Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
RETHINKING
Cover photo © Pat Goudvis. From the Guatemala Nifios de Esperanza
COLUMBUS Calendar published by Ayuda, P.O. Box 1752, Boston, MA 02105.
Cover design and layout assistance: C.C. Brhel.
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Rethinking Schools
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"Let us
put our
heads
together
and see
what life
we will
make for
our
children."
Tatanka lotanka
(Sitting Bull, Lakota)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTORY ARTICLES
Introduction: Why Rethink Columbus? 3 Columbus Day, by Jimmie Durham (Poem) 59
"We Have No Reason to Celebrate an Invasion," Indians Fight Modern Conquistadores,
Interview with Suzan Shown Harjo 4 by Deborah Menkart 60
Discovering Columbus, Re-reading the Past, Rigoberta Menchii 6
by Bill Bigelow 6 James Bay: Cree and Inuit Defend Lands 62
America to Indians: Stay in the 19th Century, Our Land, Our Life 63
by Jan Elliott 10 Indian Singing in 20th Century America,
Thanking the Birds, by Joseph Bruchac 11 by Gail Tremblay (Poem) 64
The Earth is a Satellite of the Moon,
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ISSUES by Leonel Rugama (Poem) 65
Why I Am Not Thankful for Thanksgiving, Textbook Crimes, by CURE 66
by Michael Dorris 12 The Danger of "Harmless" School Mascots 67
Indian Children Speak, by Juanita Bell (Poem) 14
Native Americans: What Not to Teach, BACKGROUND/CONTEXT
by June Sark Heinrich 15 African-Americans: Mourn the Quincentenary,
Columbus in the Elementary Classroom, by Bill Fletcher, Jr 68
by Bob Peterson 16 "If I Had Five Minutes To Spend With Students,"
Helping Children Critique Columbus Books 19 Interview with LaDonna Harris 71
Native Land Rights: A Role Play, by Jane Califf 21 La Raza: Product of Two Conquests,
Scalping 22 by Andres Guerrero 72
Once Upon a Genocide, by Bill Bigelow 23 Birth of the Mestizo 73
What Do You Mean, You Haven't Read Let's Leave Columbus Behind, by Hans Koning 74
the Wilder Books? by Doris Scale 26 George Washington, Speculator in Native Lands 75
Alphabet of Native Contributions 31 Maps: Take Europe Off Center Stage, by W. Kaiser ....76
The Untold Story, by Tina Thomas 32 Rethinking Terminology,
And Then I Went To School, by Joe Suina 34 by Phil Tajitsu Nash and Emilienne Ireland 77
The Delight Song of Tsoai-Talee,
by N. Scott Momaday (Poem) 37 HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS
Timeline: Spain, Columbus, Native Americans 78
SECONDARY SCHOOL ISSUES For the Love of Gold, by Christopher Columbus 81
Talking Back to Columbus, by Bill Bigelow 38 The Spanish Fight for Justice in the Indies,
Iroquois Contribution to the Constitution 44 by Bartolome de las Casas 82
Loo Wit, by Wendy Rose (Poem) 45 Land of the Spotted Eagle, by Luther Standing Bear ...84
Bones of Contention, by Tony Hillerman 46
$3000 Death Song, by Wendy Rose (Poem) 47 RESOURCES, REFERENCES
Spokane Museum, by Ramona Wilson (Poem) 47 Resource Guide 85
Halfbreed Girl in the City School, Curriculum 85
by Jo Whitehorse Cochran (Poem) 48 Elementary Books 86
It is Important, by Gail Tremblay (Poem) 49 Secondary Books 87
Native Women in the Circle of Life, Original Sources 87
by Paula Gunn Allen 50 Books for Adults 88
The Sacred Circle, by Black Elk 51 Audiovisual 89
Ceremony, by Leslie Marmon Silko (Poem) 52 Publications 89
Myths that Bind Us, by Linda Christensen 53 Maps, Posters, etc 89
Organizations 90
CONTEMPORARY STRUGGLES Teaching Guide 92
Struggles Unite Native Peoples, Poets' Biographies 95
Interview with Chief Tayac 56 Actionldeas ,...95
Why rethink Christopher Columbus? Because color: women, working class people, the poor. A understanding relationships between society and
the Columbus myth is basic to children's beliefs number of selections in Rethinking Columbus nature. Even the very words used by different
about society. For many youngsters the tale of draw attention to how this happens and suggest cultures to describe the natural world are sug-
Columbus introduces them to a history of this ways to enlist students in a broader critique. gestive: compare the West's "environment" —-
country, even to history itself. The "discovery of Columbus is dead, but his legacy is not. "Con- something which surrounds us — to native
America" is children's first curricular exposure sidering the beauty of the land, it could not be peoples' "Mother Earth" — she who gives us
to the encounter between two cultures and to the but that there was gain to be got," Columbus life, native views of the earth challenge students
encounter between two races. As such, a study wrote in 1492. From the ecologically devastat- to locate new worlds of ecological hope.
of Columbus is really a study about us — how ing James Bay hydro-power project in Quebec, Through critiquing textbook and other tradi-
we think about each other, our country, and our to the poisonous chemical dumps of Louisiana, tional accounts of Columbus's voyages, stu-
relations with people around the world. to the massive clear cutting of ancient forests indents can begin to discover the excitement that
The Columbus myth teaches children which Central and South America, Columbus's ex- comes from asserting oneself morally and intel-
voices to listen for as they go out into the world ploitative spirit lives on — with a vengeance. lectually —refusing to be passive consumers of
— and whose to ignore. Pick up a children's Likewise, the slave system Columbus intro- "official" stories. And this is as true for fourth
book on Columbus: See Chris; see Chris talk; duced to this hemisphere was ultimately over- graders as it is for juniors in high school. They
see Chris grow up, have ideas, have feelings. In thrown, but not the calculus that weighs human can continue to renew and deepen this personal
these volumes, the native peoples of the Carib- lives in terms of private profit. awakening as they seek out other curricular
bean, the "discovered," don't think or feel. And silences and sources of knowledge.
thus children begin a scholastic journey that Contemporary Resistance We hope Rethinking Columbus begins to
encourages them to disregard the perspectives, We've featured essays and interviews that suggest a relationship between the critical and
the very humanity, of people of color. underscore contemporary resistance to the spirit collaborative classrooms described in the
In Rethinking Columbus we've tried to fill of Columbus. It's vital we don't approach these booklet's articles and a movement to discover
some of these silences. Our goal was not to issues as if to say, "That was horrible. Glad —or, more accurately, to invent—anew world.
idealize native people and demonize Europe- we're all done with it." We believe children These new ways of teaching and learning can
ans, or present a depressing litany of victimiza- need to be inspired by the knowledge that, while indicate that, as Barry Lopez writes, "five hun-
tion. We wanted to encourage a deeper under- injustice persists, so does the struggle for hu- dred years later, we intend to mean something
standing of the European invasion's conse- manity and the environment. else in the world." Rethinking and reconstruct-
quences, honor the rich legacy of resistance to In a very real sense, most of us are living on ing the way students and teachers understand
the injustices it created, and convey some appre- stolen land. However, this knowledge must not today's society is cause for celebration.
ciation for the diverse cultures of the original be used to make white children feel guilty. There From the beginning, we knew that time and
inhabitants of the hemisphere. Our goal in Re- is nothing students can do to change history. space constraints as well as our own social
thinking Columbus is not to present "two sides," And they should not feel responsible for what blinders would silence some voices that need to
but to tell the part of the story that has been others did before they were born. However, we be heard: Did our selection of readings portray
neglected. hope the materials in Rethinking Columbus will native peoples too much as victims and fail to
We have also tried to provide a forum for help you communicate the lesson that people of adequately celebrate the vitality, the tenacity, of
native people to tell some of their side of the all colors do have a responsibility to learn from native cultures? Did we focus too heavily on the
encounter—through interviews, poetry, analy- history. We can choose whether to reverse the U.S. experience and neglect other important
sis, and stories. Columbus's arrival began an legacy of injustice or continue it. This is one contemporary struggles for self-determination
American holocaust. If the writers and activists reason we have made efforts to feature people, in Central America, the Caribbean, and South
we've included seem angry it's because they past and present, who have chosen to stand for America? Should we have focused more on the
have something to be angry about. The passion- justice. African consequences of Columbus's voyages.
less prose of textbook accounts seems particu- What passes for discovery in the traditional Should we have given a Latino perspective on
larly inappropriate considering the scale of in- Columbus myth was really an invasion. It de- the quincentenary more prominence?
justice. We had no intention of reproducing it. serves no celebration. However, the study of These and other doubts still trouble us. We
It would be nice to think that the ugly biases Columbus and the native peoples of America offer this as a beginning — our small contribu-
in the curriculum disappear after Columbus. But offers numerous opportunities for genuine dis- tion to a many-sided and ongoing discussion
Columbus is only the beginning of a winners' covery. Western economies have failed utterly about the future. We hope Rethinking Columbus
history that profoundly neglects the lives and to protect the earth. We can encourage students will make it a bit easier for you to add your voice
perspectives of all the Others, not just people of to discover from Native Americans new way s of to that discussion. O
RETHINKING COLUMBUS PAGE 3
Interview with Suzan Shown Harjo
"We Have No Reason
to Celebrate an Invasion"
Suzan Shown Harjo is president
and director of the Morning Star
Foundation in Washington, D.C. The
foundation sponsors the 1992 Alli-
ance, formed to provide an indig-
enous peoples' response to the
Columbus Quincentenary. Harjo, a
45-year-old Cheyenne-Creek, agreed
to answer questions about why some
people are not celebrating the
quincentenary. She was interviewed
by Barbara Miner of Rethinking
Schools.
Finders, Keepers
So I begin class by stealing a student's
purse. I announce that the purse is mine,
obviously, because look who has it. Most
students are fair-minded. They saw me take
the purse off the desk so they protest: "That's
not yours, it's Nikki's. You took it. We saw money that bought the things in the purse, arrived in the New World?" Right he took
you." I brush these objections aside and reit- mine or Nikki's?" Obvious questions, obvi- possession of it. After all, he had discovered
erate that it is, too, mine and to prove it, I'll ous answers. the place.
show all the things I have inside. I make one last try to keep Nikki's purse: We talk about phrases other than "discov-
I unzip the bag and remove a brush or a "What if I said I discovered this purse, then ery" that textbooks could use to describe
comb, maybe a pair of dark glasses. A tube of would it be mine?" A little laughter is my what Columbus did. Students start with
lipstick works best: "This is my lipstick," I reward, but I don't get any takers; they still phrases they used to describe what I did to
say. 'There, that proves it is my purse." They think the purse is rightfully Nikki's. Nikki's purse: He stole it; he took it; he
don't buy it and, in fact, are mildly outraged "So," I ask, "Why do we say that Colum- ripped it off. And others: He invaded it; he
that I would pry into someone's possessions bus discovered America?" conquered it.
with such utter disregard for her privacy. I want students to see that the word "dis-
(I've alerted the student to the demonstration Was it Discovery? covery" is loaded. The word itself carries a
before the class, but no one else knows that.) Now they begin to see what I've been perspective; a bias. "Discovery" is the phrase
It's time to move on: "OK, if it's Nikki's leading up to. I ask a series of questions of the supposed discoverers. It's the invaders
purse, how do you know? Why are you all so which implicitly link Nikki's purse and the masking their theft. And when the word gets
positive it's not my purse?" Different an- Indians' land: Were there people on the land repeated in textbooks, those textbooks be-
swers: We saw you take it; that's her lipstick, before Columbus arrived? Who had been on come, in the phrase of one historian, "the
we know you don't wear lipstick; there is the land longer, Columbus or the Indians? propaganda of the winners."
stuff in there with her name on it. To get the Who knew the land better? Who put their To prepare students to examine textbooks
point across, I even offer to help in their effort labor into making the land produce? The critically, we begin with alternative, and
to prove Nikki' s possession: "If we had a test students see where I'm going — it would be rather un-sentimental, explorations of
on the contents of the purse, who would do . hard not to. "And yet," I continue, "What is Columbus's "enterprise," as he called it. The
better, Nikki or I?" "Whose labor earned the the first thing that Columbus did when he Admiral-to-be was not sailing for mere ad-
PAGE6 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION
venture and to prove the world was round, as been the terror of these prisoners that (in the him.
I learned in fourth grade, but to secure the description by Michele de Cuneo, one of the Students play Columbus; I play the Indi-
tremendous profits that were to be made by colonists) 'they rushed in all directions like ans: "Chris, we don't have any gold, honest.
reaching the Indies. lunatics, women dropping and abandoning Can we go back to living our lives now and
Mostly I want the class to think about the infants in the rush, runningfor miles without you can go back to wherever you came
human beings Columbus was to "discover" stopping, fleeing across mountains and riv- from?"
