined as a space of social and cultural interaction and replaced by the terms “contact zone” by Mary Louise Pratt in her 1992 book Imperial Eyes. Contact zones are “social spaces where disparate cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each other.”

Prior to the English landing on the Eastern shores in 1607 of what is now known as the United States of America, Native Americans dominated areas from coast to coast [of the future nation]. Many of these tribes had built their own form of society, influenced by maternal dominance, agriculture, fishing, hunting, trade, and religion (Foner, Chapter 1).Unfortunately, their way of life was altered as soon as Europeans began emigrating and landing on the Americas, and began taking over the land Native Americans had possessed for centuries. Although weakened by a wave of disease, many tribes showed acts of resistance against their invaders, in disputes like the Pueblo Revolt, King Philip 's’ War, and Worcester v. Georgia. These acts of resistance

He authored a four-book biography of Columbus and portrayed him as a brave American hero. “Columbus was a man of great and inventive genius. His ambition was lofty and noble, inspiring him with high thoughts and an anxiety to distinguish himself by great achievements. His conduct was characterized by the grandeur of his views and the magnanimity [nobility] of his spirit.” Instead of writing, that Columbus was devastating to the newly found nation and that he sought to take over, cultivate and civilize the Natives.

Thesis: The English were a prideful group, entangled in ethnocentrism, that caused a condescending and harsh treatment of the Native Americans, while the Native Americans were actually a dynamic and superior society, which led to the resentment and strife between the groups. P1: English view of Native Americans in VA Even though the English were subordinates of the Powhatan, they disrespected him and his chiefdom due to their preconceived beliefs that they were inferior. “Although the Country people are very barbarous, yet have they amongst them such government...that would be counted very civil… [by having] a Monarchical government” (Smith 22). John Smith acknowledges the “very civil” government of the Natives but still disrespected them by calling them “very barbarous,” which