Columbus Day Research Paper

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“In fourteen hundred ninety-two /Columbus sailed the ocean blue. /He had three ships and left from Spain; /He sailed through sunshine, wind and rain.” (Lisa). This childhood song is taught across the nation once a year to all grade school students. However, the students do not truly know what the song is about; because the history taught is bias and not the whole truth. The children are taught that Columbus Day celebrates the “founding” of the Americas, and the great Columbian Exchange that proceeded the founding. But why does a nation celebrate its founding when it was founded decades before? Why celebrate a historical event that affected numerous lives negatively? Why is this historical event and developments are linked back to Europe? Through numerous readings, and class discussions, it can be …show more content…
To understand the bias of the textbooks, once must notice that the majority of textbooks are written by white Europeans. Loewen states numerous times through his book Lies My Teacher Told Me that the main reason the textbooks are bias is because our people wrote them. Therefore, the reason a majority of good developments are traceable to Europe is because we, as the people, want to make ourselves appear good. To elaborate, in a class discussion we brought up the topic that the authors of textbooks correct what happens in history; this statements explained means, “textbooks that are "factually correct" may also be communicating very selective values and moral judgments. This form of bias is subtler than is bias resulting from inaccurate facts, but it can still be very powerful” (socialstudies.org). Americans gain the ability to alter textbooks

Columbus Day Research Paper

9th is the day a holiday day celebrated by many people, this holiday is “Columbus day”. But should this really be celebrated?. In 1942 Christopher Columbus set out on a journey, he was credited for discovering a new land. The Americas the “new world” but really he was just given the credit of “discovering” a land that has had Native Americans living in it for thousands of years. Is that really a discovery? In an article about Christopher Columbus’s legacy it states “Christopher Columbus did not “discover”…

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Columbus Day Research Paper

Everyone who’s been through school can remember the lessons on Columbus and his four voyages. The saying “in 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue,” which has been heard by many generations. At a young age we are taught about how he set sail trying to reach Asia, but instead he stumbled upon the Americas. On Columbus Day we Americans celebrate his journey to the Americas and how he brought the New World into the eyes of the Old World. Columbus paved the way for European exploration and colonization, changing…

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Columbus Day Research Paper

On the second Monday of October, the controversial holiday we call Columbus Day is celebrated. Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer who worked for the Spanish government. In 1942, Columbus landed on the island of Hispaniola in pursuit of finding a quicker route to India. This holiday sparks much controversy between people defending and in opposition to Columbus Day, including: the brutal genocide, the enslavement, and the callous treatment of Natives; thus we should not celebrate this holiday…

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Columbus Day Research Paper

Obviously, Columbus Day should continue to be celebrated throughout our country. One reason why Columbus Day should still be celebrated is because Columbus Day is one of America’s oldest celebrated holidays. Columbus Day has been memorialized since 1792. It would be quite difficult to get rid of Americas first celebrated past times. Another reason why Columbus Day should be celebrated throughout America is because the Europeans brought new art, music, science, and other components of their culture…

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Columbus Day Research Paper

An Undeserved Celebration Columbus convinced Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand to finance his voyage in search of a western route to India. About two months into his voyage, he landed in the Bahamas where he met the Arawak Indians. There are several common misconceptions about Columbus due to the way that schools portray him. He was not nearly as great of a man as many people think. Columbus Day should not be a national holiday, because Columbus did not discover America. He was a cruel man who…

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Columbus Day Research Paper

Since 1892 when the first Columbus Day was celebrated, controversies behind the national holiday have been recurring through conversions and debates. When President Benjamin Harris proclaimed Columbus Day as a national holiday, many things in the previous years made the formation of this national holiday come to be. Although Columbus was able to start the first recorded history in the Americas, Columbus bought many cultural, spiritual, and economic differences from Europe. These differences affected…

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Christopher Columbus Day Research Paper

The celebration of Christopher Columbus should no longer be a national holiday because Columbus’s brutality outweighs his minor accomplishments. Every year on the second Monday of October our nation celebrates a man who never even stepped foot on the land that is now the United States. Children are not taught about the awful reality of Christopher Columbus, such as the enslavement, murder, torture and rape of thousands or even millions of indigenous people. Columbus did not discover our land he merely…

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Christopher Columbus Day Research Paper

Christopher Columbus should be honored and Columbus Day should be celebrated because he was not the sole cause of the massacre of the Natives of America. The article "Should we celebrate Christopher Columbus?" by Silvio Laccetti, McClatchy Tribune, and Los Angeles Times Editorial Board, also assert that Columbus Day should be celebrated. The authors portrayed that “calculating an actual number of deaths is impossible because estimates of pre-Columbus populations vary enormously.” In other words,…

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Should We Celebrate Columbus Day Research Paper

Should we Celebrate Columbus Day? The United States celebrates Columbus Day as the day that Christopher Columbus ‘Discovered’ America, in 1492, and the holiday can be traced back to the 18th century (History.com Editors, 2024). However, there were already Native Americans living in America before Christopher Columbus came. Not only did Christopher Columbus ‘discover’ America, but he and his crew forced the Native Americans already living there into slavery, and ruined their way of life. Additionally…

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Bradford v. Columbus Essay

Simpson ENG-2223-8A Major Paper 1 9/9/99 Bradford vs Columbus Two men entrusted with enormous responsibilities sail away from the world they know to a land called the New World. William Bradford and Columbus both play pivotal points in American history, but how do they differ? One would be wise to weigh their very words against them to come to a conclusion. “For some were taken and clapped up in prison, others had their houses beset and watched night and day, and hardly escaped their hands;…

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