— and then destroy. I read from a letter ers.' I call on several students to respond to the
Columbus wrote to Lord Raphael Sanchez, Of the 500 slaves, 300 arrived alive in Indians' plea. Columbus thinks the Indians
treasurer of Aragdn, and one of his patrons, Spain, where they were put up for sale in are lying. Studentresponses range from sym-
dated March 14, 1493, following his return Seville by Don Juan de Fonseca, the arch- pathetic to ruthless: OK, we'll go home;
from the first voyage. He reports being enor- deacon of the town. 'As naked as the day they please bring us your gold; we'll lock you up
mously impressed by the indigenous people: were born,' the report of this excellent church- in prison if you don't bring us your gold;
As soon...as they see that they are safe and man says, 'but with no more embarrassment we'll torture you if you don't fork it over, etc.
have laid aside allfear, they are very simple than animals...' After I've pleaded for awhile and the stu-
and honest and exceedingly liberal with all The slave trade immediately turned out to dents-as-Columbus have threatened, I read
they have; none of them refusing anything he be 'unprofitable, for the slaves mostly died.' aloud another passage from Koning's book
[sic] may possess when he is asked for it, but, Columbus decided to concentrate on gold, describing Columbus's system for extract-
on the contrary, inviting us to ask them. They although he writes, 'Let us in the name of the ing gold from the Indians:
exhibit great love toward all others in pref- Holy Trinity go on sending all the slaves that Every man and woman, every boy or girl of
erence to themselves. They also give objects can be sold.' (emphasis in Koning) (3) fourteen or older, in the province ofCibao
of great value for trifles, and content them- Certainly Columbus's fame should not be ...had to collect gold for the Spaniards. As
selves with very little or nothing in return...! limited to the discovery of America: he also their measure, the Spaniards used...hawks'
did not find, as some of us had expected, any deserves credit for initiating the trans-Atlan- bells...Every three months, every Indian had
cannibals among them, but, on the contrary, tic slave trade, albeit in the opposite direction to bring to one of theforts a hawks' bell filled
men of great deference and kindness. (1) than we're used to thinking of it. with gold dust. The chiefs had to bring in
But, on an ominous note, Columbus writes about ten times that amount. In the other
in his log, "...should your Majesties com- Looking Through Different Eyes provinces ofHispaniola, twenty five pounds
mand it, all the inhabitants could be taken Students and I role play a scene from of spun cotton took the place of gold.
away to Castile [Spain], or made slaves on Columbus's second voyage. Slavery is not Copper tokens were manufactured, and
the island. With 50 men we could subjugate producing the profits Columbus is seeking. when an Indian had brought his or her trib-
them all and make them do whatever we He believes there is gold in them thar hills ute to an armed post, he or she received such
want." (2) and the Indians are selfishly holding out on a token, stamped with the month, to be hung
I ask students if they remember from el-
ementary school days what Columbus
brought back from the New World. Students
recall that he returned with parrots, plants,
some gold, and a few of the people Colum-
bus had taken to calling "Indians". This was
Columbus's first expedition and it is also
where most school textbook accounts of
Columbus end — conveniently. What about
his second voyage?
I read to them a passage from Hans
Koning's fine book, Columbus: His Enter-
prise:
We are now in February 1495. Time was
short for sending back a good 'dividend' on
the supply ships getting ready for the return
to Spain. Columbus therefore turned to a
massive slave raid as a means for filling up
these ships. The [Columbus] brothers
rounded up 1JOO Arawaks—men, women,
and children—and imprisoned them in pens
in Isabela, guarded by men and dogs. The
ships had room for no more than five hun-
dred, and thus only the best specimens were
loaded aboard. The Admiral then told the
Spaniards they could help themselves from
the remainder to as many slaves as they
wanted. Those whom no one chose were
simply kicked out of their pens. Such had 16th Century Illustration of Spanish cruelty toward Native Americans.
Why Do We Do This?
The reflections on the collective text be-
came the basis for a class discussion. Repeat-
edly, students blasted their textbooks for
giving readers inadequate, and ultimately
untruthful, understandings. While we didn't
press to arrive at definitive explanations for
the omissions and distortions, we tried to
underscore the contemporary abuses of his-
torical ignorance. If the books wax romantic
about Columbus planting the flag on island
beaches and taking possession of land occu-
pied by naked red-skinned Indians, what do
young readers learn from this about today's
world? That might — or wealth — makes An Idealized version of Columbus being greeted by the Indians.
right? That it's justified to take people's land
if you are more "civilized" or have a "better" They were wonderful questions. Linda word, then it's possible to maintain that same
religion? and I responded by reading them (anony- distance from one's society: to stand back,
Whatever the answers, the textbooks con- mously) to the entire class. We asked stu- look hard and ask, "Why is it like this? How
dition students to accept inequality; no- dents to take a few minutes to write addi- can I make it better?" O
where do they suggest that the Indians were tional questions and comments on the Co-
sovereign peoples with a right to control lumbus activities or to imagine our response Bill Bigelow teaches at Jefferson High
their own lands. And, if Columbus's motives as teachers — what was the point of our les- School in Portland, Oregon.
are mystified or ignored, then students are sons?
less apt to question U.S. involvements in, We hoped students would see that the Notes
say, Central America or the Middle East. As intent was to present a new way of reading, L The Annals of America, Volume 1: 1493-1754, Dis-
covering a New World, Encyclopedia Britannica, 1968, pp.
Bobby, approaching his registration day for and ultimately, of experiencing the world. 2,4.
the military draft, pointed out in class: "If Textbooks fill students with information
people thought they were going off to war to masquerading as final truth and then ask 2. Quoted in Hans Koning, Columbia: His Enterprise,
Monthly Review Press, 1976, pp. 53-54. As Koning points
fight for profits, maybe they wouldn't fight students to parrot back the information in out, none of the information bcluded in his book is new. It is
as well, or maybe they wouldn't go." end of the chapter "checkups". The Brazilian available in Columbus's own journals and letters and the
writings of the Spanish priest, Bartoiome de las Casas.
It's important to note that some students educator Paulo Freire calls it the "banking
are troubled by these myth-popping discus- method": students are treated as empty ves- 3. Koning, pp. 84-85.
sions. One student wrote that she was "left sels waiting for deposits of wisdom from 4. Koning, pp. 85-87.
not knowing who to believe." Josh was the textbooks and teachers. (8) We wanted to tell 5. It's useful to keep in mind the distinction between
cynicism and skepticism. As Norman Diamond writes, "In an
most articulate in his skepticism. He had students that they shouldn'tnecessarily trust important respect, the two are not even commensurable.
begun to "read" our class from the same the "authorities," but instead need to partici- Skepticism says, 'You'll have to show me, otherwise I'm
dubious'; it is open to engagement and persuasion...Cynicism
critical distance from which we hoped stu- pate in their learning, probing for unstated is a removed perspective, a renunciation of any responsibil-
dents would approach textbooks: assumptions and unasked questions. ity." See Norman Diamond, "Against Cynicism in Politics and
/ still wonder.. .If we can't believe what our Josh asked what our "interest" was in this Culture," in Monthly Review, Vol. 28, #2, June, 1976, p. 40.
first grade teachers told us, why should we approach. It's a vital question. Linda and I 6. Edna McGuire, The Story of American Freedom,
MaonillanCo,1964,p.24.
believe you? If they lied to us, why wouldn't see teaching as political action: we want to
you? If one book is wrong, why isn't an- equip students to build a truly democratic 7. McGuire, p.26.
other? What is your purpose in telling us society. As Freire writes, to be an actor for 8. See Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Con-
tinuum, New York, 1970.
about how awful Chris was? What interest social change one must "read the word and
do you have in telling us the truth? What is it the world." (9) We hope that if a student 9. Paulo Freire and Donaldo Macedo, Literacy: Reading
the Word and the World, Bergin and Garvey, MA, 1987.
you want from us? maintains a critical distance from the written
RETH/NK/NG COLUMBUS PAGE 9
America to Indians:
Stay in the 19th Century
women and children, and where have you extreme poverty, hopelessness, created de-
By Jan Elliott been since 1986 when the U.S. government pendency, and alcohol and drug addiction
started its forced removal of the Hopi/Na- that for many are the only way out of the
As I was leaving the theater after my first vajo people from their lands at Big Moun- concentration camp horror of their reserves
viewing of Dances With Wolves, I happened tain?"His reply was,"Oh,Idon'tmean those or homelands (called reservations in
to be walking between two white couples. kind of Indians, I meant the real Indians." America).
All of them were raving about how wonder- As Vine Deloria says in chapter three of
ful the movie was and how "accurately" it Ignoring Modern-day Indians God is Red:
had portrayed the Indians. One of the men I started to wonder why a movie such as The tragedy of America's Indians—that
said, "I'm so ashamed of this culture that we Dances With Wolves became the major event is, the Indians that America loves, and loves
live in and how it treated (past tense) the of 1991 and why a movie such as Powwow to read about—is that they no longer exist,
Indians. If I had been around back then, I Highway, which has become a cult classic in except in the pages of books. Rather, the
would have fought on the side of the Indi- Indian country, has been virtually ignored by modern Indians dress much the same as any
ans." white America. The answer is that white other person, attend pretty much the same
I couldn't resist asking, "Where were you America doesn' t want to know about or even schools, work at many of the same jobs, and
guys this summer when 4,000 heavily armed recognize modern-day Indians; it doesn't suffer racial discrimination in the same
Canadian soldiers were sent into Oka to take want to deal with the problems that the reser- manner as do other racial minorities.
250 Mohawk Indians, most of whom were vation system has created in the way of Except that Indians are the only minority
group that the Indian lovers won't let out of
the 19th Century. They love Indians as long
as they can picture them riding around on
ponies wearing their beads and feathers, li v-
ing in picturesque tee-pee villages and mak-
ing long profound speeches.
I am frequently invited by elementary
school teachers here in Gainesville to come
and talk to the children about Indians and
"tell them what they are like." Always, with-
out fail, they ask if I can wear my "Indian
clothes." By Indian clothes, they mean beads
and feathers and Indian jewelry. I explain
that as a graduate student at the University of
Florida, I have very few occasions to wear
Indian clothes. But the children, they say,
will be so disappointed if I don't look like a
real Indian.
These teachers are asking me to collabo-
rate with them in perpetuating the stereotype
of what America wants its Indians to look
like. They want us to look like we never
moved past 1890. This is almost always the
cut-off year for Real Indians. As we ap-
proach the year 2000, America still won't let
Indians into the 20th Century.
This explains why Indians love Powwow
Highway and non-Indians \oveDances With
Wolves. For those interested in the modern-
day realities facing Native Americans, I
recommend that you find a video of Powwow
Highway. Better yet, read the novel by David
Seals, The Powwow Highway. D
Mohawk Indians surround Canadian Army Check point. They were Jan Elliott edits Indigenous Thought. This
resisting plans to turn part of their land Into a golf course.
article is adapted from the June 1991 issue.
PACE 10 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION
Thanking the Birds
never forgot — for it was one of those boys and cook the game they had shot, giving the
By Joseph Bruchac who told me this story many years later: songbirds the same respect he would have
"You know, our Creator gave the gift of life given a rabbit or deer. He told stories that
One day 30 years ago, Swift Eagle, an to everything that is alive. Life is a very pointed out the value of those birds as living
Apache man, visited some friends on the sacred thing. But our Creator knows that we beings. The ritual activity of making the fire,
Onondaga Indian Reservation in central New have to eat to stay alive. That is why it is thanking the spirits of the birds, hearing the
York. While he was out walking, he heard permitted to hunt to feed ourselves and our stories, and then eating the game they had
sounds of boys playing in the bushes. people. So I understand that you boys must killed taught the boys more than a hundred
"There's another one. Shoot it!" said one have been very, very hungry to kill those stern lectures would have done, and the les-
of the boys. little birds." son stayed with them all their lives.n
When he pushed through the brush to see
what was happening, he found that they had Similarities Among Native People The above is excerpted from the afterword
been shooting small birds with a BB gun. I have always liked that story, for it illus- to Keepers of the Earth, Native American
They had already killed a chickadee, a robin, trates several things. Although there was a Stories and Environmental Activities for
and several blackbirds. The boys looked up wide range of customs, lifeways and lan- Children, by Michael J. Caduto and Joseph
at him, uncertain what he was going to do or guages —in pre-Columbian times more than Bruchac. Graphic from Aguas Calientes,
say. 400 different languages were spoken on the Ags., Mexico.
There are several things that a non-Indian North American continent — many close
bird lover might have done: given a stern similarities existed between virtually all of
lecture on the evil of killing birds; threatened the Native American peoples. Thus ideas
to tell the boys' parents on them for doing held by an Apache from the Southwest fitted
something they had been told not to do; or into the lives and traditions of Onondagas in
even spanked them. Swift Eagle, however, the Northeast. Is not the sky a
did something else. One of these ideas, expressed in Swift
"Ah," he said, "I see you have been hunt- Eagle's words to the boys, was the continent-
father and the earth a
ing. Pick up your game and come with me." wide belief that mankind depended on the mother and are not all
He led the boys to a place where they could natural world for survival, on the one hand, living things with feet
make a fire and cook the birds. He made sure and had to respect it and remain in right
they said a 'thank you' to the spirits of the relationship with it, on the other.... or wings or roots
birds before eating them, and as they ate he As the anecdote about Swift Eagle also their children?
told stories. It was important, he said, to be shows, the children were taught the values of
thankful to the birds for the gifts of their their cultures through example and stories. - Black Elk
songs, their feathers, and their bodies as Instead of scolding or lecturing them, Swift
food. The last thing he said to them they Eagle showed the boys how to build a fire
who speak different languages and have dif- ronment, and respect for Mother Earth. The curriculum can be an important way to
ferent cultures. One way of doing this is to For example, in 1855 Northwest Indians help educate parents, and to encourage pa-
refer to a particular people or nation by name were given the rights to fish "as long as the rental involvement in the classroom. Par-
(e.g. Cherokee, Hopi, etc.) sun shined" and yet in recent years they have ents, in turn, often have important perspec-
While teachers of very young children had to struggle to protect their fishing rights. tives to offer and can suggest how to carry an
should stress contemporary Native Ameri- As part of the 4th grade state social studies anti-stereotype approach into the home.
cans and how to overcome stereotypes, curriculum, students could examine how Derman-Sparks' Anti-Bias Curriculum,
teachers of older students can gradually in- native peoples were pushed out of their state, Tools for Empowering Young Children, has
troduce other topics. Depending on the level investigating what treaties were signed and some excellent suggestions on how to pre-
of your class and the previous work your if they've been broken. pare parents for alternative views of Colum-
school has done, children can begin to exam- To deal with contemporary issues, chil- bus Day and Thanksgiving. Teachers should
ine the contributions Native Americans dren may want to write some of the organiza- also use Halloween as a way to educate
brought to the world in the area of food, tions listed in the resource guide on page 85, around stereotypes, explaining to parents
clothing, transportation, agriculture, and visit local or state historical societies, or why dressing up like an "Indian" perpetuates
democratic social organization. Jack invite local Native Americans to speak at stereotypes and is insulting to native people.
