44.Monograph.Rethinking.Columbus.1991.Pdf

RETHINKING COLUMBUS

TEACHING ABOUT THE SOOTH ANNIVERSARY OF COLUMBUS S ARRIVAL IN AMERICA

A SPECIAL ISSUE OF RETHINKING SCHOOLS

DEDICATED TO THE CHILDREN OF THE AMERICAS

Special Editors of Rethinking Columbus: Bill Bigelow, Barbara Miner, and Bob Peterson. Special thanks to Linda Christensen, David Levine, Beverly Slapin, Michael Trokan, The Guardian, Ayuda, and People's Bookstore. Rethinking Columbus was funded in part by a grant from the Resist Foundation, One Summer St., Somerville, MA 02143. The Rethinking Columbus project received funds from the North Shore Unitarian Universalist Society Veatch Program and the Anita L. Mishler Education Fund. RETHINKING Cover photo © Pat Goudvis. From the Guatemala Nifios de Esperanza COLUMBUS Calendar published by Ayuda, P.O. Box 1752, Boston, MA 02105. A special edition of Cover design and layout assistance: C.C. Brhel. Rethinking Schools published by Rethinking Schools is a quarterly publication of Rethinking Schools, Rethinking Schools, Ltd. Ltd., a non-profit tax-exempt organization. Editorial Board ofRethinking in collaboration with the Schools: Karen Desotelle, Cynthia Ellwood, David Levine, Robert Network of Educators on Lowe, Bob Peterson, and Rita Tenorio. For more information contact Central America. Rethinking Schools, 1001 E. Keefe Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53212,414- 964-9646. Subscription rates for Rethinking Schools are $10 yr/individual; $25/institutional.

The Network of Educators on Central America provides resources and conducts tours on Central America. They have produced extensive curriculum on Central America and the Caribbean. NECA can be con- tacted at 1118 22nd St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20037,202429-0137.

Advisory Committee of the Rethinking Columbus project Paula Gunn Allen, Joseph Bruchac, Olivia Cadaval, Francisco Cali, Jan Carew, Kassahun Checole, Jan Elliott, Cynthia Ellwood, William Fletcher, Jr., Mary Hatwood Futrell, Maria Garza Lubeck, Emma Gonzalez, Phil TajitsuNash,HarrietRohmer,andMauriceSykes. For more information on Rethinking Columbus workshops write, Bill Bigelow, Rethinking Columbus, 1233 ME Schuyler #4, Portland, OR 97212.

Ordering information for Rethinking Columbus is on the inside of the back cover.

Reprint rights: People may reprint excerpts from this pamphlet for use in educational settings. No prior approval is necessary. Reprinting for publication requires prior approval. "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

PAGE 2 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION Why Rethink Columbus? INTRODUCTION

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 in dents 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 indigenous 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.

