zinn reading

Casey Frederick
Ethnics 101
Melissa Altman


The author of this article has strong feelings about how historians recreate history. The thesis of this article is “My point is not that we must, in telling history, accuse, judge, condemn Columbus in absentia. It is too late for that; it would be a useless scholarly exercise in morality. But the easy acceptance of atrocities as a deplorable but necessary price to pay for progress.” In his thesis he is saying that Columbus had to create a vicious act to get them gold and spices he was looking for. And the author does not want to say that Columbus was wrong or he was right he is simply saying that he did what he had to do to get his job done. He was trying to make progress by exploring the Americas and bring back gold to his country, and in doing so had to kill the Arawaks.
However in Columbus’ defense I believe that the author is not giving Columbus a fair shake. Back in the 1400’s the way of life was extremely different, and if the author was in Columbus’ shoes would he do the same thing that Columbus did? Would he go to the extremes that Columbus did to get the gold and spice for his country, and do as his ruler asked of him? I believe that if the author lived in the time that Columbus did he would do the same thing that Columbus did. He would do whatever it took to do what he was asked. Whether that was to kill innocent people, or sail around the world for no reason, whatever he was told to do I believe he would do it.
The way that I looked at Christopher Columbus before I read this article and how I look at him now after I have read the article is completely different, just as the author had said the schools now do not tell the whole story. They tell the good side of Columbus. They tell how he sailed to the Americas and discovered all of this land, and brought back all this stuff for his country. But they do no tell how, they do not tell how he went about his business in bringing back gold and spice. It is shocking to read about the things that he had to do to get where he did, and get the materials that he needed for his country.