Rethinking Columbus Expanded Second Edition

In its “9 Teaching Resources that Tell the Truth About Columbus,” Indian Country Today lists Rethinking Columbus as its “most highly recommended.”

“The original edition made educational history by introducing a startling new view of Columbus — In the revised edition we get even richer material, a marvelous compendium of history, literature, original sources, commentary — an exciting treasure for teachers, students, and the general public.”

— Howard Zinn, author A People’s History of the United States

“Our Creator gave each of us two ears. Thus we have the ability to listen to both sides. Since its first publication, Rethinking Columbus has been a valuable resource for librarians, teachers, and all those interested in using both of their ears to hear this complex story. The good news about the second edition is that it remains just as readable and interesting while adding much new material. This is truly a book that deserves (and needs) to be in every school library.”

— Joseph Bruchac (Abenaki), editor of the Greenfield Review

A sampling of praise for the first edition of Rethinking Columbus:

“Until we realize that history is comprised of the good, the bad, and the ugly, we will never be truly free. This book is an important step in unifying our common destiny.”

— Maria Garza Lubeck, Children’s Defense Fund

“It’s moving, thrilling! … an essential resource for any teacher …”

—Harriet Rohmer, director, Children’s Book Press

“Goodbye, Columbus? … For too long, the story of Columbus has been all one-sided. But that is starting to change, possibly forever.”

—San Francisco Examiner

Introduction

Why Rethink Columbus?

by the editors — 10

We Have No Reason to Celebrate

by Suzan Shown Harjo — 12

America to Indians: Stay in the 19th Century!

by Jan Elliott — 14

Beginnings

Indians Claim Italy — 16

by “Right of Discovery” from The New York Times

Discovering Columbus: Re-reading the Past — 17

by Bill Bigelow

Sugar & Slavery — 22

by Philip Martin

African-American Resistance — 24

by Bill Fletcher

My Country, ‘Tis of Thy People You’re Dying — 28

by Buffy Sainte-Marie

Historic Tribal Locations Map — 30

Elementary School Issues

What Not To Teach — 32

by June Sark Heinrich

A Friend of the Indians — 34

by Joseph Bruchac

Columbus & Native Issues in the Elementary Classroom — 35

by Bob Peterson

1492 (song) — 41

by Nancy Schimmel

The Untold Story — 42

by Tina Thomas

The Sacred Buffalo Rosalie Little Thunder — 44

Once Upon a Genocide: Columbus in Children’s Literature — 47

by Bill Bigelow

George Washington: An American Hero? — 56

by the CIBC

Scalping: Fact & Fantasy — 58

by Philip Martin

Indian Lands for Sale Poster — 60

A Barbie-Doll Pocahontas — 61

by Cornel Pewewardy

Good Intentions Are Not Enough: Recent Children’s Books on the Columbus-Taíno Encounter — 62

by Bill Bigelow

Teaching Ideas — 69

Rethinking Thanksgiving

The Delight Song of Tsoai-Talee

by N. Scott Momaday — 72

Giving Thanks: The Story of Indian Summer

by Joseph Bruchac — 73

Thanking the Birds

by Joseph Bruchac — 74

Alphabet of the Americas — 75

Why I’m Not Thankful for Thanksgiving

by Michael Dorris — 76

Plagues & Pilgrims: The Truth about the First Thanksgiving by James W. Loewen — 79

Teaching Ideas & Suggested Activities — 83

The Trial (The People vs. Columbus, et al.)

For the Sake of Gold — 86

by Hans Koning

A Class Role Play — 87

by Bill Bigelow

The Trial in the Elementary Classroom — 94

by Bob Peterson

Columbus’s Diary: Reading Between the Lines — 95

by Bill Bigelow

The First Few Days: The Journal of Christopher Columbus — 96

Timeline: Spain, Columbus, and Taínos — 99

“Open Your Hearts” — 103

adapt. from Bartolomé de las Casas

The Taínos

The Taínos: “Men of the Good” — 106

by José Barreiro

Imagining the Taínos — 108

by Bill Bigelow

The Gold People — 110

by Anna Hereford

Taíno Resistance: Enrique’s Uprising — 111

by Alvin Josephy, Jr.