Why aren't you joining in the celebrations of the Columbus quincentenary? As Native American peoples in this red quarter of Mother Earth, we have no reason to celebrate an invasion that caused the de- mise of so many of our people and is still causing destruction today. The Europeans Standing before a replica of the Nina, activist Russell Means protests stole our land and killed our people. exhibit on Spain's early Involvement in the Americas. But because the quincentenary is a cause celebre, it provides an opportunity to put destruction and pollution of the air. it's his quincentenary. forth Native American perspectives on the What are those "positive" aspects of the next 500 years. Columbus legacy? If we're talking about the Isn't criticism of Columbus a horse, yeah, that's good. We like the horse. form of picking on the Span- Columbus was just "a man of his Indians raised the use of the horse to high iards. Were they any worse than times." Why are you so critical of military art, especially among the Cheyenne other Europeans who came to him? Why not look at the positive people and the tribes of the plains states. America? aspects of his legacy? Was that a good result of that invasion? In my estimation, the Spaniards were no For people who are in survival mode, it's Yes. Is it something we would have traded worse than any number of other Europeans. very difficult to look at the positive aspects for the many Indian peoples who are no The economy of slavery and serfdom that of death and destruction, especially when it longer here because of that invasion? No. existed in northern Europe — how do you is carried through to our present. There is a We also like the beads that came from measure that in cruelty and in long-term reason we are the poorest people in America. Europe, and again we raised their use to a effects against the Spanish Inquisition? There is a reason we have the highest teen high art. Would we have traded those beads I view the issue more as the oppressive suicide rate.Thereisareason why our people for the massacres of our people, such as the nature and arrogance of the Christian reli- are ill-housed and in poor health, and we do Sand Creek massacre [in which U.S. soldiers gions. And that continues today. not live as long as the majority population. massacredhundredsofNativeAmericanmen, Our Indian religions are not missionary That reason has to do with the fact that we women, and children at Sand Creek, Colo- religions. We are taught to respect other were in the way of Western civilization and rado in 1864]? No. religions. It was a shock when we were met we were in the way of westward expansion. Why do we focus on Columbus rather than with proselytizing zealots, especially those We suffered the "excesses" of civilization any number of U.S. presidents who were also who thought that if your soul can't be saved, such as murder, pillage, rape, destruction of responsible for the death and destruction of you're better off dead — or if your soul can the major waterways, destruction of land, the Indian people? Because it's his 500 years; be saved, you should be dead so you can go PAGE 4 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION to heaven. And that's the history of that origi- Aren't some of the criticisms of Columbus does not take away from the ract nal encounter. Columbus just substituting Native- that he was able to lurch over to these shores centrism for Euro-centrism? in three little boats. In fact, it gives the story How does that arrogance and Oppressed people need to be centered of Columbus more dimension. It also makes ignorance manifest itself today? within themselves. Racism and centrism be- it easier for kids in school to accept not only How? Well, for example, the Catholic come a problem if you are in the dominant Columbus but other things. Church has said that 1992isatimeto enter into society and are subjugating other people as a Teachers need to respect the truth. What a period of grace and healing and to celebrate result of your centrism. I don't accept the happens if I'm sitting in a classroom and the evangelization of the Americas. My word, question. I think it's an empty argument. teachers are telling me that Thomas Jefferson how can you be graceful and healing about the was one of the greatest men in the world, and tens of thousands of native people who were Aren't criticisms of Columbus I also know that he owned slaves, but they killed because they would not convert to a just another form of insuring don't tell me that? What am I going to do religion they didn't understand, or because "political correctness?" when I'm told "don't use or abuse drugs or they didn't understand the language of those The Eurocentric view, having been ex- alcohol"? Will I think there may be another making the request? posed for its underlying falsehood, now side to that too? What else am I being told that It's difficult to take seriously an apology wishes to oppose any other view as either isn't true? that is not coupled with atonement. It's as if equally false or simply the flip side of reality: Kids are smart. And they have not experi- they're saying, "I'm sorry, oops, and we'll be a secondary or dual reality. enced enough setbacks to know that they have better in the next hemisphere." That doesn't Feelings are usually dual realities; per- to be sheep. But that's what they're taught in cut it. We've had empty platitudes before. spectives are dual realities. But there are the public schools — how to exercise not The combination of arrogance and igno- some things that don't have a dual reality. personal discipline, but top-down discipline. rance also results in making mascots of Indian For example, if we look at who has polluted It's the "do as you're told" approach to the people, of dehumanizing and stereotyping them all of our water, causing a whole lot of death world, rather than trying to help kids under- — in the sports world, in advertising, and in and a whole lot of illness in this country stand their place in the world. society at large. The Washington Redskins alone, then we have a bit of a clue where the We have to inject more truth in the class- football team is an excellent example. problem might rest. We have a clue whose room generally. And that only comes from There is no more derogatory name in En- reality might expose the truth and whose discussion. I guess I'm a fan of the Socratic glish for Indian people than the name Redskins. reality might obscure the truth. method. And the Redskins is a prominent image right It's about time for the people who are the here in the nation's capital that goes by un- true historic revisionists, who are on the far What are the key struggles that noticed. Because we are an invisible popula- right side of this whole political correctness native people face today? tion, the racism against us is also invisible for debate, to stop lying to themselves, to their We need, in the first instance, basic human the most part. readership and to their students. They must rights such as religious freedom. Or how You don't see sports teams called the White stop their silly ivory tower kinds of debates about life, liberty and the pursuit of happi- Trash, the Black Chicks, the Jew Boys, or the about whether multiculturalism should be ness, and other things that many people in the Jack Mormons. And if we did see that, it used, and so forth. United States view as standard fare but are out wouldn't be for long, you can be sure of that. What is the true history? Just start dealing of reach for Indian people? with some undisputable realities. The world There is also the issue of land and treaty Why can't we use the Columbus is a mess. This country is a mess. The people rights. We have property that we don't own quincentenary to celebrate Ameri- who fare the worst in this country are poor, and we should, and we have property that we can diversity and the contribu- non-white children and poor, non-white old own that we don't control and we should. tions of all, Europeans and Native people. Societies who do not care for their We have treaties with the United States that Americans alike? young people and old people are decadent, are characterized in the U.S. Constitution as There will be lots of people who will be decaying societies. the supreme law of the land. Yet every one, putting forth the perspective of rah rah Colum- I think there are a lot of good minds that are without exception, of nearly 400 treaties bus, rah rah Western Civilization. Our per- reflecting that decadence and decay when signed between native peoples and the U.S. spective is putting forth native peoples' views they choose to spend their time on these government has been broken. Every one of on our past and present. We also want to get kinds of ivory towerdebates. There are things them. into the public consciousness the notion that about which they can do much, and they are A good place to start would be for the we actually have a future on this planet. This doing nothing. United States to live up to every treaty agree- is something missed by even what is hailed as ment. It's also the way you get at resolving the most progressive of American movies, What should be the goal and some of the problems of poverty, alcoholism, Dances with Wolves. perspective of teachers when unemployment, and poor health. We're more interested in the 500 years telling their elementary and high If we don't handle the big things, we can't before Columbus and what will go on in the school students about Columbus? get to the manifestations of the problem. We next 500 years. The truth of the intervening First, that no one knows the truth about have to go to the basic human rights issues, 500 years is really known in the hearts of Columbus. His story is a very complex his- the basic treaty rights issues. people worldwide, even though the particu- tory in and of itself. Too often, this history is If we don't resolve these issues, then all lars have been obscured by a cotton-candy posed as romantic myth, and the uncomfort- people in this country are going to be complicit version of history. able facts about Columbus are eliminated. in the continuing effort to wipe out our Indian Explaining the unpleasant truths about people. It's as simple as that n

