Intro and Zinn blog

Hi! I am Megan Baker (Meg) and a sophomore at Bowling Green State University. This is currently my first year at BG. I transferred from Dayton, Ohio where I am originally from. My major is education with a concentration in integrated Social Studies. I am a member of Partners in Community and Context (PCC) a learning community here on campus for those who are going into urban education. My goal is to one day to teach high school government class to at risk kids in inner city schools. Some people think that I am crazy for having this ambition. However I believe that because of the importance of education in our society that inner city schools need good teachers. In high school I participated in a lot of activities including being co-captain of my high school dance team and being a member of the honor choir. Some interesting facts about me include the fact that I am 4 feet 10 inches tall. For those who may be reading this and thinking that I am a “little person” or a “midget” I’m not. I just happen to be a small girl and that is something that I like about myself because it makes me unique. I have never had a blog before and feel a little strange about lots of people being able to read what I post, however I think that comments and feedback are a great learning tool. I am looking forward to this semester in Ethnic Studies and hope to learn a lot.

In Howard Zinn’s Columbus, the Indians and Human Progress the author makes several conclusions. Zinn offers a deeper analysis that just that of the voyages of Christopher Columbus. He goes on to make conclusions about history itself. First in regards to Christopher Columbus Zinn makes the conclusion that Columbus is not the hero that we as Americans think of on Columbus Day. In reality there is a much deeper history of greed, violence, and murder that occurred during his several expeditions to the Americas. In regards to history in general, Zinn concludes in his writing that the history taught in classrooms reflects that of people in power. For example the mass murder and enslavement of the Arawak Indians is rarely studied because it is a bad reflection on those in power. Instead we teach about the voyages of a hero who was responsible for discovering the new world. The author gives evidence throughout the piece to support his conclusion. His writing on Columbus and the Arawaks is an example in itself. In history lessons about the discovery of the new world the Arawaks are hardly mentioned. If they are mentioned it is only to acknowledge that they greeted Columbus and his crew to offer gifts upon their arrival. Not until reading the piece by Zinn did I realize that there was such a dark side to the voyages of Christopher Columbus. I don’t remember being taught how the Indians were enslaved and told to find gold or else their hands would be cut off so that they would bleed to death (pg. 6-8). Zinn gives another example when he tells how Las Casas wrote of two “Christian” men who behead two Indian boys for no particular reason. Zinn goes on to explain that Columbus and his crews did more than just enslave the Arawaks. Samuel Eliot Morison called it “genocide” in his book Christopher Columbus, Mariner. Zinn gives many other examples to support the fact that history is most often written to favor those in power. He states that we as Americans don’t learn history from any other perspective than our own. For example he explains how we don’t see things from the viewpoint of the Cubans in the Spanish American War or that of the socialists in the Second World War (pg. 11). The question that came to mind when reading Zinn’s conclusion about history is, why are some parts of history considered important while other parts are rarely looked at? I believe the answer is one that applies to those in power. After reading this article I have to agree with Zinn’s argument that history is generally only looked at from only one perspective. It is hard to apply this concept to all history yet it is easy to determine that some of Zinn’s assumptions about history are true. This is evident through the example that Zinn gives of Columbus and the Arawak Indians. Overall the passage by Zinn was extremely eye opening. From previous examples I have come to the realization that history is not always about facts but mainly about the interpretation of those facts. I did not realize the devastation that took place on Columbus’s voyages and it helped me to realize that history is not always as pretty or simple as what is written in the history books. I have concluded that there are two sides to every story and it is important to look at things with and open mind.