Zinn

Through out the article A People’s History of the United States, Howard Zinn writes of instances in the history of Christopher Columbus and the false nature that has been fabricated by many historians. He unfluffs the history on how Columbus “discovered” our nation and how he treated the natives that presided here first. He concludes that unlike our basic history Columbus was here for mainly gold and slaves. He treated the natives harshly and took advantage of their good nature. He argues that the assassination of many of the first natives was on the hands of Columbus.
Zinn comments on the entries that Columbus made that many historians have over looked and then documented Columbus him down as being noble. But there is the question of should we go with what Zinn is stating and teach the children in elementary schools? I think that this may be pushing the limits due to the fact that maybe children are not old enough to understand what is going on. I think that the censorship put on the history of Christopher Columbus was necessary to an extent, but the facts should get straightened out and maybe a limit on what we teach our children.
When I read this document my first reaction was to the title and honestly I thought it was going to be a boring piece. But after reading the first couple paragraphs I realized how many facts about our history have been simply left out and revised to make the white male look better. I believe that this piece of writing is very influential and makes several good points throughout it of how not only in the past but now we view those around us and our history. Many times today I find myself reading information on history and pieces on what is happening today and I believe the versions that are fluff and make the majority sound better.
Over all, this article has opened my eyes to many of the things that our history has censored and chapters have left out. Discrimination has been in everyone’s life not matter what race, sex, or social status your in. Through out history no matter every fact is put into some point of view. No matter how we look at it, its going to be fluffed even Zinn commented on this. All in all, this piece was very real and just goes to show the reality of censorship, and the way in which history has been fluffed in the dominant favor.