RETHINK/NO COLUMBUS PAGES Discovering Columbus: Re-reading the Past

By Bill Bigelow

Most of my students have trouble with the idea that a book — especially a textbook — can lie. That's why I start my U.S. history class by stealing a student's purse. As the year opens, my students may not know when the Civil War was fought or what James Madison or Frederick Douglass did; but they know that a brave fellow named Christopher Columbus discovered America. Indeed, this bit of historical lore may be the only knowledge class members share in common. What students don't know is that their textbooks have, by omission or otherwise, lied to them. They don't know, for example, that on the island of Hispaniola, an entire race of people was wiped out in only 40 years of Spanish administration. 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, running for 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 all fear, 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 the forts 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 elementary 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 hundred, 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.

RETHINKING COLUMBUS PACE 7 around the neck. With that they were safe for another three months while collecting more gold. Whoever was caught without a token was killed by having his or her hands cut off.... If you (fis^cov^er that some among There were no gold fields, and thus, once the Indians had handed in whatever they still had in gold ornaments, their only hope was them stea^ you must punish them to work all day in the streams, washing out gold dust from the pebbles. It was an impossible task, but those Indians who tried to flee by cutting off nose and ears, for into the mountains were systematically hunted down with dogs and killed, to set an example those are parts of the ^ody which for the others to keep trying.... During those two years of the administration of the brothers Columbus, an estimated cannot be concealed. one half of the entire population ofHispaniola was killed or killed themselves. The estimates run from one hundred and twenty-five Christopher Columbus, 1494 thousand to one-half million. (4) The goal is not to titillate or stun, but to force the question: Why wasn't I told this before? the past? turning from the New World, Columbus The assignment's subtext is to teach stu- shows off his parrots and Indians. Immedi- Re-examining Basic Truths dents that text material, indeed all written ately following the show, "the king and queen I ask students to find a textbook, prefer- material, should be read skeptically. I want lead the way to a near-by church. There a ably one they used in elementary school, and students to explore the politics of print — song of praise and thanksgiving is sung." (7) critique the book's treatment of Columbus that perspectives on history and social reality Intended or not, linking church and Colum- and the Indians. I distribute the following underlie the written word, and that to read is bus removes him still further from criticism. handout and review the questions aloud. I both to comprehend what is written, but also don't want them to merely answer the ques- to question why it is written. My intention is Students' Conclusions tions, but to consider them as guidelines. not to encourage an 'I-don't-believe-any- I give students a week before I ask them to • How factually accurate was the account? thing' cynicism (5), but rather to equip stu- bring in their written critiques. Students share • What was omitted — left out — that in dents to analyze a writer's assumptions and their papers with one another in small groups. your judgment would be important for a full determine what is and isn't useful in any They take notes towards what my co-teacher, understanding of Columbus? (for example, particular work. Linda Christensen, and I call the "collective his treatment of the Indians; slave taking; his For practice, we look at excerpts from a text": What themes recur in the papers and method of getting gold; the overall effect on California textbook that belonged to my what important differences emerge? What the Indians.) brother in the fourth grade, The Story of did they discover about textbook treatments • What motives does the book give to American Freedom,pub\ishedbyMacmillan of Columbus? Here are some excerpts: Columbus? Compare those with his real in 1964. We read aloud and analyze several Matthew wrote: motives. paragraphs. The arrival of Columbus and As people read their evaluations the same • Who does the book get you to root for, crew is especially revealing — and obnox- situations in these textbooks came out. Things and how do they accomplish that? (for ex- ious. As is true in every book on the "discov- were conveniently left out so that you sided ample, are the books horrified at the treat- ery" that I've ever encountered, the reader with Columbus's quest to 'boldly go where ment of Indians or thrilled that Columbus watches events from the Spaniard's point of no man has gone before' ...None of the harsh makes it to the New World?) view. We are told how Columbus and his violent reality is confronted in these so- • How do the publishers use illustrations? men "fell upon their knees and gave thanks to called true accounts. What do they communicate about Columbus God," a passage included in virtually all Gina tried to explain why the books were and his "enterprise"? elementary school accounts of Columbus. so consistently rosy: • In your opinion, why does the book por- "He then took possession of it [the island] in It seemed to me as if the publishers had just tray the Columbus/Indian encounter the way the name of King Ferdinand and Queen printed up some 'glory story' that was sup- it does? Isabella of Spain." (6) No question is raised posed to make us feel more patriotic about • Can you think of any groups in our of Columbus's right to assume control over our country. In our group, we talked about society who might have an interest in people a land which was already occupied. The the possibility of the government trying to having an inaccurate view of history? account is so respectful of the Admiral that protect young students from such violence. I tell students that this last question is students can't help but sense it approves of We soon decided that that was probably one tough but crucial. Is the continual distortion what is, quite simply, an act of naked impe- of the farthest things from their minds. They of Columbus simply an accident, or are there rialism. want us to look at our country as great, and social groups who benefit from children de- The book keeps us close to God and the powerful, and forever right. They want us to veloping a false or limited understanding of Church throughout its narrative. Upon re- believe Columbus was a real hero. We're PAGE 8 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITIOM being fed lies. We don't question the facts, we just absorb information that is handed to us because we trust the role models that are handing it out. Rebecca's collective text reflected the general tone of disillusion with the textbooks: Of course, the writers of the books probably think it's harmless enough—what does it matter who discovered America, really; and besides, it makes them feel good about America. But the thought that I have been lied to all my life about this, and who knows what else, really makes me angry.