Weatherford's Indian Givers is an excellent school. The best way to approach the Columbus
teacher resource. While information on political struggles is Quincentennial is to use it as a catalyst for
It is essential to introduce political con- hard to come by, there is a growing body of change. Perhaps it will help us reexamine
cepts such as the importance of treaty rights. Native American folk tales and poetry for approaches to teaching not only aboutNative
Children should learn that tribes are inde- young children. One of the best collections, Americans and Columbus, but about other
pendent governments with a special rela- which also suggests dozens of related activi- oppressed and "silenced" people as well.
tionship to the federal government. They ties for the elementary school curriculum is And as children awaken to the true and rich
should learn of the hundreds of treaties that Keepers of the Earth, Native American Sto- history of the Americas, we can help them
the U.S. government signed with native ries and Environmental Activities for Chil- become more inquisitive and responsible for
peoples and then broke. They should be dren, by Michael J. Caduto and Joseph their future in the Americas. D
familiar with native struggles to save their Bruchac.
Bob Peterson teaches elementary school
land and protect their resources. They should As teachers build an anti-stereotype cur- in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and is a co-
learn of indigenous views toward the envi- riculum, it is important to include parents. editor of Rethinking Schools.
P4GE 20 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION
Native I went out into the hall after explaining that
when I reappeared, it meant I had just com-
pleted a long ocean voyage and would need
from them by force. Native Americans fought
back but lost, I told my class, and now there
are only a few places left that they can call
their own.
Land
a place to live.
When I entered the classroom I asked, I could have added, but did not, that denial
"Who's that?" pointing to the Native Ameri- of Native American rights to land that they
can parent "An Indian!" "Well, I'm going to claim by treaty continues to this day. The
• Christopher Columbus and His Voyage The Kind and Noble Columbus
to the New World, None of the biographies I evaluated — all
(Let's Celebrate Series). in print and widely available — disputes the
By Robert Young, ugly facts about Columbus and the Spanish
Silver Press, 32 pp. (2nd grade.) conquest of the Caribbean. Yet the sad irony
• Meet Christopher Columbus. is that all encourage children to root for
By James T. de Kay, Columbus. "It was lucky that Christopher
Random House, 72 pp. (2nd grade.) Columbus was born where he was or he
might never have gone to sea." [Fritz] 'There
• Christopher Columbus, once was a boy who loved the salty sea."
(Great Tales Series). [D'Aulaire] Some of the books, particularly
By Jan Gleiter and Kathleen Thompson, those for younger readers, refer to Columbus
Ideals, 32 pp. (3rd grade). affectionately, using his first name. Unlike
• Columbus. the people he will later exterminate, Colum-
By Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire, bus is treated as a real human being, one with
Doubleday, 59 pp. (5th grade). thoughts and feelings. "When Christopher
Columbus was a child, he always wanted to
• Where do you think you're going, be like Saint Christopher. He wanted to sail
Christopher Columbus? to faraway places and spread the word of
By Jean Fritz, Christianity." [Osborne]
G.P. Putnam's Sons, 80 pp. (Upper elementary). The series title of Robert Young's Chris-
• Christopher Columbus. topher Columbus and His Voyage to the New
By Lino Monchieri (trans, by Mary Lee Grisanti), World sums up the stance of every biogra-
Silver Burdett, 62 pp. (Upper elementary). pher: "Let's Celebrate."
The books cheer Columbus on towards the
• Christopher Columbus: Indies. Each step on the road to "discovery"
Admiral of the Ocean Sea. is told from his point of view. When Colum-
By Mary Pope Osborne, bus is delayed, this is the "most unhappy part
Dell, 90 pp. (Upper elementary/middle school)
of his great adventure." [de Kay] Every suc-
• Christopher Columbus: The Intrepid Mariner, cessful step towards realizing the Enterprise
(Great Lives Series). is rewarded with exclamation marks: "Yes,
By Sean J. Dolan, [the Queen] would help Columbus!"
Fawcett Columbine, 117 pp. (Middle school). [Osborne] "After all these years, Columbus
would get his ships!" [de Kay]
Columbus's devout Christianity is a theme
P4CE24 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION
The books cheer
Columbus on
towards the Indies.
Each step on the
road to "discovery"
is told from his point
of view.
in all the books — and is never questioned. targeted readers, upper elementary students. and ignorant, but at least concedes that "al-
The most insistent of these, and the worst of The close association between Jesus, God, most all proved to be good sailors.")
the lot in almost every respect, is Sean J. and Columbus in all the books, with the Taken together, the books' portrayals serve
Do\an'sChristopherColumbus:TheIntrepid possible exception of Jean Fritz's, discour- as a kind of anti-working class pro-boss
Mariner. By the second page in Dolan's ages children from criticizing Columbus. polemic. "Soon [Columbus] rose above his
reverent volume we're reading about "Columbus marveled at how God had ar- shipmates, for he was clever and capable and
Columbus's attachment to his leather-bound ranged everything for the best," the could make others carry out his
Bible. Dolan is constantly dipping us into the D'Aulaires write. Well, if God arranged ev- orders."[D'Aulaire] Evidently, ordinary
Admiral's thoughts. Usually these medita- erything, who are we, the insignificant read- seamen are not "clever and capable," and
tions run deep and pious: "[He] believed that ers, to question? thus are good merely for carrying out the
the awe-inspiring beauty that surrounded Moreover, no book even hints that the instructions of others. "Soon [Columbus]
him could only be the handiwork of the one Indians believed in their own God or gods forgot that he was only the son of a humble
true God, and he felt secure in his Lord and who also watched over andcaredabout them. weaver," the D'Aulaires write, as if a back-
Savior's protection. If only my crewmen The Columbus expedition may be the first ground as a worker were something to be
shared my belief, Columbus thought." And encounter between two peoples — Us and ashamed of. The books encourage children
this is only on the third page — Dolan's Them—where children will learn that "God to identify with Columbus's hardships, even
narrative goes on like this for 114 more. The is on our side." though his men worked and slept in horrible
reader is practically strangled by Columbus's conditions while the future Admiral slept
halo. Evils? Blame the Workers under a canopy bed in his private cabin. The
Jean Fritz's W/zere do you think you're Columbus's journey across the Atlantic lives of those who labored for Columbus are
going, Christopher Columbus? is the only was not easy, according to most of the books, either ignored or held in contempt.
book somewhat skeptical about religion as a because his crew was such a wretched bunch.
motive. Fritz tells her readers that Queen The sailors are stupid, superstitious, cow- The "Discovery"
Isabella "was such an enthusiastic Christian ardly, and sometimes scheming. Columbus, At the core of the Columbus myth — and
that she insisted everyone in Spain be a on the other hand, is brave, wise and godly. repeated by all eight books — is the notion
Christian too... Indeed, she was so religious These characterizations, repeated frequently that Columbus "discovered" America. In-
that if she even found Christians who were in many of the books, protect the Columbus deed, it's almost as if the same writer churned
not sincere Christians, she had them burned myth; anything bad that happens, like mur- out one ever so slightly different version
at the stake. (Choir boys sang during the der and slavery, can always be blamed on the after another.
burning so Isabella wouldn't have to hear the men. Columbus, the leader, is pure of heart. James T. de Kay describes the scene in
screams.)" (These negative portrayals are less pro- Meet Christopher Columbus:
This is pretty strong stuff, but the implied nounced in Monchieri's Christopher Co-
critique would likely be lost on the book's lumbus. The book depicts seamen as pliant "The sailors rowed Columbus to the shore.
Asking Why?
Why are Columbus biographies character-
ized by such bias and omission? I doubt any
writers, publishers or teachers consciously
set out to poison the minds of the young. The
Columbus story teaches important values,
some would argue. Here was a young man
who, despite tremendous adversity, main-
tained and finally achieved his objectives.
Fear andnarrow-mindednesskeptothers from
A skirmish described In Meet Christopher Columbus by de Kay.
that which he finally accomplished.
But in the Columbus biographies, these
Notes
1. Spanish colonist, Michele de Cuneo, quoted in
Hans Koning, Columbus: His Enterprise, Monthly
Review Press, New York, 1976, p. 84.
2. Quoted in Koning, p. 85.
3. See Bartolome de las Casas (Andree Collard,
trans, and ed.),History of the Indies, Harper and Row,
New York, 1971; Benjamin Keen (trans, and ed.),
The Life of the Admiral Christopher Columbus By
His Son Ferdinand, Rutgers University Press, New
Brunswick, NJ, 1959; Koning, Columbus His En-
terprise; Samuel Eliot Moris<M,Admiralofthe Ocean
Columbus a* an adventurous young man. From the Fritz book on Sea: A Life of Christopher Columbus, Little, Brown,
Christopher Columbus. Boston, 1942,; Howard Zinn, A People's History of
the United States, Haiper and Row, New York, 1980;
determination. The tale of "discovery" needs rials, teachers may decide to boycott the and Milton Meltzer, Columbus and the World Around
entire Columbus canon. The problem with Him, Franklin Watts, New York, 1990. Morison,
to be told from their perspective as well as
Admiral of the Ocean Sea: A Life of Christopher
from the Europeans'. Although there is little this approach is that the distortions and Columbus, pp. 487-488.
documentation of how the Indians interpreted inadequacies characterizing this literature
4. Christopher Columbus in a letter to Isabella and
the Spaniards' arrival and conquest, readers are also found in other children's books. Ferdinand, 1503, cited in Bruce Johansen and Roberto
could be encouraged to think about these A better solution is to equip students to Maestas, Wasi'chu: The Continuing Indian Wars,
events from the native point of view. read critically these and other stories — Monthly Review Press, New York, 1979, p. 16.
Columbus's interior monologue should not inviting children to become detectives, in-
5. Jan Carew, Fulcrums of Change: The Origins of
be the only set of thoughts represented in the vestigating their biographies, novels and Racism in the Americas and Other Essays, Africa
story. textbooks for bias. In fact, because the Co- World Press, Trenton, NY, 1988, p. 41.
A more accurate tale of Columbus would lumbus books are so bad, they make perfect
6. See Morison, Admiral of the Ocean Sea: A Life
not simply probe his personal history but classroom resources to learn how to read for of Christopher Columbus, pp. 416-417.
would also analyze the social and economic social as well as for literal meaning. After
7. Basil Davidson, The African Slave Trade:
system he represented. And children might students have been introduced to a critical Precolonial History 1450-1850, Little, Brown,
be asked to think about how today's world history of Columbus, they could probe ma- Boston, 1961, pp.45-46.
was shaped by the events of 1492. Above all, terials for accuracy. Do the books lie out-
8. Bigelow, "Discovering Columbus: Rereading
young readers must be invited to think and right? What is omitted from the accounts the Past," p. 639.
critique, not simply required to passively that would be necessary for a more com-
absorb others' historical interpretations. plete understanding of Columbus and his
Until we create humane and truthful mate- encounters with native cultures? What mo-
By Tina Thomas
Once upon a time a group of people lived on an island, Bohio (now called
Hispaniola) in the Caribbean. These people, whom I consider my people, were proud
of their island. They built beautiful farms and villages from dirt and rock. They
respected the plants and animals. Many people lived on Bohio. They called
themselves Tamos.
One day, some of my people saw three boats far off in the ocean. They gathered
around and watched as the boats came closer and closer. When the boats reached
land, strange-looking people got off.
These people were not like us. Their skin was pink, their hair the color of sand, and
their eyes the color of the open sea. They wore strange items that covered their
bodies, even though it was very hot.
Their leader was a man called "Christopher Columbus." He immediately put a cross
and flag down and acted as if the land were now his. This was odd. We did not
believe anyone could own the land. Besides, we were already living there.
Through motions and gestures, it became clear Columbus wanted gold. He wanted
us to find it for him.
We tried to explain there was little gold on our land, just a few small pieces gathered
from the water. "We have no gold. There is no gold here," a man said in the Taino
language.
Columbus appeared very angry and walked away. My people were afraid of his
anger. They wondered what he planned to do next.
Our people had to bring him gold, even though it was very difficult to find. Columbus
made us wear buttons to show we had brought him gold. If we didn't have our buttons,
my people's hands were cut off and they bled to death.
My people formed an army. But we did not have the guns, swords and vicious dogs
used by Columbus and his crew. We were defeated.
My people ran for their lives into the mountains. Those who were caught were hung or
burned to death. Many others killed themselves. Two years had passed and over half of
the Tamo people of Bohio were dead.
My people's peaceful and proud land was taken over and destroyed. These
newcomers cut down all the forests. They let their pigs and cows eat all the grass.
Thousands of my people's lives were destroyed for these people's pleasure.
Before long, the conquerors killed almost all the Tamos. Other native peoples in the
Americas were also attacked, some with weapons, some with terrible new diseases. But
not all were destroyed. My people have survived.
We have little to show our children as proof of what happened to the Tamos. But we
have our stories, told from generation to generation. The stories tell of the cruel
genocide of my people, hundreds of years ago: "Once upon a time, in an untold story...."
I lives.
Transportation was simple. Two good
horses and a sturdy wagon met the daily
needs of a villager. Only five, maybe six
individuals possessed an automobile in the
tall buildings with. It seems everyone pre-
ferred being a cowboy rather than an Indian
since cowboys were always victorious.
