The Lies My Teacher Told Analysis

Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer, navigator, and colonizer who is well known for “discovering” North America. In reality Christopher was trying to get to China and thought he was in Japan all 4 times he went to North America. He was actually in what is now the Bahamas and Cuba. And really Christopher didn't even discover America. The Native Americans beat Columbus by thousands of years.

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. However, Schweikart and Allen have access to more modern technology and theory seeing as A​Patriot’s History​was

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

Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue in fourteen hundred ninety-two. When one hears the name Christopher Columbus, they tend to think about his discovery of America. What they don’t consider is how his discovery changed and affected America.

Two scholars, Erikson and William Balée believe that almost all aspects of Native American life have been perceived wrong. Although some refuse to believe this, it has been proven to be the truth. Throughout Charles C. Mann’s article from The Atlantic, “1491”, he discusses three main points: how many things that are viewed as facts about the natives are actually not true, the dispute between the high and low counters, and the importance of the role disease played in the history of the Americas. When the term “Native American” is heard, the average person tends to often relate that to a savage hunter who tries to minimize their impact on their surrounding environment. For the most part, this is not the case. In reality,

On October 12, 1492, an Italian merchant by the name of Christopher Columbus landed on an island in the New World. With him he brought three ships and a small crew of Spaniards. After exploring other islands, Columbus came one that he called Hispaniola; here, they found seemingly primitive and naϊve natives that they immediately began to take advantage of. However, little did they know that this first meeting would bring exploration of South and Central America that would wreak havok among the Natives. Throughout the period of European Expansion, Natives were ripped from their home and forced to work day in and day out. Almost every single person from the New World, whether a slave or not, was seriously impacted by the spread of diseases.Furthermore,

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

Throughout the late 1400’s and the 1500’s, the world experienced many changes due to the discoveries of new lands and peoples that had been never been visited before. The new-found lands of the Americas and exploration of Africa by the Europeans led to new colonies and discoveries in both areas. It also brought different societies and cultures together that had never before communicated, causing conflict in many of these places. While the Europeans treated both the Native Americans and West Africans as inferior people, the early effects they had on the Native Americans were much worse.

Exposing students to the real Whitewashing of American history impacts the lives of minorities and Native Americans. “Samantha Manchac is concerned about the new materials.” (lsensee 2015). History books aren’t showing the reality of things to students. History books want to hide what white people did to Africans, Native Americans and other ethnicities. “It’s an attempt to whitewash history.” (Isensee 2015). History books writers want to “soften” the past by rewriting the past by taking out important facts and details.

Historians differ on what they think about the net result of the European arrival in the New World. Considering that the Columbian Exchange, which refers to “exchange of plants, animals, people, disease, and culture between Afro-Eurasia and the Americas after Columbus sailed to the Americas in 1492,” led to possibly tens of millions of deaths on the side of the American Indians, but also enabled agricultural and technological trade (Henretta et al. 42), I cannot help but reflect on whether the effects should be addressed as a historical or a moral question. The impact that European contact had on the indigenous populations of North America should be understood as a moral question because first, treating it as a historical question is difficult due to lack of reliable historical evidence; second, the meaning of compelling historical claims is contestable as the academic historian perspective tends to view the American Indian oral history as invalid; and finally, what happened to the native Indians is morally repulsive and must be discussed as such.

Loewen explores many topics in which U.S. History textbooks mislead students, hide information, fail to discuss the topics at all, or flat-out give false information to their readers. He discusses some reasons and effects of this problem as well. In the first chapter, “herofication” is described as distorting a figure to become a “hero.” For instance, most people depict Helen Keller as an inspiration to everyone, but she was also a radical socialist and supported the Soviets’ cause. In the next ten chapters, Loewen takes the reader chronologically through history (and thus through history textbooks also), getting into the heart of the faults in these teaching and learning resources. From Christopher Columbus to the Pilgrims and Native Americans to the Civil War and slavery, all the way to the present, the author picks apart twelve textbooks, compares them, and shows they are racially and socially biased, and are written by similar authors. Finally, in the last two chapters, Loewen digs into why textbooks continue to teach history this way, and shows some of the effects of giving students the misinformation and lack of important information that our textbooks

Loewen argues, “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 historical events regress further into the past, writers may misinterpret facts that they may have studied. A story of discovery and friendship or a tale of conquest, murder, and greed, which of these are Christopher Columbus’ true stories? I believe the best method to teach American high school students about Christopher Columbus’ story is through historiography because historiography teaches students to compare and distinguish different outlooks from different writers’ point of views instead of just remembering misinterpreted facts. Historiography would guide and force students to study and learn history through a diverse set of historians who focused on the same subject and come to different conclusions. Historiography sets a better stage for an understanding of a subject and opens up a boarder class discussion dialog.

It speaks with graphic detail and contains explicit language. Because of this, this memoir is most recommended for high schoolers and older. Some of the language is culturally insensitive, but it is important to remember that in the years it discussed, it was common language, so anyone that would be offended should not read this book. Overall, the memoir not only tells an important story about the past, but it shines a light on issues America has faced and continues to face in modern society. For anyone who is interested in history, this is a book that is highly recommended. It provides insight into a very important period in American history. For those who do not like history or this period of history, this memoir will be dull and the reader will most likely dread reading it and give

The manner in which it is presented has the ability to inspire or deflate, to move nations to love, joy, anger, or hatred” (Teters 492). He also explains that this country knows nothing about the history of the Native American people nor any ethnic group that was indigenous before colonization. He uses examples from his public education, “I remember trying to become invisible as teachers told stories of brave settlers, untamed lands, and savage, uncivilized Indians. Washington State history simply did not include American Indian history” (Teters 492). This shows that schools are white-washing history and are not teaching what really happened. In his eyes, they are still teaching their ideology of colonization and oppressing the Native American people. This ideology also reflects in the words they use to dehumanize Native American people. He then states, “All across the United States, bronze statues, monuments, and murals celebrate conquests and commemorate the fulfillment of Manifest Destiny” (Teters 493). This statement reflects his main purpose and builds off it; it confirms the ignorance of the Native American people and their

Loewen starts right off the bat with how Columbus was “portrayed as America’s first great hero”, when he was in fact an immoral and crooked person. He states that textbooks often leave out the crucial details about Christopher Columbus, but the books don't just lie about Columbus. American textbooks are no doubt biased to the whites. White people are often categorized as the “important” ones, while the rest are