Why Do We Do This? The reflections on the collective text became 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 historical ignorance. If the books wax romantic about Columbus planting the flag on island beaches and taking possession of land occupied 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 It's important to note that some students educator Paulo Freire calls it the "banking writings of the Spanish priest, Bartoiome de las Casas. 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

By Jan Elliott women and children, and where have you extreme poverty, hopelessness, created de- 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 making 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, without 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 approach 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 resisting plans to turn part of their land Into a golf course. Jan Elliott edits Indigenous Thought. This article is adapted from the June 1991 issue. PACE 10 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION Thanking the Birds

By Joseph Bruchac never forgot — for it was one of those boys and cook the game they had shot, giving the 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 father and the earth a "Ah," he said, "I see you have been hunt- Eagle's words to the boys, was the continent- 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

RETHINKING COLUMBUS PAGE 11 Why I'm Not Thankful

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ISSUES for Thanksgiving

By Michael Dorris Learning, particularly about self, is a struggle, but with security, support and love it has extraordinary and marvelously unique possibilities. As parents, our lot is often to watch and worry and In preparing this essay on stereotyping and Native cheer and commiserate, curbing throughout our impulse to American children, I did not concern myself with overt intervene. The world of children interacting with children is in or intentional racism. Native American young people, large part off-limits. particularly in certain geographical areas, are often Passivity ends, however, with relation to those adult-manufactured and therefore wholly gratuitous problems with which our prey to racial epithets and slurs — and to physical children are often confronted. We naturally rise against the greed abuse —just by being who they are. No amount of of panderers of debilitating junk foods; we reject dangerous toys, "consciousness-raising" will solve this problem; it however cleverly advertised; and we make strict laws to protect must be put down with force and determination. against reckless motorists. We dutifully strap our children into seatbelts, keep toxic substances out of reach, and keep a wary eye for the molesting or abusive stranger. Native Americans have more than one thing not to be thankful With so many blatant dangers to counter, perhaps it is unavoid- about on Thanksgiving. Pilgrim Day, and its antecedent feast able that some of the more subtle and insidious perils to child Halloween, represent the annual twin peaks of Indian stereotyp- welfare are often permitted to pass. The deficiencies of our own ing. From early October through the end of November, "cute little attitudes and training may be allowed to shower upon our chil- Indians" abound on greeting cards, advertising posters, in cos- dren, thus insuring their continuation, unchallenged, into yet tumes and school projects. Like stock characters from a vaudeville another generation. Much of what we impart is unconscious, and repertoire, they dutifully march out of the folk-cultural attic (and we can only strive to heighten our own awareness and thereby right down Madison Avenue!) ughing and wah-wah-wahing, circumvent a repetition ad infinitum of the "sins of the fathers" smeared with lipstick and rouged; decked out in an assortment of (and mothers). "Indian suits" composed of everything from old clothes to fringed And of course, we all make the effort to do this, to one degree paper bags, little trick-or-treaters and school pageant extras or another. It is therefore especially intolerable when we observe mindlessly sport and cavort. other adults witlessly, maliciously, and occasionally innocently, Considering that virtually none of the standard fare surrounding burdening our children with their own unexamined mental junk. either Halloween or Thanksgiving contains an ounce of authentic- Each of us has undoubtedly amassed a whole repertoire of ity, historical accuracy, or cross-cultural perception, why is it so examples of such negative influences, ranked in hierarchy of apparently ingrained? Is it necessary to the American psyche to infamy according to our own values and perspectives. Even with perpetually exploit and debase its victims in order to justify its the inauguration of certain broad controls, Saturday morning history? And do Native Americans have to reconcile themselves cartoon audiences are still too often invited to witness and approve to forever putting up with such exhibitions of puerile ethnocen- violence, cruelty, racism, sexism, ageism, and a plethora of other trism? endemic social vices. Being a parent is never uncomplicated. One is compelled, Attitudes pertinent to "racial" or "sex-role" identity are among through one's children, to re-experience vicariously the unfolding the most potentially hazardous, for these can easily be internalized complexities of growing up, of coping with the uncomprehended — particularly by the "minority" child. Such internalized attitudes expectations of an apparently intransigent and unaffectable world, profoundly affect self-concept, behavior, aspiration, and confi- of carving a niche of personality and point of view amidst the dence. They can inhibit a child before he or she has learned to abundance of pressures and demands which seem to explode from define personal talents, limits, or objectives, and tend to regularly all directions. Most people spend a good part of their lives in become self-fulfilling prophesies. Young people who are informed search of the ephemeral ideal often termed "identity," but never is that they are going to be under-achievers do underachieve with the quest more arduous and more precarious — and more crucial painful regularity. — than in the so-called "formative years." The progeny of each oppressed group are saddled with their One would like, of course, to spare offspring some of the pains own specialized set of debilitating — and to parents, infuriating and frustrations necessarily involved in maturation and self- — stereotypes. As the father of three Native American children, realization, without depriving them of the fulfillments, discover- aged ten, six and three, I am particularly attuned (but not resigned) ies, and excitements which are also part of the process. In many to that huge store of folk Americana presuming to have to do with arenas, little or no parental control is — or should be — possible. "Indian lore." From the "One little, two little..." messages of