Sometimes stories were related to both chil-
dren and adults at these get-togethers. They
to
people and their wares headed for town for a deer meat for all to share. These evening
few staples. The straining old truck with its gatherings and the sense of closeness dimin-
escort of a dozen barking dogs made a noisy ished as radios and televisions increased
exit, northbound from the village. over the following years. It was never to be
the same again.
School:
A Sense of Closeness The winter months are among my fondest
During those years, grandmother and I memories. A warm fire crackled and danced
lived beside the plaza in a one-room house. brightly in the fireplace, and the aroma of
Inside, we had a traditionalfireplace,a make- delicious stew filled our one-room house.
shift cabinet for our few tin cups and bowls, The thick adobe walls wrapped around the
Memories and a wooden crate carried our two buckets
of all-purpose water. At the innermost part of
two of us protectingly during the long freez-
ing nights. To me, the house was just right
the room were two rolls of bedding — thick Grandmother's affection completed the
of a quilts, sheepskin, and assorted — which we
used as comfortable sitting couches by day
warmth and security I will always remem-
ber.
quest, Native Americans stood up for them- to the will of the conquerors. In the first warned them the voice of Christ "says that
selves in myriad ways. On Monday, October volume of his trilogy, Memory of Fire, you are living in deadly sin for the atrocities
15,1492, just three days after his arrival on Eduardo Galeano reconstructs the defiant you tyrannically impose on these innocent
Guanahani, Columbus writes in his journal conduct of Hatuey, an Indian cacique in the people [the Indians.] Tell me, what right
that some of the people he had earlier kid- Guahaba region of Hispaniola, after his cap- have you to enslave them?"(14)
napped were attempting to mislead him in ture by the Spaniards: This unprecedented attack didn't sit well
order to escape: "...all that [my captives] said They tie him to a stake. with the colonial elite. After complaints to
was a ruse in order to get away."(8) Sure Before lighting the fire that will reduce the King, Montesinos was forced to travel to
enough, that same day, two of the Indians him to charcoal and ash, the priest promises Spain to defend himself and his "scandal-
he'd kidnapped threw themselves overboard him glory and eternal rest if he agrees to be ous" remarks. Unfortunately, the Domini-
and escaped with the help of Indians in baptized. Hatuey asks: "Are there Chris- cans' protest led not to a withdrawal from
canoes. Columbus's men searched for the tians in that heaven?" Indian land but to the 1512 Laws of Burgos,
escapees on a nearby island but they "all ran "Yes." a package of viciously racist and paternalis-
off like chickens," Columbus writes.(9) Hatuey chooses hell, and the firewood tic statutes which, while offering some paper
But Indians didn't just run away. As the begins to crackle.(13) protections for Indians, foretold the almost
Spaniards began to reveal the exploitation These and dozens of other instances of complete destruction of native cultures in the
and brutality inherent in La Empresa — the indigenous resistance can be shared with Americas. Indians'villages were to be burned
Enterprise — the Indians also attacked. The students. The purpose is never to glorify "so that they might lose the longing to return
men Columbus left behind at La Navidad on violence, but to underscore people's capac- to them, although in the removal violence
Hispaniola after his first voyage formed "a ity to stand up for their rights even against should not be used but much gentleness."( 15)
gang that roved the island in search of more tremendous odds. Indians were forced to work on farms and in
gold and women."(10) Later reports indi- Students should also realize that not all mines, though they were to be paid for their
cated that each of the Spaniards had taken Spaniards participated in the orgy of killing labor. Overall, the new laws dictated Spain's
four or five Indian women as concubines. and plunder. I use the story of the Dominican version of a Christian life for the Indians,
The Indian cacique (leader), Caonab6, led a friar, Antonio de Montesinos, who on the from the kind of clothes they should wear to
mission against members of the gang, killed Sunday before Christmas in 1511 delivered the kind of food they should eat.
them and "promptly descended on Navidad the first sermon in the Americas attacking While I hope students will draw inspira-
with a strong force to wipe out the source of the enslavement and murder of Indians [see tion from these church people's courage and
trouble."(H) Caonabd's raiders attacked "The Spanish Fight for Justice in the Indies, tenacity, I also want them to approach the
Spaniards in their camps, killing some and p. 82.] Montesinos' congregation that day ecclesiastic resistance critically. Although
chasing others into the sea where they were included all the royal officials of Santo Montesinos' sermons were brave and angry,
drowned. 'The others wandering about the Domingo, including the Admiral Diego Co- they also contained an attitude of we-know-
interior were killed off by the Indians whom lumbus, son of Christopher Columbus. what' s-best-for-the-Indians.
they had robbed or otherwise wronged."02) Montesinos scolded them, saying that their When possible, I try to bring struggles for
Even in death, the Indians refused to bow conscience was "sterile like the desert" and justice up to the present, so as not to leave
PAGE 40 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION
resistance back in history, lying there like a become as dead as their forefathers subsequently broadcast over the school's
corpse. A few years ago, my teaching partner Linda and I were proud parents of what closed-circuit TV news show.
in a literature and history class, Linda had obviously been some powerful learning One young woman, Nicole Smith-Leary,
Christensen, and I decided to acquaint stu- experiences for students. But in our class wrote and illustratedachildren'sbook,C7zr«.
dents with the fight for native fishing rights discussion to evaluate the study, Nikki said, In Nicole's story, a young boy named Chris-
on the Columbia River. David SoHappy and "Why is it that we just kept talking about topher moves from his old Spain Street neigh-
12 other Native Americans had recently been Indians, but we didn't actually get to meet borhood to a new house on Salvadora St.
arrested for poaching salmon, even though a any Indians? It couldn' t be that hard to get on He's miserable and misses his old friends,
treaty signed in 1855 grants Indians per- the phone and call Chief Johnny Jackson [of Ferdie and Isie. While wandering the new
petual rights to fish at all the "usual and the Celilos] and see if he would come in to neighborhood he spots a colorful playhouse
accustomed places" — as Native peoples speak." and declares, "I claim this clubhouse in the
along the Columbia had been doing for the It wasn' t the most gentle way to bring it up, name of me, and my best friends Ferdie and
last 12,000 years or more. but Nikki was right Inadvertently, we had Isie." The rightful owners of the clubhouse
We read Craig Lesley's Winterkill(l6), a replicated the textbook and museum dis- soon return and confront Christopher, who
novel about a Nez Perce and his son, and course that talks about native peoples in the insists that the structure is now his because
articles about David SoHappy's struggle. third person — and in the process silences he "discovered" it.
We also role play the controversy over the them and dumps them somewhere in the "How can you come here and discover
building of the Dalles Dam in 1957, a dam past Without intending it, we reinforced the something that we built and really care
which violated native treaty rights by drown- portrayal of Indian as Other, one of the very about?" the boys demand.
ing Celilo Falls, a sacred fishing ground and notions we so insistently criticized. The story ends happily when they agree to
trading center. We invited a representative In years past, American Indian Movement let Christopher share the clubhouse if he
from the Columbia River Defense Commit- representatives and members of local Native helps with the upkeep — a metaphorical
tee to talk to the class and also took a field trip organizations had spoken in my classes, but twist that would have been nice 500 years
to the museum at The Dalles Dam. There we I underestimated the importance of this per- earlier.
heard a talk from the Army Corps of Engi- sonal contact for students. The significance Nicole read her story in a number of classes
neers (builders of the dam), and hiked along of the omission went beyond the error of at a local elementary school. She opened
the banks of the river, where 3,000 year old reinforcing the Us and Them myth. In the each session by asking if anyone had some-
native pictographs overlook the water below face of such overwhelming and continuing thing to write with. When an unsuspecting
and Indians still fish from platforms fastened injustice, students needed to meet people youngster volunteered a pencil, Nicole
to the cliffs. face to face who were working for change. thanked the student, then pocketed it. This
The museum is a Corps of Engineers house Merely reading about these people and elementary school version of purse-stealing
of propaganda. Native people are portrayed movements unnecessarily distanced students (see"Discovering Columbus: Re-reading the
as relics from a distant past, associated solely from the hope that comes from hearing ac- Past," p. 6) gave Nicole a handy introduction
with archaeological digs. The exhibit texts' tual voices say, "I believe we can make a to the theft-posing-as-discovery lesson in
passive and muddy prose hides any human difference." her short story.
responsibility for the sabotage of river Indi- That year, Linda and I asked students to Like Rebecca and many other students,
ans' lives. The museumspeak acknowledges create a project that would reach beyond the Nicole was angry she had been lied to about
that changes occurred, but masks the choices classroom walls to educate others in the Columbus and the genocide of indigenous
preceding these changes, who made them, school or larger community. We worried that people in the Caribbean. However, the final
and why. Linda and I encouraged students to unless we offered students a chance to act on project assignment encouraged her to chan-
take notes on the exhibits and through poetry their new learning, our teaching would unin- nel that anger in an activist direction. She
and essay to write about the day. tentionally yet effectively tell students that became a teacher, offering the youngsters a
Rebecca wrote in part: their role is merely to uncover injustice, not framework in which to locate and question
..Tou learn how a lifestyle to do anything about it. the romanticized textbook patter about "ex-
can be bought and sold ploration" and "discovery." Nicole's story
You learn you can picnic Students as Activists and lesson provided a kind of revenge: get-
where ancestors of a culture Students could choose the form of their ting back at those who mis-educated her so
were once buried projects. The only requirement was that each many years before. But as she taught she also
And a white man's greed individual or group make a presentation learned — learned that the best way to ad-
means more than a red man's sur- outside the classroom. They took us at our dress injustice is to work for change.
vival... word. One group of musicians produced a Because Nicole's book functioned as such
You learn to sit back raucous rock video about the damming of the a wonderful model, I've encouraged stu-
and let progress progress ColumbiaRiveratThe Dalles. Another group dents in subsequent years to use this form to
And Matthew wrote: choreographed and performed a dance for talk back to history. For those who choose
..J could hear the churning and growling other classes, at the same time bitter and the metaphorical path blazed by Nicole, their
from deep inside the cold, windowless, humorous, on Columbus's "discovery" and stories assert that yes, people can share and
cement walls search for gold. As some students danced/ cooperate, implicitly arguing that there are
and from the depths of the water acted, one recited quotes from Columbus. alternative models of social organization to
I could almost hear the chanting and Several students interviewed local North- the one based on exploitation and violence
crying ofCelilos west Indian tribal leaders about their struggle practiced by Columbus and the colonialists
as they watched their fishing grounds for fishing rights, and produced a videotape, who came after.
RETHINKING COLUMBUS PAGE 41
ries, Tina and Kris refuse to end their tale
happily ever after: "We have little to show
our children as proof of what happened to the
Tamos. But we have our stories, told from
generation to generation."
Listening for "untold stories" begins with
the Columbus tale, but is more than just the
first chapter of a quest for historical accu-
racy. For students, learning to recognize that
those in power privilege the voices of the
powerful over the powerless is a basic skill.
In most textbooks, in most movies, on most
TV sets, the real life struggles and accom-
plishments of the majority of people are as
absent as the Tainos are from Columbus
books. Working class children, children of
color, young women—all students not born
with silver spoons in their mouths — can
begin to reclaim their own histories once
they begin to look for what is missing as well
The Coast-to-Coast Longest Walk for Indian Rights in 1978. as for what is there.
In "Chris and the Cherry Tree," Stephanie Crawford said, "It's just like with Columbus. "Legacy of Defiance"
Clay sees justice coming only from collec- The textbooks all told the story from his Finally, I want students to look at their own
tive resistance. Every week, Christopher's point of view, from the winners' point of lives, so as to locate a personal "legacy of
mother asks him to pick cherries so she can view. They called it a discovery instead of an defiance"(18) from which to draw hope —
make cherry pie. Lazy Christopher forces invasion. The only story we get now is from and wisdom. Linda and I ask students to
several little neighborhood boys to pick the bombers' point of view. We hardly hear think of times in their lives when they stood
cherries for him. anything from the victims." up for what they felt was right. It might be a
"Fill this bag up with cherries or I will take However one felt about the war, Sekou's time they physically confronted a perpetra-
your picnic food and lunch money," he point couldn't be denied: nightly newscasts tor of injustice, or simply a time they "talked
threatens. were dominated by U.S. military back" to someone in authority. To help prompt
In aplayful.but also serious way, Stephanie spokespeople and images from "our" side. students' memories of resistance, we give
captures the extortion central to Columbus's Sekou had begun to "hear" the silence and examples from each of our lives—times we
Enterprise: "Christopher reached for a pea- linked the wartime muzzling of the bomb stood up to overbearing administrators,
nut butter and jelly sandwich and ate it to let victims to the absence of an indigenous per- challenged friends who were treating some-
the boys know he meant business." The spective in most teachings of Columbus. one unfairly, or demonstrated against unjust
exploitation continues until one afternoon Through our critical reading of textbooks laws or policies.
