#2 - Christopher Columbus Mock-Journal

“The Journal of the Admiral of the Ocean Sea” can be found at http://library.thinkquest.org/J002678F/columbus.htm.

The second media item that I chose is an elementary school class project, entitled “The Journal of the Admiral of the Ocean Sea,” that I found on the internet based on the life and journeys of Christopher Columbus. The Bartlett Elementary school class put together a mock-diary of Columbus, explaining in “his” thoughts about what was going on around him. I chose this piece because it’s a very good example of the sides of the discovering of America story that children are taught from a young age. The final line of the journal is even, “At least I can retire a hero!” which just proves that none of the terrible contributions that he made to the native inhabitants of this country are ever mentioned.

This piece relates to the very first piece we read for this class. Zinn felt that because the Columbus story is never told from the side of the Native Americans, that it was his duty to fill in any misconceptions that readers may have about the great “hero.” Zinn acknowledged that schools teach that the Natives cooperated and they shared what they had with the explorers and they were all chummy. As continually educated adults, of course, know that this is largely and almost completely untrue, but this journal project confirms that children are being fed falsified (or extremely P.C.) versions of history. For the same reason this media item also ties into the first Takaki reading that we did.

What makes us feel that children should look up to and put Columbus in the role of a hero? Is it because despite his greed, violence against a peaceful native people and his attempt to enslave them, and the atrocities that his crew (and probably he himself) committed, such as the rape of native women; he did (after all) set up the first settlements on this newly “discovered” piece of land that would someday become America? I have a slight feeling that even the teachers that are teaching these watered down versions of history, know very few of the true facts surrounding the past and how America came to be the way it is today. They, themselves, have either never learned the actual occurrences, or have convinced themselves (through teaching the material) that would is found in the textbooks must be true. But why make gruff, hardened, greedy men like Columbus out to seem like a saint? I have two theories on this. The first is that it is a ploy to create unity among Americans. Like so many other American stories, the ones taught to children about Columbus, embody many of the qualities that we want (someone wants us) to believe that American represents; courage, determination, sharing, ambition. To have pride in your country and the people who founded it brings everyone together under a common bond, this bond can later be used against us when our patriotism is used to coerce us into situations that aren’t so nice (war). The second is that we as a country truly don’t want to believe, or maybe just remember, that our country has been created through many terrible happenings and institutions. We don’t want to walk around daily thinking about how we probably wouldn’t be where we are today if Columbus hadn’t, by coming here, unconsciously caused the deaths of nearly all of the native peoples that live here, if Native Americans hadn’t been forced onto reserves of undesired land after the majority of them had been killed, or if our founding fathers hadn’t enslaved a people and used them to better this country.

As a final thought, I just think it’s a little ironic that this is due on Columbus Day.