PAGE 12 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION nursery school, to the ersatz pageantry of boy scout/campfire girl Priorities must be set. One might elect to let the infrequent mumbo jumbo, precious, ridiculous and irritating "Indians" are coloring book page pass uncontested in favor of mounting the forever popping up. battlements against the visitation of a traveling Indianophile group Consider for a moment the underlying meanings of some of the proposing a "playlet" on "Indians of New Hampshire." These supposedly innocuous linguistic stand-bys: "Indian givers" take possibly well-intentioned theatricals, routinely headed by some- back what they have sneakily bestowed in much the same way one called "Princess Snowflake" or "Chief Bob," are among the that "Indian summer" deceives the gullible flower bud. Unruly more objectionable "learning aids" and should be avoided at all children are termed "wild Indians" and a local bank is named costs. It must somehow be communicated to educators that no "Indian Head (would you open an account at a "Jew's hand," information about native peoples is truly preferable to a reiteration "Negro ear" or "Italian toe" branch?). Ordinary citizens rarely of the same old stereotypes, particularly in the early grades. walk "Indian file" when about their business, yet countless athletic A year ago my older son brought home a program printed by his teams, when seeking emblems of savagery and bloodthirstiness, school; on the second page was an illustration of the "First see fit to title themselves "warriors," "braves," "redskins," and the Thanksgiving," with a caption which read in part: "They served like. pumpkins and turkeys and corn and squash. The Indians had never On another level, children wearing "Indian suits," playing seen such a feast!" On the contrary! The Pilgrims had literally "cowboys and Indians" (or, in the case of organizations like the Y- never seen "such a feast," since all foods mentioned are exclu- Indian Guides, Y-Indian Maidens and Y-Indian Princesses, simply sively indigenous to the Americas and had been provided, or so "Indians"), or scratching their fingers with pocket knives (the legend has it, by the local tribe. better to cement a friendship) are encouraged to shriek, ululate, Thanksgiving could be a time for appreciating Native American speak in staccato and ungrammatical utterances (or, conversely, in peoples as they were and as they are, not as either the Pilgrims or sickeningly flowery metaphor) — thus presumably emulating their descendant bureaucrats might wish them to be. If there was "Indians." With depressing predictability, my children have been really a Plymouth Thanksgiving dinner, with Native Americans in variously invited to "dress up and dance," attendance as either guests or hosts, then portray Squanto (Pocahontas is waiting in «••«•••••«••••• •MMMMMM^BH the event was i'&K indeed. Pilgrims the wings: my daughter is only three), and generally considered Indians to be devils in "tell a myth." disguise, and treated them as such. Not surprisingly, they have at times Protecting children from And if those hypothetical Indians evidenced some unwillingness to identify, racism is every bit as participating in that hypothetical feast and thus cast their lot, with the "Indians" important as insuring that thought that all was well and were thankful which bombard them on every front. My in the expectation of a peaceful future, they younger son has lately taken to commenting they avoid playing with were sadly mistaken. In the ensuing months "Look at the Indians!" when he comes electrical sockets. and years, they would die from European across Ricardo Montalban, Jeff Chandler or diseases, suffer the theft of their lands and the improbable Joey Bishop in a vintage property and the near-eradication of their TV western. Society is teaching him that religion and their language, and be driven "Indians" exist only in an ethnographic to the brink of extinction. Thanksgiving, frieze, decorative and slightly titillatingly menacing. They like much of American history, is complex, multi-faceted, and will invariably wear feathers, never crack a smile (though an occa- not bear too close a scrutiny without revealing a less than heroic sional leer is permissible under certain conditions), and think aspect. Knowing the truth about Thanksgiving, both its proud and about little besides the good old days. Quite naturally, it does not its shameful motivations and history, might well benefit contem- occur to my son that he and these curious and exotic creatures are porary children. But the glib retelling of an ethnocentric and self- expected to present a common front -— until one of his first grade serving falsehood does not do one any good. classmates, garbed in the favorite costume of Halloween (ah, the Parents' major responsibility, of course, resides in the home. permutations of burlap!) or smarting from an ecology commercial, From the earliest possible age, children must be made aware that asks him how to shoot a bow, skin a hamster, or endure a scrape many people are wrong-headed about not only Native Americans, without a tear. The society image is at the same time too demand- but about cultural pluralism in general. Children must be encour- ing and too limiting a model. aged to articulate any questions they might have about "other" As a parent, what does one do? All efficacy is lost if one is people, and "minority" children must be given ways in which to perceived and categorized by school officials as a hyper-sensitive insulate themselves from real or implied insults, epithets, slights, crank, reacting with horror to every "I-is-for-Indian" picture book. or stereotypes. "Survival humor" must be developed and positive To be effective, one must appear to be super-reasonable, drawing models must, consciously and unconsciously, be available and sympathetic teachers and vice-principals into an alliance of the obvious. Sadly, children must learn not to trust uncritically. enlightened to beat back the attacks of the flat-earthers. In such a Protecting children from racism is every bit as important as pose, one may find oneself engaged in an apparently persuasive insuring that they avoid playing with electrical sockets. Poison is discussion with a school librarian regarding a book titled some- poison, and ingrained oppressive cultural attitudes are at least as thing like Vicious Red Men of the Plains (Why, it's set here for 20 hard to antidote, once implanted, as are imbibed cleaning fluids. years and nobody ever noticed that it portrayed all Indi...uh, No one gains by allowing an inequitable and discriminatory status Native Americans, as homicidal maniacs!"), while at the same quo to persist. It's worth being a pain in the neck about. O time observing in silence a poster on the wall about "Contribu- Reprinted with permission of the author. Michael Dorris is tions of the Indians" (heavy on corn and canoes, short on as- author o/The Broken Cord, the novel Yellow Raft in Blue Water, tronomy and medicine). and co-author o/The Crown of Columbus.