Christopher returns to find his little workers and children's books, beginning with Co- After brainstorming and prodding each
missing. Suddenly, the boys jump out of the lumbus, my students are introduced to the other's memories, students choose an inci-
tree and pelt Christopher with cherries. idea that language takes sides. They see how dent and write a story about it. In our discus-
Christopher runs home to his mother, never books on Columbus and the "discovery" sion circle the next day, students read their
to bother the boys again. (In his History of the highlight certain ways of understanding real- stories to the group, piecing together an
Indies, Spanish priest Bartolom6 de las Casas ity and silence other perspectives. Thus, a inspiring patchwork quilt of caring and de-
describes Tamos, forced to work in the Span- number of students decide to give voice to termination. As a kindergartner, Marnie
iards' mines, picking up the only weapons what they imagine to be Native American implored her mother to remove her from a
they had, stones, to throw at heavily armed perspectives in their children's books. school where the teachers frequently beat
soldiers.(17)) Tina Thomas and Kris Porter wrote "The students. Aashish joined a team protest to
Untold Story" recounting the tale of discov- defy a rule requiring a minimum height for
Hearing Silent Voices ery from the point of view of the "discovered." soccer players that discriminated againstEast
Nicole and Stephanie's stories denounce Tina and Kris describe the joy of building a Indians. Amanda challenged a friend who
injustice but they also imagine alternatives: culture "from dirt and rock." Because their called a gay student a "fag." Felicia refused
through discussion, through sharing, and yes, narrative doesn't sail breezily along with her boyfriend's demand to prove her love by
through resistance, we can live better. It's Columbus and crew, their description of first having his baby — "I walked up in his face
more than just wishing history had come out encounter is different than any commercially and told him that I was tired of him running
differently, though it certainly is that as well. published book I' ve ever seen: "These people the relationship." Sara angrily confronted a
History is not destiny, their stories assert. were not like us. Their skin was pink, their group of girls who taunted their Mexican
And through envisioning ourselves as sub- hair the color of sand, and their eyes the color classmates with racist comments — "Yes,
jects of a better world, we help play a small of the open sea. They wore strange items that I'm proud of being a damn spic, as you white
part in bringing it about. covered their bodies, even though it was very people say it But you have no right telling us
In a discussion about the U.S. media at the hot" Eventually, Columbus takes slaves and that We have rights just like everybody
height of the Gulf War, my student Sekou kills many others. Unlike the traditional sto- else."
PAGE 42 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION
One of our aims is for students to remind themselves." Scott wrote that hearing
each other that, "Yeah, I'm the kind of per- people's stories "showed us that we can Notes
son who stands up for myself, who believes achieve things if we stand up for ourselves. 1. See "Discovering Columbus: Rereading the Past,
in doing the right thing." During the read- We all felt better about ourselves." Keely in this issue, p. 5.
arounds, there is often a palpable aura of noticed that even though people often stood 2. Jamaica Kincaid, Annie John, New American Li-
dignity and solidarity that settles over the alone, the experience was much more satis- brary.New York, 1983. See Chapterfive, "Columbus in
classroom. Our hope is to nurture the begin- fying when they fought for change together: Chains," pp. 72-84.
nings of this community of justice and cour- "I think people enjoy doing something to- 3. Quotes from Frederick W. Turner ffl, ed.. North
age. But we also see the read-arounds as gether rather than alone. It seems in today's American Indian Reader, The Viking Press, New York,
building a "collective text" of student expe- world people would rather accomplish some 1973, pp. 246-255, respectively. The first quote is taken
from a protest to Indiana Territory Governor William
rience to be probed for deeper social mean- feat on their own. So they're the one on top. Henry Harrison by Tecumseh, denouncing the sale of
ing.(19) As we saw from the Dominicans' But I really believe when something is suc- Indian land. The second is from Tatanka lotanka (Sit-
experience on Hispaniola, righteous defi- cessful, it's better to have someone to cel- ting Bull) responding to the U.S. government's viola-
ance is important but ultimately insufficient ebrate with. When you do something alone tion of an 1868 treaty.
to achieve justice. We celebrate resistance, it's like you are doing it for yourself, but 4. Cited in Bruce Johansen and Roberto Maestas,
but we should also evaluate it. when other people are involved, you did it Wasi'chu: The Continuing Indians Wars, Monthly Re-
Linda and I ask students to take notes on for each other." view Press, New York, 1979, p. 16.
each other's story, to listen for: 1) What But Christie understood the issue differ- 5. Quoted in Gary Nash, Red, While, and Black: The
conditions allowed us to stand up for our- ently and underscored one's individual re- Peoples of Early America, Prentiss-Hall, New Jersey,
selves or others? 2) Was the resistance effec- sponsibility to confront wrongdoing: "I got 1974, p. 83.
tive in rooting out the causes of injustice? 3) out of this assignment that you have to be the 6. Alejo Carpentier, The Harp and the Shadow,
How were we changed by our acts of one who stop the pain. If you don't say Mercury House, San Francisco, 1990, p. 84. Not all the
defiance? and 4) What other patterns did we anything about your feelings people will fictional treatments of Columbus are useful. For ex-
ample, avoid Newton Frohlich's 1492 (St. Martin's,
notice as we listened to the papers? After our always run over them." 1990) which is little more than an anti -Islamic polemic.
read-around, in which students call on each The Columbus myth teaches children to
other to praise and comment on the stories, 7. Carpentier, pp. 106-107.
we ask them to write for a few minutes on the 8. Cecil Jane (trans.). The Journal of Christopher
questions as preparation for discussion. Columbus, Bramhall House, New York, 1960, p. 29.
Some people, like Maryanne, notice that at
times people fail to look for allies: "It was
"I think people 9. Jane, p. 29.
10. Samuel Eliot Morison, Admiral of the Ocean Sea,
interesting to me that in most of these inci- enjoy doing Little, Brown and Co., 1942, p. 427.
dents people stood alone with the exception something 11. Morison, p. 427.
of Sonia." Kurzel agreed: "It seems to me 12. Morison, p. 427.
that most of the class stood alone and against together rather 13. Eduardo Galeano, Memory of Fire: Genesis,
people they knew, like Chrissy and her uncle, than alone." Pantheon, New York, 1985, p. 57.
Millshane and her aunt, Rita and her teacher, 14. Quoted in Bartolome dc las Casas, History of the
me and my teacher. In some cases they Indies (trans, and ed. by Andree Collard), Harper and
should have stood as a people instead of their accept racism as normal, to believe that pow- Row. New York, 1971, p. 184.
self, and as far as results nothing really erful, rich, white, Christian countries have 15. Quoted in Lewis Hanke, The Spanish Struggle for
happened." And Jeff noticed that "there were the right to dominate people of color in the Justice in the Conquest of America, Little Brown and
some cases where people tried to use anger, Third World. It encourages people to listen Co., Boston, 1965, p. 24.
but could of done something else instead of for the perspectives of the winners, the social 16. Craig Lesley, Winterkill, Houghton-Mifflin,
using cuss words and their fist." elites, and inures them to the historical and Boston, 1984.
Students' celebration of resistance is often literary silences of everybody else. And it's 17. Las Casas, p. 119.
tempered with the realization that the way a male myth of conquest: leave women and 18. Talking about her connection to her great grand-
we stand up for ourselves can be needlessly community behind; encounter shortsighted mother, "a sharp-tongued woman," bell hooks writes
individualistic or violent. On the other hand, or naive people; convert, trick or overpower that, "I claimed this legacy of defiance, of will, of
courage, affirming my link to female ancestors who
when I told one class that it didn't appear them —just pursue your dream, preferably were bold and daring in their speech." bell hooks,
students' physical fights did much good and of wealth and fame. Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black, South
that talking might have gotten them further, End Press, Boston, 1989, p. 9.
Kevin seemed to speak for the majority, No curricular task can be more important 19. See Linda Chnstensen, "Writing the Word and
saying, "Nan, that talking stuff don't work or challenging than encouraging students to the World," English Journal, Feb. 1989, pp. 14-18;
anymore." deconstruct this extraordinarily powerful Christensen, "Teaching Standard English: Whose Stan-
dard?, English Journal, Feb 1990, pp. 36-40; and Wil-
While most students begin to sense the social myth. In numerous ways, we can in-
liam Bigelow, "Inside the Classroom: Social Vision and
limitations and contradictions of their ac- vite students to "talk back" to Columbus and Critical Pedagogy," Teachers College Record, Spring
tions, they almost always come away with a all he symbolizes, ever vigilant to guard 1990, pp. 437-448.
greater appreciation of their capacities to against anger becoming despair. Our over-
make a difference — and with more respect riding concern must be to engage young Bill Bigelow teaches social studies at Jef-
for each other. Heather commented that people in activities that reveal their power to ferson High School in Portland, Oregon and
"standing up showed these people they have build a society of equality and justice. writes frequently for Rethinking Schools.
power over their lives and power to protect Children's hope is a fragile thing. O
Light appears
with the shudder
of her slopes,
the movement
of her arm.
Blackberries unravel,
stones dislodge;
it's not as if
they were not warned.
By Linda Christensen
nipulated."
Children's books and movies instruct young
people to accept the world as it is portrayed
in these social blueprints. Children learn
how to act, live and dream. Thus these tales,
often peopled with ducks, mice and elephants,
also inhibit students' ability to question the Cinderella
texts they read when they are older.
That's why we watch The Little Mermaid But they just "walk on the words," as Brazil- They quote or paraphrase Dorfman on the
and read The Ugly Duckling in my high school ian educator Paulo Freire says. They don't left side of the paper and argue, agree, or
English classes. wrestle with the words and ideas presented. question him on the right. For example,
My goal, on the other hand, is to give stu- Dorfman asserts:
Exposing Myths dents the tools to critique ideas that encourage "Industrially produced fiction has become
Too often, my high school students read or legitimate social inequality. one of the primary shapers of our emotions
novels, history texts, and the daily paper as if We begin by reading the preface and first and our intellect in the 20th Century. Al-
they were reading about a baseball game. chapter of Ariel Dorfman's book The though these stories are supposed to merely
They keep track of who's up, who's out, and Empire's Old Clothes: What The Lone entertain us, they constantly give us a secret
the final score. Ranger, Babar, and other innocent heroes education. We are not only taught certain
Many students don't know how to read. I do to our minds." I ask students to read styles of violence, the latest fashions.and sex
don't mean they are illiterate. They can read Dorfman and keep track of their responses in roles by TV, movies, magazines, and comic
the words. They can answer multiple choice a dialogue journal which consists of a paper strips; we are also taught how to succeed,
questions about who said "to be or not to be." folded in half from the top to the bottom. how to love, how to buy, how to conquer,
Native Americans commemorate the 1OOth annivesary of the Wounded Knee Massacre, 189O-1990.
The following is from an interview cal center is located in what is called Port everything to everybody.
with Chief Billy Redwing Tayac of Tobacco, in Maryland. My father, Chief Turkey Tayac, was a
the Piscataway people, conducted by Over the years, I have worked for the traditional chief, but I was much more inter-
reclamation of Indian people. We have so ested in joining with other Indians in groups
Phil Tajitsu Nash. In the talk, Chief many people who have lost their way, who such as the American Indian Movement.
Tayac stresses the unity of native don't know anything about their traditions or Through AIM, I came to realize that to be an
peoples throughout the Americas and religion. This work involves "de- Indian today, one must transcend tribalism.
outlines some of their many struggles, Angloization," or bringing our people back We are a race of people. In the terminology
in particular the fight to maintain to the earth, back to being Indian people. It is of the movement, we are "Many Nations,
their land. hard to be an Indian in any city because we One People". Whether we speak English,
are separated from the earth by concrete. We Spanish or Portuguese, Indians are all one
My name is Billy Redwing Tayac. I am the can't feel the power of the earth, the wind, the people stretching from the tip of North
hereditary chief of the Piscataway people, trees. America to the tip of South America.
who are indigenous to Maryland, Washing- All people, regardless of color, were at one The dominant society has divided us, cut-
ton, B.C., and northern Virginia. Our present time tied to the earth. Even the Europeans ting up our land into slices they call coun-
ceremonial ground and spiritual and politi- had tribes tied to the earth. The earth is tries. But we are still a people. And not a
PAGE 56 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION
small group of people. There are tens of chine-gunned unarmed men, women and tain way or who wore certain clothing was
millions of Indian people in the Western children at Wounded Knee in 1890, it was shot and killed indiscriminately. Mexicans
Hemisphere. With modern technology we called a "battle" by the popular press. More today with dark complexions and black hair
can be in instant communication with our Congressional Medals of Honor were given will deny they are Indians. They will say, "I
relatives in El Salvador, in the Brazilian there then in any previous battle. It took over am a Mexican." They have been brainwashed,
rainforest. They can now board airplanes and 70 years for the record to be set straight and because the lowest people on the ladder are
we can talk with them, face to face, when for the events to be referred to by the names the Indians. Who wants to be part of that
they come to this country. We can hear their they deserve: the Battle of Little Big Horn group?
voices, share their feelings and, most impor- and the Massacre at Wounded Knee. The funny thing is, though, that when
tantly, look them in the eye. There are Indian Wars continuing today people stand up to call themselves Indians,
— yes, today — in Guatemala and El Salva- governments get afraid of them. Maybe it's
Europeans Tried to Destroy Us dor. The slaughter of Indian people by a their Christian, Anglo sense of guilt. They
Nowhere in the annals of history has there dominant European society continues. For don't want to admit what they've done to
been a repetition of what has occurred here. example, Guatemala is a country with 85% them, and don't want them to rise up again as
The Europeans invaded all our land, not just Indian people, but the Indian people don't a people. That's why, in the entire Western
the United States, Panama, or Brazil. They rule Guatemala. The standing army rules. Hemisphere, there is no Indian country.
invaded an entire hemisphere and tried their The rise of the American Indian Move-
best to destroy a race of people and their Mestizos are Really Indians ment in the late 1960's helped to restore a
cultures and religions. It is a holocaust that Look at the presidents and legislators in senseof pride. People were no longerashamed
cannot be compared to anything else in the Central and South American countries. They to be Indian. They demanded that treaties be
history of humanity. Even today, in the 20th are always lighter-complected people. They upheld. They demanded to be treated as
Century, Indian people are not considered a feel that Indian people are not capable of human beings. AIM brought back the tradi-
part of mankind. An example of this is that in governing themselves, yet these people are tions, customs and religions to thousands,
theUnitedNations, all other races of people— descended from members of one of the great- maybe millions, of Indian people.
black, white and yellow — are represented. est civilizations of all time, the Mayans. When someone committed a murder of an
Red people have no voice. If atrocities occur Governments don't like to classify these Indian person anywhere around the country,
against us, we as Indian people have to go to people as Indians. What some call mestizos, AIM people went there to ask why that
the oppressor government, whether Brazil, Hispanics or Chicanos are really Indians. murder resulted in only a manslaughter charge
El Salvador or the United States, to voice our They are not classified that way because of if the defendant was European American and
concerns. This parallel would be like a Jew paper genocide. They would prefer to kill the dead man was an Indian. When Indian
going to Hitler to express his concerns about them, as with the 38,000 killed in the 1930's people were tried by all-white juries, they
the horrible extermination policies directed in El Salvador. Everyone who looked a cer- were more often than not found guilty. De-
towards his people in the 1940's.