Rethinking Terms — 112

by Philip Tajitsu Nash and Emilienne Ireland

Secondary School Issues

Ceremony — 114

by Leslie Marmon Silko

Talking Back to Columbus: Teaching for Justice and Hope — 115

by Bill Bigelow

Columbus Day — 123

by Jimmie Durham

Broken Spears Lie in the Roads — 124

by unknown Aztec Poet

Black Indians & Resistance — 125

by William Loren Katz

Indian Singing in 20th Century America —128

by Gail Tremblay

Cowboys and Indians: On the Playground — 129

by Ray Gonzalez

Human Beings Are Not Mascots — 131

by Barbara Munson

Looney Tunes and Peter Pan: Unlearning Racist Stereotypes — 133

by Linda Christensen

Bones of Contention — 134

by Tony Hillerman

Three Thousand Dollar Death Song — 135

by Wendy Rose

Canada Apologizes to its Native People — 136

from the Associated Press

What’s in an Apology? — 137

by Bob Peterson

Elizabeth Peratrovich Day — 138

Teaching Ideas — 139

Contemporary Struggles

Current Struggles around the Hemisphere — 142

Treaty Rights: An Overview — 144

by Philip Martin

A Modern Hero: Rigoberta Menchœ — 146

by Deborah Menkart

Resistance at Oka — 148

by Peter Blue Cloud

The Unity of Native Peoples — 150

by Billy Redwing Tayac

Leonard Peltier: An American Political Prisoner — 151

by Philip Martin

Loo-Wit — 152

by Wendy Rose

The Theft of the Black Hills — 153

by Philip Martin

Shrinking Indian Lands Map Series — 155

The Earth is a Satellite of the Moon — 156

by Leonel Rugama

Teaching Ideas — 157

Environmental Issues

To the Women of the World: Our Future, Our Responsibility — 160

by Winona LaDuke

People vs. Nature in 15th-century Europe — 162

by Kirkpatrick Sale

Radioactive Mining: Good Economics or Genocide? — 163

by Ward Churchill

All Pigs on Deck: The Columbus Myth & the Environment — 165

by Bill Bigelow

The Land of the Spotted Eagle — 166

by Luther Standing Bear

The Earth and the American Dream: Selected Quotes from the video — 167

The Earth and the American Dream: Questions — 169

Red Ribbons for Emma — 170

by Deb Preusch, et al.

Teaching Ideas — 172

Final Words

Remember — 174

by Joy Harjo

For Some, a Time of Mourning — 175

by Wendy Rose

The Blue Tiger — 177

by Eduardo Galeano

Colibrí — 179

by Martin Espada

Resources

Books for young readers and adults, curriculum materials, videos, websites, organizations, and more! — 182

Why rethink Christopher Columbus?

Students at Jefferson High School in Portland, Oregon, commemorated the 500th anniversary of Columbus’s arrival in the Americas by launching a school-wide “discovery.” They invaded other classrooms, stole teachers’ purses, and claimed them as theirs. Adapting a lesson described in the first edition of Rethinking Columbus (p. 17 in this edition), students emptied a purse in front of a teacher and her class, then remarked on its contents: “This sure is good gum, think I’ll have a piece … or two; you all know this is my purse, ’cause this is just my shade of lipstick.” Kids in the assaulted classrooms figured out what was going on only when the invaders compared their “discovery” to Columbus’s “discovery.” The high-school students, with advance permission from other teachers, led discussions and described Columbus’s policies toward the Taíno Indians on Hispaniola. They concluded by offering black armbands to students as a way to demonstrate solidarity with Native Americans’ 500 years of resistance.

Just two years before, in October of 1990, the Chicago Tribune had promised that the Columbus Quincentenary would be the “most stupendous international celebration in the history of notable celebrations.” The Portland students’ “Discovery Day” is not what the Tribune had in mind.

Prompted by widespread Native American activism leading up to the Quincentenary, educators throughout the Americas re-evaluated the social and ecological consequences of the Europeans’ arrival in 1492. Teacher unions, community groups, social justice organizations, universities, and school districts initiated workshops and teach-ins. New curricula, videos and children’s books appeared. In 1991, Rethinking Schools published the first edition of Rethinking Columbus, which subsequently went through seven printings and sold 225,000 copies. We were pleased to be a part of a movement to question a myth that dismissed the very humanity of entire peoples. We believe this critical work by so many has made a profound impact in schools.

