Why Is Christopher Columbus Considered A Hero
Once Upon a Genocide
Christopher Columbus is often portrayed as a hero in America. He found a new land, proved the world was not flat, and made way for the pilgrims to escape tyranny. American children are shown a hero and taught many fallacies about this man from the beginning of their education. According to our text, Columbus is seen in children’s literature as little less than a saint. “When Christopher Columbus was a child, he always wanted to be like Saint Christopher. He wanted to sail to faraway places and spread the word of Christianity.” (Osborne, Bigelow, 79) The problem with this is that children’s literature often leaves out the treatment of the Native Americans. Our lands were already being occupied when Columbus and his peers …show more content…
The authors point out the many misconceptions and outright lies being offered in children’s literature. In this story written by Ann Rinaldi we follow the experiences of a young girl who is staying in the Carlisle Indian School Grounds. This girls name and experiences are made up and do not fit with the written accounts of real Native Americans who were held there. In the children’s literature book, the characters are brought to the school and treated reasonably well. There is no indication that they were “kidnapped” (Reese et All, 114) and being assimilated. This boarding school was founded under the premise of “kill the Indian save the man.” (Pratt, Reese et all, 114) The goal of the school was to take in Indian children by force and turn out civilized young adults that were European in their behaviors. This was not achieved and actually led to several hundred deaths and runaways. When narrating on the culture and belief systems of the Native peoples many fallacies and creative licenses were taken that caused it to be a “trivialization of the belief systems of a people.” (Reese et all, …show more content…
They describe three stereotypes that we have about Muslim girls. The first is that they are veiled, nameless, and silent. We are shown pictures of covered and frightened girls desperate for Western help, but is this reality for the millions of girls and women in the Middle East? The authors suggest that Westerners have created their own stereotype about Muslim girls that does not maintain truth and “suggests that we in the west need to help unveil and ‘give’ them a voice.” (Sensoy and Marshall, 122)
Secondly, we also been conditioned to believe that a veiled woman is an oppressed woman. In truth women choose to wear or not wear their veils out of religious piety and social preference. These veils can also be used as a “tool of resistance” (Sensoy and Marshall, 124) “Women of Afghanistan documented the Taliban’s crimes against girls and women by hiding video cameras under their burqas and transformed the burqa from simply a marker of oppression to a tool of
Christopher Columbus is often portrayed as a hero in America. He found a new land, proved the world was not flat, and made way for the pilgrims to escape tyranny. American children are shown a hero and taught many fallacies about this man from the beginning of their education. According to our text, Columbus is seen in children’s literature as little less than a saint. “When Christopher Columbus was a child, he always wanted to be like Saint Christopher. He wanted to sail to faraway places and spread the word of Christianity.” (Osborne, Bigelow, 79) The problem with this is that children’s literature often leaves out the treatment of the Native Americans. Our lands were already being occupied when Columbus and his peers …show more content…
The authors point out the many misconceptions and outright lies being offered in children’s literature. In this story written by Ann Rinaldi we follow the experiences of a young girl who is staying in the Carlisle Indian School Grounds. This girls name and experiences are made up and do not fit with the written accounts of real Native Americans who were held there. In the children’s literature book, the characters are brought to the school and treated reasonably well. There is no indication that they were “kidnapped” (Reese et All, 114) and being assimilated. This boarding school was founded under the premise of “kill the Indian save the man.” (Pratt, Reese et all, 114) The goal of the school was to take in Indian children by force and turn out civilized young adults that were European in their behaviors. This was not achieved and actually led to several hundred deaths and runaways. When narrating on the culture and belief systems of the Native peoples many fallacies and creative licenses were taken that caused it to be a “trivialization of the belief systems of a people.” (Reese et all, …show more content…
They describe three stereotypes that we have about Muslim girls. The first is that they are veiled, nameless, and silent. We are shown pictures of covered and frightened girls desperate for Western help, but is this reality for the millions of girls and women in the Middle East? The authors suggest that Westerners have created their own stereotype about Muslim girls that does not maintain truth and “suggests that we in the west need to help unveil and ‘give’ them a voice.” (Sensoy and Marshall, 122)
Secondly, we also been conditioned to believe that a veiled woman is an oppressed woman. In truth women choose to wear or not wear their veils out of religious piety and social preference. These veils can also be used as a “tool of resistance” (Sensoy and Marshall, 124) “Women of Afghanistan documented the Taliban’s crimes against girls and women by hiding video cameras under their burqas and transformed the burqa from simply a marker of oppression to a tool of