Reflections on "A People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn

Christopher Columbus: a hero, right?   He discovered America, didn't he? Because of him, most of our ancestors knew where to immigrate to for a new life. So, we celebrate Columbus Day in his honor.  I think I'm going to be sick.


Zinn writes about history from the victims viewpoints, points of view they don't tell you much about in grade school.  Sure, I knew my ancestors came over and killed most of the Indians, just like I knew they went to Africa and forcefully took the natives as slaves.  But when a story, HISTORY, is told like this, with such detail that one has never heard before, I have to say, it shook me.


Zinn writes about how the Indian lifestyle was so shocking to the Spaniards.  They were nude, didn't care about monogamy, and were free to live as they pleased.  I like that.  It would be hard work living off the land, but the liberation of true freedom would be amazing.  They lived without government, and for the most part they did fine.  And the women! They treated the women very well, something that European immigrants didn't start doing for hundreds of years after.  History is really hard to believe sometimes.  And what is worse, is that it's about us.  MY ancestors. Possibly some of YOUR ancestors.  Aren't we proud?

  When I first read the title of this reading assignment, I was like oh God, history.  I'm going to fall asleep reading this.  Then I got into it, and was really interested.  I thought, wow, how bold, how daring of Columbus to sail an unknown ocean, to risk his life.  But as I read more and more, I became full of emotion.  How can anyone, ANYONE, be so cruel as to do the things he and his people did to the Native Americans.  And the worst part of all this inhumanity is that we still do it everyday.  People rape and kill people all the time, sometimes just for enjoyment.  It's something I will never understand.  The Spaniards started killing the natives because they wanted gold.  They were pressured by their king, and they felt they were doing what they had to do to survive back in Europe.  But even 500 years ago, didn't conscience come into play?  The Indians shared EVERYTHING they had because it was the right thing to do. And they couldn't even defend themselves.  This total lack of morals and ethics shown by the Europeans made me sick, angry, and upset. Mothers had to drowned their children because it would be a less painful death than starvation.  It was like their End of Days.  And when I read about the Spaniards walking up to the two Indian boys and beheading them just for fun, I couldn't take anymore.  I broke down.  Zinn even wrote a passage that pretty much said don't cry for them because it won't help anything, but I couldn't help it.  I was so overwhelmed with thinking about how my ancestors killed the Native Americans, followed Hitler in the Final Solution, and enslaved the Africans.  And thinking about that all at once caused some emotions to arise.

The theme behind Zinn's kind of writing, is that if you don't look at history from every view point, you are lying to yourself.  I never, EVER, thought it would be immoral to celebrate Columbus Day until I read this, and now I'm angry that we do it.  He didn't even discover America! We should be celebrating Rodrigo Day, if anything at all!  But I agree with Zinn, that we must look at history from all viewpoints, because it's only fair. I am glad I read this though, and it will give me something to think about for years to come.   

Until next time,

Keri Jo