RETHINKING COLUMBUS PAGE 13 Nicely, Nicely

Nicely, nicely, nicely, away in the east, the rain clouds care for the little corn plants as a mother cares for her baby. Zuni Corn Ceremony

Indian Children Speak By Juanita Bell

People said, "Indian children are to hard to teach. Don't expect them to talk." One day stubby little Boy said, "Last night the moon went with me all the way When I went out to walk." People said, "Indian children are very silent. Their only words are no and yes." But ragged Pansy confided softly, "My dress is old but at night the moon is kind; Then I wear a beautiful moon-colored dress." People said, "Indian children are dumb. They seldom make a reply." Clearly I hear Dolores answer, "Yes, the sunset is so good, I think God is throwing A bright shawl around the shoulders of sky." People said, "Indian children are rude. They don't seem very bright." Then I remember Joe Henry's remark. "The tree is hanging down her head because the sun is staring at her. White people always stare They do not know it is not polite." People said, "Indian children never take you in, Outside their thoughts you'll always stand." I have forgotten, the idle words that People said, But treasure the day when iron doors swung wide, and I slipped into the heart of Indian land.

PAGE 14 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION called themselves "Indians." They are Na- trayal of the "Indian" as a person of few vajo or Seminole or Menominee, etc. The words, mostly "ugh." The fact is that early Native hundreds of native groups scattered through- European settlers were aware of and com- out the U.S. are separate peoples, separate mented specifically on the brilliance of Na- nations. They have separate languages and tive American oratory and the beauty of their Americans: cultures and names. Native Americans of languages. one nation were and are as different from Stereotypes are sneaky. They influence Native Americans of another nation as Ital- the way we talk and live and play, sometimes ians are from Swedes, Hungarians from the without our knowing it Don't say to your What Not Irish or the English from the Spanish. When students, "You act like a bunch of wild referring to and teaching about Native Indians." Don't encourage or even allow Americans, use the word "Indians" — or children to play "cowboys and Indians." Be to Teach even "Native American" — as little as pos- sensitive to stereotypes in everything you sible. Don't "study the Indians." Study the say and do. Hopi, the Sioux, the Nisqually or the Apache. By June Sark Heinrich Don't assume that Native American Don't expect Native Americans to look children are well acquainted with their like Hollywood movie "Indians." heritage. Don't use alphabet cards that say A is Some Native Americans tell a story about If you have Native American children in for apple, B is for ball, and I is for Indian. a white "American" woman who visited a your class, you may expect that they will be The matter may seem to be a trivial one, reservation. She stopped and stared at a young good resource persons for your "unit on but if you want your students to develop man, then said to him, "Are you a real Indians." Today, it is not unlikely that such respect for Native Americans, don't start Indian? You don't look Indian." children will be proud of being Native them out in kindergarten equating Indians Whatever it is that people expect Native American. Some may participate in tradi- with things like apples and balls. Other short Americans to look like, many do not fit those tional activities of their cultures. In general, "i" words (ice, ink or ivory) could be used, so images. Since they come from different na- however, native children have much in com- stay away from I-is-for-Indian in your alpha- tions, their physical features, body structure mon with other children in the U.S. in that bet teaching. and skin colors vary a great deal—and none they know far more about TV programs than has red skin. Of course, Native and non- about their own national ways of life. They Don't talk about Indians as though they Native Americans have intermarried so that eat junk food and want all of the things most belong to the past. many Native Americans today have Euro- children in our society want. If lost in a Books and filmstrips often have titles like pean, African or other ancestry. Therefore, forest, they would not necessarily be able to "How the Indians Lived," as though there don't expect all Native Americans to look manage any better than other children would. aren't any living today. The fact is that about alike, any more than all Europeans look Like other children in the U.S. native chil- 1.8 million Native Americans live in what is alike. dren need to be taught about the native heri- now the United States, many on reservations tage which, in a very real sense, is the heri- and many in cities and towns. They are in all Don't let TV stereotypes go unchal- tage of everybody living in the U.S. today. kinds of neighborhoods and schools and are lenged. in all walks of life. Too many Native Ameri- Unfortunately for both Native and non- Don't let students think that native ways cans live in conditions of poverty and pow- Native American children, TV programs still of life have no meaning today. erlessness, but they are very much a part of show the savage warrior or occasionally the Native