One of the major areas where Indian people
are fighting back is in the Black Hills area of
South Dakota. The Lakota and other people
consider this sacred ground. But it is also one
of the richest 100 square miles on earth, with
gold, uranium, and timber. Families like the
Hearsts in California made a fortune by tak-
ing gold out of there, but the people still
living there are among the poorest in the
United States.
This is where the massacre of Indian people
known as Wounded Knee took place 100
years ago, and where the American Indian
Movement made a stand in 1973 that helped
to spark the modern Indian movement for
dignity and self-government.
This reminds me of an important lesson I
have learned over the years about the use of
terminology. When the Nazis occupied
France during World War II, those who
opposed them were called "freedom fight-
ers." When Indian people have fought back
against the taking of our land, we have been
called "hostiles"or"communists."Likewise,
when Sioux warriors defeated United States
warriors at Little Big Horn in 1876, the
popular press called it a "massacre." How- A Mayan testifies before an International tribunal on human right* abuses
ever, when the United States cavalry ma- against Native Americans.
Rigoberta
Menchu
Rigoberta Menchu provides an example
of the spirit of resistance found throughout
the Americas. Her commitment to her ances-
tors, to her family and to the future are shared The Mayan people are accompanied by the sounds of the marimba
in her testimonial book, I...Rigoberta from birth to death.
Menchu, where she documents not only her up for the year. I remember it was pouring our ancestors didn' t defend themselves. The
life, "but the story of all poor Guatemalans." rain, and we had nothing to protect ourselves used ambushes. Our grandparents used t
She describes her work as a child on the from the rain. It took us two days to make a tell us about it, especially my grandfathe
coffee plantations, her family and community roughly built hut out of leaves. We had only when he saw that we were beginning to tal
traditions, and the repression. Below she plastic sheets to cover ourselves from the about defending ourselves against the land
tells the story of why her family decided to rain. The first night we spent in the fields owners, and wondering if we had to ri
organize: with streams of water running along the ourselves of the landowners before we'd b
"My father fought for 22 years, waging a ground.... left in peace. We said: 'If they threaten us
heroic struggle against the landlords who "We loved our land very much. Since why don't we threaten the landowner?' M
wanted to take our land and our neighbors' those people tried to take our land away, we grandfather gave us a lot of support. M
land. After many years of hard work, when have grieved very much. My grandfather grandfather said, 'Yes you have to defen
our small bit of land began yielding harvests used to cry bitterly and say: "In the past, no yourselves. Our ancestors defended them
and our people had a large area under one person owned the land. The land belonged selves. The white men are telling lies whe
cultivation, the big landlords appeared. They to everyone. There were no boundaries." We they say we are passive. They fought too
told us we could either stay and work for were sadder still when we saw our animals And we, why don't we fight with the sam
them or leave the land. going hungry. If our animals went near our arms the landowners use?' If an elderly per
"The first time they threw us out of our crops, they were killed by the men who son tells us this, then it must be true." D
houses was in 1967. They turned us out of worked for the landlords....We didn't know
our houses, and out of the village. The man if it was better to leave and go to work on the Burgos-Debray, Elizabeth, I, Rigobert
who worked for the landlords went into the coffee plantations, or agree to work for the Menchu An Indian Woman in Guatemala
houses without permission and got all the landlord. We couldn't decide. We discussed 1984, NY: Verso. Also available in Spanish
people out. Then they went in and threw out it with all our neighbors. Among the whole
all our things. I remember that my mother community. During all this time we couldn't Deborah Menkart is Director of the Net
had some silver necklaces, precious keep- celebrate our culture; none of our ceremo- work of Educators on Central America.
sakes from my grandmother, but we never nies. That's when my father took his stand,
saw them again; they stole them all. They he said, "If they kill me for trying to defend For further information:
threw out our cooking utensils, and the pot- the land that belongs to us, well they'll have Anderson, Marilyn and Garlock, Jonathan. Grand
tery cooking pots that we had made our- to kill me." daughters of Corn: portraits of Guatemalan women
1988, CT: Curbstone Press.
selves. They hurled them up in the air; and, "We began to organize. Our organization
Oh, God! they hit the ground and broke into had no name. We began by each of us trying Montejo, Victor. Testimony: Death of a Guatemalan
pieces. All our plates, cups, pots. They threw to remember the tricks our ancestors used. Village. 1987. CT: Curbstone Press. A Guatemalan
teacher describes the military attack on his community
them out and they all broke. That was the They used to set traps in their houses, in the
revenge of the landlord on us peasants be- path of the conquistadores, the Spaniards. Our Schlesinger, Stephen and Stephen Kinzer. Bitter Frui
cause we wouldn't give up our land. Then The Untold Story of the American Coup in Guatemala
ancestors were good fighters, they were real
1983. NJ: Doubleday.
they threw out all the corn that we had stored men. It's not true what white people say, that
Gwichin
On the Artie National Wildlife Refuge in
the Yukon, home to the caribou herd on
which they rely, the Gwichin people are
trying to stop oil development.
west since the Spanish conquest. They several thousand Mexican citizens. After sentative rights whatsoever. Chicanos were
had built churches and sophisticated one year, according to this treaty, these to be captive strangers in their own land.
mission systems throughout the South- Mexican citizens could either remain in the Since the United States made a mockery of
west. In California, Texas, and New occupied territory and become United States the treaty when it came to the protection of
Mexico the church was strong and pow- citizens or they could leave the conquered the Chicanos, the Chicanos had to fend for
erful. The Native Americans and the territory and remain Mexican citizens. Ac- themselves if they were to survive. I might
mestizos were oppressed but they man- cording to Articles VIII, IX, and X (a Protocol add that Chicanos were not the first to expe-
aged to survive and sometimes to thrive. ... was substituted for Article X), Mexicans rience broken treaties with the United States
Unlike the Native American, the would receive the protection of the United government....
Chicano population was not obliterated States government in the exercise of their Our mestizo ancestry is both Spanish and
by genocidal practices. The nation of civil and political rights. Land grants and Native American. Historically, then, we are
mestizos in Mexico was willing to migrate property rights were to be honored by the both oppressor (Spanish) and oppressed
into the United States (still spiritually and new government. After the treaty was signed, (Native American). Racially, we are both
psychologically their own land) to replace the gringo political and military forces who white (Spanish) and bronze (Native Ameri-
Chicanos who had been killed by gringos. occupied the Southwest reinforced the psy- can). Economically, the Spanish gained
Today, the Chicanos are the largest group chological, social, and economic captivity of power as they acquired the land; Native
of Hispanos in the United States. Many of the Chicanos. Americans lost power and became landless.
them have direct roots to Native North The United States did not keep its treaty We live in a gringo society, but our culture is
American ancestry. with Mexico. Many Chicanos suffered bru- Mexican. We have a gringo impulse (learned
In Chicano history, the treaty of tally under the gringo yoke after 1848. None from the gringo), but our corazon is Latino.
Guadalupe-Hidalgo marks the transition of the demands for the protection of the We relate to the impoverished world because
between the first and second conquests. Chicanos who stayed on their land was hon- of our oppression, but we live in a techno-
The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, ored. Fraud, deceit, illegal taxation prac- logical, industrial, affluent world. We em-
signed by the United States and Mexico, tices, lying, and cheating caused the Chicanos brace two world views in our reality, the
ended the Mexican-American war in to lose their property within twelve years European and the indigenous. As mestizos in
1848. The United States was given half of after the treaty was signed. The army of the U.S. we are a synthesis of two great
all the territory of Mexico, today's occupation situated itself strategically in or- cultures: the Latin American and the Native
American Southwest Within the territory der to insure that Chicanos remained poor, North American. This synthesis is an emerg-
handed over to the United States lived illiterate, landless, and without any repre- ing new way of life. O
RETHINKING COLUMBUS PAGE 73
Let's
Leave
Columbus
Behind
By Hans Koning
For
the
Love
of
Gold
Spaniards chopping off the hands of Indians who failed to meet
the gold dust quota. Drawing by Bartolome de Las Casas, 1619.
One thought preoccupied Colum- south, lies the island which they call Samoet, value and an infinite amount of spices.
bus after he landed on the islands of where there is gold. December 3: Whatever they [the Indians]
the Caribbean. Gold. Following are October 19: Tomorrow I wish to go so far have they give at once for anything that may
inland to find the village and to see or have be given to them, without saying that it is
entries from his journal for his first speech with this king, who, according to the little, and I believe that they would do so with
voyage which underscore this preoc- signs which these men make, rules all these spices and gold, if they had any.
cupation and expose the profit-mo- neighboring islands and is clothed and wears December 12:1 had given orders that they
tives which guided his journeys.The on his person much gold. [my men] should take some [Indians on
excerpts are from The Journal of October 21: According to whether I shall Espaftola], treat them well and make them
Christopher Columbus, translated by find a quantity of gold or spices, I shall lose their fear, that some gain might be made,
Cecil Jane. decide what is to be done. since, considering the beauty of the land, it
October 23:1 see that here there is no gold could not be but that there was gain to be got.
October 13,1492: And I was attentive and mine... I say that it is not right to delay, but to December 23: Our Lord in His Goodness
labored to know if they [the Indians] had go on our way and to discover much land, guide me that I may find this gold, I mean
gold, and I saw that some of them wore a until a very profitable land is reached. their mine, for I have many here who say they
small piece hanging from a hole which they November 12: So Your Highnesses should know it
have in the nose, and from signs I was able to resolve to make them Christians, for I be- December 29: There is so much [gold]
understand that, going to the south or going lieve that, if you begin, in a little while you and in so many places, and in this island of
round the island to the south, there was aking will achieve the conversion of a great num- Espafiola itself that it is a wonder.
who had large vessels of it and possessed ber of peoples to our holy faith, with the January 6, 1493: Sovereign Princes, I
much gold. acquisition of great lordships and riches and realize that Our Lord miraculously ordained
October 16: This island is very large, and all their inhabitants for Spain. For without that the ship should remain there [at La
I am resolved to round it, because as far as I doubt there is a very great amount of gold in Navidad], because it is the best place in all
can understand, there is in it or near it a gold these lands, so that it is not without reason the island [of Espaflola] for forming a settle-
mine. that these Indians, whom I carry with me, say ment and nearest to the mines of gold."
October 17:1 desired to take the route to that there are places in these islands where January 10: More honor and favor ought
the south-south-east, because in that direc- they dig gold and wear it around their necks, to be done to the people [on Espaflola], since
tion, as all the Indians whom I have with me in the ears, and on the arms and legs, and that in this island there is so much gold and good
say and as another indicated, towards the there are very large bracelets, pearls of great land and spices, n
RETHINKING COLUMBUS PAGE 81
The Spanish Fight for
Justice in the Indies
Not all Spanish supported the con- ing them cruelly with methods never before meal either since they hurried to meet at the
quest of native peoples in the heard of? How can you oppress them and not house of Admiral Diego Columbus, the
Americas. A staunch critic of Span- care to feed or cure them, and work them to discoverer's son. They decided to criticize
death to satisfy your greed? And why don't and frighten the preacher and his compan-
ish brutality, the priest Bartolomede you look after their spiritual health, so that ions. They wanted to punish this man who
las Casas wrote the "History of the they should come to know God, that they condemned them for using the Indians that
Indies" in 1542. The following is should be baptized, and that they should hear the King himself had given them.
adaptedfrom that history, and tells of Mass and keep the holy days? Aren't they A group of them went to the friars' house.
incidents in the city of Santo Domingo human beings? Have they no rational soul? The porter opened the door and they asked to
on the Sunday before Christmas in Aren't you obliged to love them as you love see the superior. Father fray Pedro de Cordoba
1511. yourselves? Don'tyou understand? How can came alone to meet them. They demanded to
you live in such a dream?" see the preacher. Fray Cordoba answered
The whole city of Santo Domingo was to The voice had astounded them all; some that as a prelate he could speak for all his
be there, including the admiral Diego Co- reacted as if they had lost their senses. Some friars. The men insisted on speaking to fray
lumbus [son of Christopher Columbus], and were petrified and others showed signs of Montesinos, but fray Cordoba evaded their
all the royal officials. Each of them had been repentance. But not one was really con- demands and spoke to them seriously and
individually notified by the Dominicans to vinced., After his sermon, fray Montesinos carefully. His words gave off an air of au-
come and hear a sermon of great importance. descended from the pulpit holding his head thority. Finally the Admiral Diego Colum-
They readily accepted, some because they straight, as if unafraid — he wasn't the kind bus and the other royal officials began to
respected the friars; others, because they of man to show fear—for much was at stake change their tone. They softened and begged
were curious to near what was to be said that in displeasing the audience by speaking what fray Cordoba to please bring fray Montesinos
concerned them so much. Had they known had to be said. He went on to his thin cabbage to them because they wanted to question him
what the sermon was to be about they would soup and the straw house of his Dominican about why he had preached a sermon that
have refused to come and would have at- Order accompanied by a friend. went against the King and damaged the resi-
tacked it When they had left, the congregation be- dents of the island.