But we have a long way to go. Too many children’s books, textbooks, and curricula continue to tout the traditional Columbus myth. For many youngsters, the “discovery of America” is their first curricular exposure to the encounter between two cultures and to the encounter between two races.

The “Columbus-as-Discoverer” myth teaches children whose voices to listen for as they go out into the world — and whose to ignore. Pick up a typical children’s book on Columbus: See Chris; see Chris talk; see Chris grow up, have ideas, have feelings; see Chris plant the flag… In these volumes, native peoples of the Caribbean, the “discovered,” are portrayed without thoughts or feelings. And thus children begin a scholastic voyage that encourages them to disregard the perspectives, the lives, of people of color. Both the words and images of the Columbus myth implicitly tell children that it is acceptable for one group of heavily-armed, white people from a “civilized” country to claim and control the lands of distant non-white others.

During the Quincentenary, a more “balanced” approach to European/Native American conflict also emerged. According to a Library of Congress-produced curriculum that exemplified this seemingly neutral inquiry, “The story of the Americas, more than any other area of the world, is the story of peoples and cultures coming together,” resulting in”a cultural mixture.” This newer framework suggested that world history since 1492 has been a series of trades and trade-offs. “They” gave “us” the potato, corn, and a great deal of gold. “We” gave “them” the horse, sugar, and, regrettably, germs. This process planted “seeds of change,” in the words of the Smithsonian Institution. While offering important insights, this approach failed to address questions of the origins of racism, economic exploitation, and resistance.

In this new edition of Rethinking Columbus, we try to offer an alternative narrative. Our goal is not to idealize native people, demonize Europeans, or present a depressing litany of victimization. We hope to encourage a deeper understanding of the European invasion’s consequences, to honor the rich legacy of resistance to the injustices it created, to convey some appreciation for the diverse indigenous cultures of the hemisphere, and to reflect on what this all means for us today.

We have tried to provide a forum for native people to tell some of their side of the encounter — through interviews, poetry, analysis, and stories. The point is not to present “two sides,” but to tell parts of the story that have been mostly neglected.

It would be nice to think that the biases in the curriculum disappear after Columbus. But the Columbus myth is only the beginning of a winners’ history that profoundly neglects the lives and perspectives of many “others”: people of color, women, working-class people, the poor.

Columbus’s Legacy

Columbus is dead but his legacy is not. In 1492, Columbus predicted, “Considering the beauty of the land, it could not be but that there was gain to be got.” From the poisonous chemical dumps and mining projects that threaten groundwater, to oil spills on the coastal shorelines to the massive clearcutting of old-growth forests, Columbus’s exploitative spirit lives on.

Likewise, the slave system Columbus introduced to this hemisphere was ultimately overthrown, but not the calculus that weighs human lives in terms of private profit — of the “gain to be got.”

We’ve featured essays and interviews that underscore contemporary resistance to the spirit of Columbus. We believe that children need to know that while injustice persists, so does the struggle for humanity and the environment.

In a very real sense, most of us are living on stolen land. However, this knowledge must not be used to make white children feel guilty. There is nothing students can do to change history. And they should not feel responsible for what others did before they were born. However, we hope the materials in Rethinking Columbus will help you teach that people of all backgrounds do have a responsibility to learn from history. We can choose whether to reverse the legacy of injustice or continue it. This is one reason that we’ve made special efforts in this edition to highlight people who have chosen to stand for justice.

We hope that these materials will also help students to discover new ways of understanding relationships between society and nature. Even the very words used by different cultures to describe the natural world are suggestive: compare the West’s “environment” — something which surrounds us — to native peoples’ “Mother Earth” — she who gives us life. Native views of the earth challenge students to locate new worlds of ecological hope.

Through critiquing traditional history and imagining alternatives, students can begin to discover the excitement that comes from asserting oneself morally and intellectually — refusing to be passive consumers of official stories. This is as true for 4th graders as it is for juniors in high school. Students can continue to renew and deepen this personal awakening as they seek out other curricular silences and sources of knowledge.

As the scholar Edward Said noted, “Nations are narratives.” For too many, this country has been a narrative that started with the myth of Columbus. It’s time to hear other voices. We offer this second edition of Rethinking Columbus as our contribution to a many-sided and ongoing discussion about the future.

— the editors

Spanish translation available here