arts have long commanded world- the modern world. If the people who write noble savage stereotypes. Discuss with chil- wide interest and admiration. But far more books and filmstrips mean "How (particular dren the TV programs they watch. Help them important for human and ecological survival groups of) Native Americans Lived Long understand the meaning of the word "ste- are Native American philosophies of life. Ago," then they should say so. reotype." Help them understand that, from Respect for the land; love of every form of the Native American point of view, Colum- life, human and non-human; harmony be- Don't talk about "them" and "us." bus and other Europeans who came to this tween humans and nature rather than con- A "them" and "us" approach reflects ex- land were invaders. Even so, Native Ameri- quest and destruction of nature — these are treme insensitivity, as well as a misconcep- cans originally welcomed and helped the vital characteristics of native ways of life. tion of historical facts. "They" are more truly European settlers. When they fought, they All people in the U.S. can and must learn to "us" than anyone else. Native peoples are the were no more "savage" than the Europeans live in harmony with the natural world and original Americans and are the only indig- and were often less so. Help children under- with one another. That is one lesson native enous Americans in the sense that all of their stand that atrocities are a part of any war. In peoples can teach your students about "the ancestors were born on this land. Everybody fact, war itself is atrocious. At least, the Indians." D else in this country came from some other Native Americans were defending land they place originally. had lived on for thousands of years. If Native June Sark Heinrich formerly directed the Americans were not "savage warriors," nei- Native American Committee's Indian School Don't lump all Native Americans to- ther were they "noble savages." They were in Chicago. gether. no more nor less noble than the rest of hu- Reprinted from Unlearning "Indian" Ste- There were no "Indians" before the Euro- manity. reotypes, Council on Interracial Books for peans came to America — that is, no people Another common stereotype is the por- Children.

RETHINKING COLUMBUS PAGE 15 Columbus and Native Issues in the Elementary Classroom

By Bob Peterson

Many of us grew up with the seemingly innocent refrain, "In fourteen hundred and ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue." Throughout our schooling, our understanding of Columbus didn't move much beyond this simple rhyme. Our children still learn myths and lies about Columbus. However, they face not only inaccurate social studies textbooks and children's biographies, but a plethora of new products from businesses that seek to profit off the Columbus Quincentennial. General Mills, for example, told kids on their recent Honey Nut Cheerios box that Columbus "discovered the New World" and "celebrated with a breakfast including Honey Nut Cheerios." As October 1992 approaches, we should brace ourselves for a pro-Columbus media barrage complete with new books, toys, medallions, and video games. Problems and Possibilities This poses problems and possibilities for early childhood and elementary teachers. We have some choices. First, we could go along with the "official" story and use readily available, slick materials and existing children's books on Colum- bus. Some new teaching materials make a token attempt at answering criticisms of Columbus and the European conquest of the Western Hemisphere. Columbus, for example, doesn't "discover the new world," he "encounters" it. But these materials rarely examine what Columbus actually did in the Americas and its devastating impact. If we today's multicultural society. We could show the impact of racism on our own education follow the official story, even in its more how mistreatment of native peoples is not and on our society. liberal form, we would perpetuate myths and just a question of the past, but continues I have found that Unlearning "Indian" lies. today. We could stress that people continue Stereotypes (film strip and written materials) Second, we might ignore the to work for native peoples' rights. by the Council on Interracial Books for Chil- quincentenary, arguing that elementary Because most of us were educated with the dren in New York City is extremely effective school curriculum is already too focused on Columbus myth as well, we must re-educate in changing attitudes of both educators and holiday celebrations. ourselves by reading books such as Hans students. It is narrated by native children Or third, we could view the quincentenary Koning's Columbus, His Enterprise and who visit a public library and become out- as an opportunity to break down myths about Howard Zinn's A People's History of the raged at the stereotypes of native peoples in Columbus and stereotypes about Indians. United States. We need to also learn about children's books. We could encourage students to critically the varied histories of the many native na- How we approach issues such as Colum- examine children's books and television. tions that existed and continue to exist in the bus and stereotypes depends on children's We could teach that native peoples are part of Americas. We should sensitize ourselves to developmental levels. For a four or five year