At the appointed time, fray Antonio de gan such whispering that they could not When the holy man saw that they had
Montesinos went to the pulpitand announced finish the Mass. You can imagine that they become more respectful, he called fray An-
the topic of the sermon: Ego vox clamantis in didn't sit around reading after dinner that tonio de Montesinos, who came with a great
deserto [a voice crying in the desert.] After day. And they must not have enjoyed the deal of fright. After all were seated, the
some introductory words about Advent, he admiral asked how dare he say they couldn't
told those present that the conscience of the use the Indians given them by the King, that
Spaniards was sterile like the desert. The they were acquired at the cost of so much
Spaniards on Hispaniola live in a state of difficulty in wars against the infidel. The
blindness, in danger of damnation, sunk in
the waters of insensitivity and drowning
Tell me sermon was a scandal, the admiral said, and
demanded that fray Montesinos take it all
without being aware of it. Then he said: "I
have come here in order to declare it unto
what right back. Otherwise, they would take needed
measures. Fray Montesinos answered that
you, I the voice of Christ in the desert of this
island. Open your hearts and your senses, all
you have to what he had preached was the result of a great
deal of thought and was the opinion of all the
of you, for this voice will speak new things
harshly, and will be frightening." For a good
enslave friars. He said the Indians were becoming
extinct and that they were as uncared for as
while the voice spoke in such punitive terms
that the congregation trembled as if facing
the Indians? beasts in the fields, and that it was up to the
friars to save the souls of both Spaniards and
Judgment Day. "This voice," he continued,
"says that you are living in deadly sin for the
To war Indians on the Island. As Christians and as
preachers of the Truth, fray Montesinos said,
atrocities you tyrannically impose on these
innocent people [the Indians]. Tell me, what
against them? it was their duty to serve the King faithfully
by doing whatever was necessary to save
right have you to enslave them? What au- souls. And that once the King was informed
thority did you use to make war against them of what was happening, he would thank them
who lived at peace on their territories, kill- for their service.
PAGE 82 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION
Fray Montesinos's justification of his ser-
mon fell on dead ears. If they were to satisfy
their thirst for gold they couldn't stop the
tyranny against the Indians, for without In-
dians the Spaniards had no way to get the
gold. They decided right then to demand a
retraction on the following Sunday. Blind-
ness drove them to the point of threatening to
send the friars back to Spain if they didn't
agree. The superior answered that, "Surely,
this could be easily done." And this was true,
for besides their coarse clothes, they owned
nothing except a rough blanket for the night.
They slept on straw pads held up by X-
shaped supports. As for their other posses-
sions, these would easily fit in two trunks.
When the admiral and the others realized
that the threats did not bring results, they
softened again arid asked them to consider
preaching another sermon which in some
way would satisfy a scandalized town. The
friars, in order to end these demands and get
rid of the men, agreed that the same fray
Montesinos would preach the following
Sunday and would do his best to satisfy them
and clarify things. Once this was agreed
upon, they went home happily.
The news that the following Sunday friar
Montesinos would take back his previous
sermon spread quickly. No one needed an
invitation to be in church come Sunday. Fray
Antonio de Montesinos went to the pulpit
and read a theme from Job 36: "From the
beginning I shall repeat my knowledge and
my truth and I will show my words of last
Sunday, that so embittered you, to be true."
The congregation was quick to sense the tone
of the sermon and sat there itching to stop
him. The friar backed up his sermon with
supporting evidence and gave more reasons
to condemn the tyranny of Spanish oppres-
sion as illegal. He stressed the point that in no
way could a Spaniard save his soul if he
persisted in that state. He asked them to Bartolom6 de las Casas
mend their ways and said that his Order
would refuse to give confession to anyone the Dominicans had scandalized the world [Fray Antonio de Montesinos and th
except travellers. They could publicize this by spreading the idea that they all were Dominicans of Hispaniola were pressure
and they could write to anyone they pleased condemned to Hell because they used Indi- by their own hierarchy in Spain, as well as b
in Castile [Spain], because the friars knew ans in the mines. This was a teaching that the King, to stop preaching such a scandal
for certain this was theonlywayto serve both went against the orders of His Highness and ous doctrine. But, according to Lewis Hank
God and the King. After fray Montesinos aimed at nothing else but to deprive him of in The Spanish Struggle for Justice in th
left, the people grumbled in indignation, both power and a source of income. Conquest of America, "the Dominicans wer
frustrated in their hopes that the friar would The King demanded to meet with the in no way awed by the summary orders from
deny what he had said — as if taking it back Castilian head of the Dominican Order and their Superior and their King, and fough
could change the law of God which they complained to him about his choice of friars, back." Montesinos travelled to Spain to ar
violated by oppressing Indians. who had done him a great disservice by gue on behalf of the Indians. His efforts i
The Spaniards left church in a state of rage preaching against the government and caus- part led to adoption of the 1512 Laws o
and again salted their meal that day with ing disturbances all over the world. The King Burgos, which both offered some protectio
bitterness. They decided not to bother again ordered him to correct this by threatening to for Indians but also made permanent th
with the friars who had proved useless. They take action. You see how easy it is to deceive Spaniards' control over them.]
would tell the King on the first occasion that a King.... D
Ahenakew, Freda. How the Birch Tree Deur, Lynne. Indian Chiefs. Minneapolis, Otto-Diniz, Sara. Mysteries of the Maya.
Got its Stripes. Fifth House (128 Second Ave. Lerner Publications Co. 1972. These 14 bio- Available from Ariadne's Thread, 2905 Las
N, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada S7k graphical sketches of Indian men focus on Cruces, NE, Albuquerque, New Mexico
2B2). 1988. ISBN 0-920079-38-5. A beauti- the struggle of as many tribes to retain their 87110, 505-884-9350. An activity booklet
fully illustrated, easy to read story written by land and way of life. O/P. originally designed to accompany the mu-
Cree students. seum exhibit: Maya: Treasures of an Ancient
Ekoomiak, Normee. Artie Memories. NY: Civilization. $4.95 + $2 postage.
Awiakta, Marilou. Rising Fawn and the Henry Holt, 1988. ISBN 0-8050-1254-0.
Fire Mystery. St. Luke's Press. 1984. ISBN $15.95. Bilingual English/Inuit. Through Rohmer, Harriet, ed. The Legend of Food
0-918518-29-6. $6.95. Grade 4 & up. paintings and words, honors a traditional life Mountain/La Montana del alimento.
Choctaw. Very moving story about the Trail that still continues. Beautiful. Children's Book Press. 1982. ISBNO-89239-
of Tears. 022-0. $12.95. Adapted from the
Coble, Paul. The Girl Who Loved Wild Chimalpopocatl Codice, one of several pic-
Batherman, Muriel. Before Columbus. Horses. Macmillan Children's Book Group, ture-writing manuscripts recorded by Native
Houghton Mifflin Co. 1990. ISBN 0-395- 1986. ISBN 0-689-71082-8. $3.95. Beauti- priests after the Spanish conquest of Mexico.
54954-X. $4.95. Describes dwellings, tools, fully illustrated story of a Plains Indian girl
clothing and customs of daily life of the devoted to the care of her tribe's horses. Turner, Wilson. Maya Design Coloring
earliest inhabitants, based on archaeological Caldecott Medal winner. Book. Dover Publications, Inc. 1980. ISBN
findings. Special focus on Pueblos. 0-486-2047-9.$3.50. Items represented in
Le Sueur, Meridel. Sparrow Hark. Holy this book include designs painted on vases,
Benton-Banai, Edward. The Mishomis Cow! Press, 5435 Old Highway 18, Stevens architectural sculpture, murals, and illus-
Book, the Voice of the Ojibway. Indian Point, WI 54481. Story of two boys who trated books.
Country Press, Inc., (292 Walnut, Irvine Park experience the joy of discovery and the trag-
Offices, SaintPaul, Minnesota, 55102). $10. edy of swift change at the time of the Black
A book of traditional teachings on the Hawk War. 5th grade and up.
Ojibway creation and instructions for living
by a traditional Anishinabe. Liestman, Vicki. Columbus Day. Minne-
apolis: Carolrhoda Books. 1991. ISBN 0-
Bruchac, Joseph. Iroquois Stories: He- 87614-444-X. $9.95. One of the only books
roes and Heroines, Monsters and Magic. about Columbus Day that begins to tell the
Freedom, CA: Crossing Press. 1985. ISBN truth about the treatment of Native Peoples.
0-89594-167-8.3rd grade and up. Among the Shares some of the Euro-centric biases of
best collection of Native stories for children. other Columbus biographies, but it's the best
one we've seen. 2nd grade reading level.
Bruchac, Joseph. Native American Sto-
ries. Fulcrum Publishing. 1991. ISBN 1- Montejo, Victor. The Bird Who Cleans the
55591-094-7. $9.95.A collection of stories World and other Mayan Fables.1991,
of Native American tales and myths focus- Curbstone Press, (321 Jackson St.,
ing on the relationship between man and Willimantic, CT 06226). ISBN 0-915306-
nature. (From Keepers of the Earth by 93-X.$24.95.Acollecu'onofMayanfolktales
Michael J. Caduto and Joseph Bruchac). first told to the author by his mother and the
elders of his Guatemalan village.
Chow, Octavio. The Invisible Hunter.
Childrcn'sBookPress.l987.ISBN 0-89239- Ortiz, Simon. The People Shall Continue.
054-9. $12.95. Miskito village story of in- Illustrated by Sharol Graves. Children's Book
digenous life and foreign intervention. Press, 1461 Ninth Av., San Francisco, CA
94122. (write for catalog, as they publish
Clymer, Theodore, ed. Fotr Corners of many good books) 1987. ISBN 0-89239-
the Sky. Little, Brown & Co. 1975. Startling, 041-7. $12.95. An epic story of Native
bright colored pages illustrate this collection American peoples, extending in time from
of traditional poems, chants & orations.O/P. the creation to present, a "teaching story" of
destruction, fighting back, and survival.
Culleton, Beatrice. Spirit of the White Bi-
son. Book Publishing Co. 1989. ISBN 0- Lacapa, Michael. The Flute Player: An
913990-64-7. Grades 4 and up. Plains Na- Appache Legend. Northland Publishing.
PAGE 86 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION
Koning, Hans. Columbus: His Enterprise: Stevens and Shea, Chief Joseph and Th
SECONDARY BOOKS Exploding the Myth (with an afterword by Cherokee Removal. Stevens and Shea Pub
Bill Bigelow). Monthly Review Press. 1991. lishers (PO Box 794, Stockton, CA 95201)
Akwesasne Notes. Voices From Wounded ISBN 0-85345-825-1. $8.95. High school 1982. Reader theaters with many roles t
Knee, 1973, In The Words of the Partici- level, but is essential reading for all teachers involve students in issues and discussion
pants. Akwesasne Notes (c/o Mohawk Na- trying to overcome the years of myths we've through drama.
tion, via Rooseveltown, N.Y. 13683). 1974. been fedabout Columbus. Koning succinctly
ISBN 0-914838-02-4. History of American depicts Columbus for who he was and frankly Zinn, Howard. A People's History of th
Indian Movement, chronology, photos. describes the horrendous consequences United States. Perennial Library, Harper an
Columbus's actions on the Native people Row Publishers. 1981.0-06-090792-4 $9.95.
Alegeria, Claribel, et al. Ariel's Song: and the environment. An outstanding text for any attempt to re
Latino and Latin American Voices in the think our history. An early chapter deals w
Quincentenary. Curbstone Press. (321 Jack- Lesley, Craig, ed. Talking Leaves Con- h Columbus. Zinn presents a perspective
son St., Willimantic, CT 06226). Si/news- temporary Native American Short Stories, nd facts that never made the history textbooks
print. 32 page sampling of readings by Latin An Anthology. Dell. 1991. ISBN 0-440- An indispensible teacher resource, writte
American authors for secondary students. 50344-2 Thirty eight short stories by Native on a high school level.
Americans that capture Native American
Brand, Johanna. Life and Death of Anna experience.
ORIGINAL SOURCES
Mae Aquash. Toronto: Lorimer. 1978. The
story of the FBI coverup of the murder of an Meltzer, Milton. Columbus and the World
Adorno, Rolena. Guaman Porno: Writin
AIM activist. Around Him. Watts, Franklin Inc. (387 Park
and Resistance in Colonial Peru. University
Avenue South, New York, NY 10016 800-
of Texas Press, 1986. ISBN 0-292-72741-
Broker, Ignacia. Night Flying Woman. 672-6672). 1990. ISBN 0-531-15148-4.
$10.95. A Peruvian chief's account of lif
Minnesota Historical Society Press. (St. Paul, $ 13.95. Describes the voyages of Columbus,
under the Incas and under Spanish rule.
MN 55101). 1983. ISBN 0-87351-167-0. the terrible impact of the Spaniards on the
$7.50. An Ojibway elder recounts the life of Indians, and the ultimate cultural influence
Casas, Bartolome de las. History of th
his great-great grandmother. of the Native Americans on their white con-
Indies, translated and edited by Andree M
querors. 7th grade/up.
Collard. Harper & Row Torchbook. 1971
Brown, Dee. Wounded Knee: An Indian ISBN 06-131540-0. O/P. If you can find it
History of the American West. Dell Publish- Meltzer, Milton. Hunted Like a Wolf: The
read it. Las Casas is the most qualified of al
ing. 1975. ISBN 0-440-95768-0. $1.50. Story of the Seminole War. Farrar, Straus &
the 16th century chroniclers.
Adapted for young readers by Amy Ehrlich Giroux. 1972. ISBN 0-374-33521-4. Sum-
from Brown's Bury My Heart at Wounded marizes one of the most famous wars of
Jane, Cecil, ed. The Journal of Christo
Knee. resistance by Native Americans, noting the
pher Columbus. New York: Outlet Book
unity between Native and African-Ameri-
Company, Crown Publishing Co. (225 Park
Carter, Forrest. The Education of Little cans O/P.
