The Truth About Christopher Columbus

The truth about Thanksgiving and about Christopher Columbus is not taught to most students. Starting from elementary school students see Columbus as heroic, and even in high schools textbooks they still portray him as a hero with untrue stories. In the article “Columbus, the Indians, and the Human Progress” Zinn suggest that Samuel Eliot Morison distorts history in the textbooks. In the textbooks Columbus is seen as heroic to hide the truth. “He refuses to lie about Columbus. He does not omit the story of the mass murder” (Zinn). Morison was not the only one telling lies because just like in the article “The Story of Christopher Columbus” there seemed to be only some pieces of the truth. In the article “Plagues and Pilgrims” which gives information about the first Thanksgiving Loew states that “indians are …show more content…
In the year 1495 Columbus and his people rounded up 1,500 Arawak Native Americans and used them as slaves. It was not long until they were being sold and killed. Later in 1600’s the Native American Wampanoags who lived in southern New England were infected by the Plague that was believed to be transmitted from the British Fishermen. A plague is a contagious bacterial disease, which killed most to their population. The wampanoag leader decided that it would be best if they allied with the pilgrims because the plague had weakened his village. The Pilgrims wanted a way to impress the wampanoag leader so for “Thanksgiving” they had an army drill and a big fest that none of the native americans have ever seen