Ave. South, New York, NY 10003.) 800
Tree. University of New Mexico Press, 1986. 5264264.1987. ISBN 0-517-69699-1. $6.99
ISBN 0-8263-0879-1 (paper). $10.95. A Menchii, Rigoberta. /, Rigoberta Menchu:
moving autobiography of a Cherokee as he An Indian Woman in Guatemala. Routledge,
Leon-Portillo, M. The Broken Spears: Th
grows up with his grandparents. Chapman and Hall. 1985. ISBN 0-86091-
Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico
788-6. $13.95. Powerful testimony of a
Beacon Press (25 Beacon St., Boston, MA
Council on Interracial Books for Children. Quich6 of Guatemala. Condemns the social
02108.800-631-8571). 1962. ISBNO-8070
Chronicles of American Indian Protest. 2nd and economic system of Guatemala that op-
5499-2. $11.95. The Aztec left a particularly
Revised Edition, New York, CIBC. 1979. presses Native people.
rich written record which Leon-Portilla use
ISBN 0-930040-30-9. $7.95. to provide a Native perspective on the "dis
Montejo, Victor. Testimony: Death of a
covery."
Johansen, Bruce E., Forgotten Founders: Guatemalan Village. Curbstone. $8.95.
How the American Indian Helped Shape Eyewitness account by a Guatemalan primary
Lunenfeld, Marvin. 1492: Discovery, In
Democracy, Harvard Common Press. 1982. school teacher, detailing one instance of
vasion, Encounter. DC Heath. 1991. ISBN
ISBN 0-916782-90-5. $12.95. violent conflict between the indigenous
0-669-21115. Original source material.
Mayan people and the army.
Vanderwerth, W.C., compiler. Indian
Katz, William. Black Indians: A Hidden Small, Deborah, 1492. Monthly Review
Oratory: Famous Speeches by Noted Indian
Heritage. Macmillan. 1986. ISBN 0-689- Press 1991. ISBN 0-85345-836-7. $15.
Chieftains. Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 1971
31196-6. $15.95. The first paths to freedom Weaves together a narrative history of
ISBN 0-8061-1575-0. $12.95. Inspiration
by runaway slaves led to Native American Columbus's invasion with poetry, quotations,
from lotanka Tatanka (Sitting Bull)
villages. Describes historic links between and illustrations.
Geronimo, Chief Joseph, others.
African and Native Peoples in the Americas.
RETHINKING COLUMBUS PAGE 87
$ 11.95; and Century of the Wind, 1988, ISBN Thornton, Russell, American Indian Ho-
ADULTS/TEACHERS BOOKS 0-394-55361-6, $14. Pantheon Books (201 locaust and Survival: A Population History
E. 50th St., New York, NY 10022,800-638- Since 1492, University of Oklahoma Press.
Allen, Paula Gunn. The Sacred Hoop: 6460.) Also available in Spanish as Memoria 1990. ISBN 0-8061-2220-X. $12.95.
Recovering the Feminine in American In- defuego, Madrid: Editorial Siglo XXI, 1986.
dian Traditions. Beacon Press. 1987. ISBN This is a documentary history from the first Truettner, William H., ed. The West As
0-807(M601-9. $ 12.95. Essays, poetry, keen human inhabitants to 1984. It is highly rec- America: Reinterpreting Images of the Fron-
insights. ommended. tier. Smithsonian Institution Press. 1991.
ISBN 1-56098-023-0. $60. Paperback was
Brotherston, Gordon. Image of the New Galeano, Eduardo. Open Veins of Latin available temporarily in summer 1991. De-
World: The American Continent Portrayed America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a scribes the Smithsonian show that sparked
inNative Texts. London, Thames andHudson, Continent. Monthly Review Press, 1973. so much controversy in the nation's capital.
1979. $10.95. Invasion, defense, rituals, cal- ISBNO-85345-308-X.$10..Powerful.Highly
endars and more, with 118 documentary recommended. Turner, Frederick. Beyond Geography:
texts, 6 tables, 4 maps. O/P. The Western Spirit Against the Wilderness.
Jaimes, M. Annette, ed. The State of Na- Rutgers Univ. Press. 1983. ISBN 0-8135-
Bruchac Joseph. Songs From This Earth tive America: Genocide, Colonization and 1021-X. $14. Effect of Columbus and his
onTurtle's Back: An Anthology of Poetry by Resistance. South End Press, 1991. ISBNO- followers on the land and peoples of the
American Indian Writers. Greenfield Re- 89608-424-8. $16. Essays by Native Americas.
view Literary Center. 1983.ISBN 0-912678- American authors and activists on contem-
58-5. $9.95. porary Native issues including the quincen- Van Sertima, Ivan. They Came Before
tenary. Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient
Carew, Jan. Fulcrums of Change. Africa America. McKay, David Company. 1989.
World Press (PO Box 1892, Trenton, NJ Johansen, Bruce. Wasi'chu: The Continu- ISBN 0-679-72530-X.$ 14.95. Africans dis-
08607.) 1988. ISBN 0-86543-033-0. Essays ing Indian Wars. Monthly Review Press, covered trade routes to the Americas used by
on Columbus and the origins of racism in the 1980. ISBN 0-85345-507-4. $10. Chronicles Columbus and arrived in the Americas be-
Americas. the history of Native struggles in the United fore him, according to Van Sertima.
States.
Churchill, Ward and Jim Vander Wall. Weatherford, Jack. Indian Givers: How
Agents of Repression. South End Press. Klein, Barry T, ed. Reference Encyclope- the Indians of the Americas Transformed the
1990. ISBN 0-89608-293-8. $15.00. The dia of the American Indian, 5th ed. Todd World. Fawcet Book Group. 1989. ISBN 0-
FBI's secret war against the Black Panthers Publications (PO Box 92, Lenox Hill Sta- 449-90496-2. $8.95. Native Americans
and AIM. tion, N.Y. , N.Y. 10021). 1990. ISBN 0- "gave" Europeans wealth, food, the idea of a
915344-16-5. $95. 4th edition for $20 was federal government system, and many other
Deloria, Vine. Custer Died for Your Sins: temporarily available. Good resource; in- innovations that are thought of as European.
An Indian Manifesto. University of Okla- cludes adresses of reservations, associations, Excellent. Also, new book, Native Roots:
homa Press. 1988. ISBN 0-8061-2129-7. libraries, schools, resources, etc. How the Indians Enriched America (Crown
$11.95. Publishers, ISBN 0-517-57485-3) due late
Niatum, Duane, editor. Harper's Anthol- 1991.
Deloria, Vine and Clifford Lytle. Ameri- ogy of Twentieth Century Native American
can Indians, American Justice. University of Poetry. Harper and Row. 1988. ISBN 0-06- Wolf, Eric. Europe and the People With-
Texas Press. 1983. ISBN 0-292-73834-X. 250666-8. $16.95. Thirty-six poets. out History. University of California Press.
$10.95. Reprint of classic indictment of 1982. ISBN 0-520-04898-9. $15.95. Sur-
mistretment of Indian peoples. Ortiz, Simon. Fightin':New and Collected veys the whole world in 1492.
Stories. Thunder's Mouth Press (93-99
Drinnan, Richard. Facing West: The Meta- Greene St., #2A, New York, NY 10012).
physics of Indian Hating and Empire- 1983. ISBN 0-938410-8. $6.95. Acollection
Building. Schocken. 1990. ISBN 0-8052- of contemporary short stories.
0978-6. $ 16.95. Makes connections between
suppression of Native Nations and the sup- Sale, Kirkpatrick. The Conquest of Para-
pression of liberation movements through- dise: Christopher Columbus and the
out the world. Columbian Legacy. NAL/Dutton. 1991.
ISBN 0-452-26669-6. $12.95. Links
Galeano, Eduardo. Memory of Fire: Cen- Columbus's legacy to environmental degra-
tury of the Wind (Three volumes: Genesis, dation and loss of "place." Includes detailed
1987, ISBN 0-394-74730-5, $12.95; Faces quotes from original sources. Highly recom-
and Masks, 1988, ISBN 0-394-75167-1, mended.
Thanking the Birds, by Joseph Bruchac, p. 11 Encourage students to cut the story into strips and illustrate the
descriptions. Students might be inspired by Kris and Tina's story to
Ask children to describe other positive atributes of animals and write their own stories about the Tamo-Spaniard encounter from the
nature. Why might Native people try to learn from animals? What do point of view of the "discovered." See other ideas for poem and story
you do when you see animals or insects outdoors? What do we have writing from a Tamo perspective in Talking Back to Columbus.
to learn from them? Chief Luther Standing Bear said that in Lakota If your students write their own books, make arrangements for
they have no word for "pest." What do you think of as "pests?" Why volunteers to take them to read. In other classrooms, encourage them
do you think the Lakota language has no word for "pest?" to explain how and why theirs are different from traditional tales of
Take a field trip to a park. Ask children to notice all the li ving things discovery. Laminate the books and add them to the school library's
they can. Note: On a field trip to a river a number of students found collection.
some live clams and began smashing them against rocks. Incidents Students might use Tina's story as a framework and add more
like this can be used to encourage students to reflect on their own detail. What do the Tamos say to each other as Columbus's invasion
values and behaviors. Read Joseph Bruchac's Thanking the Birds. begins to destroy their culture? What do they think and feel?
Ask children if they agree with how Swift Eagle dealt with the boys. Bring in commercially published books on Columbus. Have stu-
If they had been the children in the story, how would they have dents compare the perspective of their books to the published books.
responded to Swift Eagle? See Helping Children Critique Columbus Books.
Ask students to write their own poem arguing that Native people Ask students: If a circle best represents Black Elk's society, wha
are not "relics." As a prompt, encourage them to begin with the lines: symbol best represents life in this society? Ask students to draw thei
"These are not relics symbol and write an explanation. How would life in the United State
from lost people, lost lands. have to change if we committed ourselves to the circle as a symbol
I know where they are..." in terms of decision making, treatment of the earth, use of technology
Activities: See those listed with Columbus Day. political power, relations with other countries, etc. Ask students to
Study how October 12th is commemorated in other societies, write on this question and then discuss.
among Native Peoples, in Spain, in Central America, etc. Take Black Elk's perspective and write about an important issue
nuclear waste, homelessness, drug abuse, etc.
Hal/breed Girl in the City School,
by Jo Whitehorse Cochran, p. 48 Columbus Day, by Jimmie Durham, p. 59
[The poem is based on Jo Whitehorse Cochran's experiences as a Read the poem aloud. Ask students to visualize the descriptions.
Lakota-Norwegian girl in the almost entirely white schools of the How does the poem make you feel? Why? Is Durham angry, sad
Seattle, Washington area.] hopeful? Why do you think he wrote the poem? What else has been
How is the girl in the poem feeling? Why? How do you think she left out of the school curriculum that should be there?
feels about other non-Indian children in school? How would school Use Durham's poem as a prompt for students to write. Begin, "In
have to change to make her feel more a part of the school community? school I was taught.." and begin a second verse, "No one men-
What more would you need to know about her life to really answer tioned..."
this? How is this girl likely to behave in class? How would her Choose someone mentioned by Jimmie Durham—Chaske, Many
teachers describe her? How do these experiences affect her relation- Deeds — and write a poem from one of their perspectives. Or write
ship with her parents? Affect her future? What if all children in a a poem about people from another group that has traditionally been
community were treated like this? Imagine you are this girl. What are silenced in the curriculum.
In preparing this timeline we found it easy to find information • Write on this Winnebago saying: Holy Mother Earth, the trees
about Christopher Columbus but extremely difficult to learn about and all nature are witness of your thoughts and deeds. Write a letter
the Tainos. How would you explain this? How do you think the to your "mother" telling how you are treating her. How do you plan
Columbus expedition to the Americas was related to the war against to change?
the Moors, the expulsion of the Jews and the Spanish Inquisition?
[This might be a good topic for student research.] What might • Write on the board the Native saying, The frog does not drink up
Columbus have thought as he approached Guanahani? What thoughts the pond in which it lives. What does this saying mean? Ask children
might his crew have had? What might the Tainos have thought as they to imagine that the pond represents the whole world, and that the frog
watched Columbus and his men come onto their island? Is there any is us. What lessons can we draw from this saying for today?
evidence to suggest that the Tainos thought Columbus was a god?
Why has this myth become so widespread? [Students could write a • Hold a trial to assign blame for the Native American holocaust
set of interior monologues, contrasting the thoughts of Spaniards and initiated with Columbus's voyages. As defendants, call Columbus,
Tainos.] What appears to be the objective of Columbus's first Columbus's men, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, the entire
voyage? On January 13 Columbus encounters what he decides is system of empire (the use of other peoples and other peoples' lands
resistance. Why does he presume that these people are Caribs and not for private gain), the Tafnos of Hispaniola, etc.
Tainos? How does Columbus justify taking slaves? What prevented Draw up brief lists of charges against these and other groups.
the Tainos from mounting an effective resistance to Columbus's [Charges against the Tainos are not easy to find: blame them for
invasion? What more would you like to learn about the culture of the failure to adequately resist the colonial onslaught, or for failing to
Tamo? How could you find out? recognize Columbus's enterprise for what it was and thus not killing
Write the thoughts of Columbus's Tamo kidnap victims as they him off right away. — It's important that you assist students in
arrive in Spain. identifying resources which could be used to show that the Tainos,
Write Caonab6's interior monologue as he is led in chains onto a Caribs and other Native groups did defend themselves.] The teacher
01+
3492 What Is It Like to Be Discovered?
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