PACE 16 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION old, "history" is yesterday and the "future" is person and what that person is like. • In books that children bring to class, tomorrow. A fifth grader, on the other hand, • Explain the word "stereotype" as a mis- whether from home or library, consistently might be a history whiz. Even the youngest taken idea about how a whole group of people point out and discuss any stereotypes. As we children, however, should begin to experi- think, behave, or dress. Give an example that model such thinking and give children the ment with words such as "fair," "unfair," and does not relate to American Indians, such as opportunity to think on their own — "Did "stereotype" just as we try to teach them the the view by some that girls can't be good you notice any stereotypes in that story?" — meaning of "respect" and "cooperate." baseball players, or boys can't cook. children will improve their ability to think One way to start studying Columbus and • Concretely explain some stereotypes, critically. Native Americans is to assess your students' and try to make analogies with children's • Videotape a Columbus or Thanksgiving perceptions of Native American people. own experiences. For example, explain that special from TV. Watch it with your students Depending on your students' ages and the some native nations used feathers for cer- and critique it together. composition of your class, you might ask emonial purposes, but that many others did • Have students make posters about com- them to draw an "Indian" and a house he or not. Ask the children how their family dresses mon stereotypes of various groups of people. she lives in, to write down what they know for special occasions and ceremonies, such Have the children explain how the stereo- about Native Americans, or as a class make as weddings. Point out that it's a stereotype types hurt people. I have found that as chil- a theme map or "word web" together to to think that all people of their ethnic back- dren start learning about stereotypes, they brainstorm what children associate with the ground always dress as if they were at a often generalize and think everything is a topic. (If native children are part of your wedding. Likewise, it's a stereotype to think stereotype: that all pictures of native people classroom it is important to talk with them that all Indians dress with feathers all the in traditional dress or any picture of a woman before this activity so they understand its time. as a nurse are stereotypes. One way to deal purpose.) Ask students to tell the class what • As part of a class discussion, list common with this is to get children to teach others identifies the person as an "Indian" in their stereotypes about Native Americans. Have about stereotypes — by explaining their drawings. Write the responses on the board. children identify the stereotypes as they are posters, doing short presentations or skits. Many times the responses will be based on used in Thanksgiving greeting cards, alpha- • Use quality books, such as Michael stereotypes: the teepee and feather are most bet and counting books, history books, or Dorris's photographic book, Native Ameri- common, followed by bows and arrows and children's books on Columbus (see chart). cans: 500 Years After, to show how contem- the tomahawk. porary native people live and look. The pictures and stories will not only help • Invite Native American adults into your teachers understand the children's stereo- classroom to talk about their jobs and family types, but can be the basis for discussion. Explain how and how they feel about the quincentenary. Ask the students where they got their ideas • Have children think about a time in their for what they drew or wrote. Ask if they think stereotypes are lives when they fought against something the pictures or drawings are accurate. It's used to make that wasn't fair. Explain how native peoples necessary to point out that some native people have fought for what is "fair" — their land did use teepees and that feathers played an Indians seem and way of life. important role among many Native Ameri- cans, but when we generalize we are ste- inferior or less than Taking Action reotyping. Repeating this activity at the end As children become aware of how unfair of your study is a useful way to assess the human. stereotypes are, teachers might encourage impact your curriculum has had on children. them to not just complain about them, but to take action. Educating others, writing to An Anti-Stereotype Curriculum • Explain how these stereotypes are used to publishers and stores, and talking to librar- Once the stereotypes are out in the open make Indians seem inferior or less than hu- ians are all possibilities. it's crucial they be dealt with. Based on your man. Don't limit your critiques to textbooks. One time after viewing the filmstrip Un- analysis, you might work with your col- Some of the most common stereotypes are in learning "Indian" Stereotypes my 5th grade leagues to build an "anti-stereotype curricu- children's favorites such as Clifford's Hal- students seemed particularly angered at what lum." Some of the following ideas might be loweenby Norman Bridwell in which Clifford they had learned. The next day they talked helpful. The ideas are based on suggestions uses a feather head dress to dress up as an about how their siblings in first grade had in Unlearning "Indian" Stereotypes by the Indian; or Maurice Sendak's Alligators All come home with construction paper head- CIBC; Books Without Bias: Through Indian Around, in which the alligators are "imitat- dresses with feathers. Eyes, edited by Beverly Slapin and Doris ing Indians" by wearing feather head-dresses, 'That's a stereotype!" the students proudly Scale; and Anti-Bias Curriculum, Tools for carrying tomahawks, and smoking pipes. proclaimed. Empowering Young Children, by Louise Also look at stereotypes in society at large, "What did you do about it?" I asked. Derman-Sparks and the A.B.C. Task Force such as in the names of sports teams or cars. "I ripped it up." "I slugged him," came the of the National Association for the Educa- Talk about the Washington Redskins, or the chorus of responses. Cringing and making a tion of Young Children. Cherokee Jeep, or Winnebago Trailer. Ask if mental note to strengthen my conflict resolu- • Show the film strip Unlearning "Indian" the children know any other cars or sports tion curriculum, I initiated a discussion. Stereotypes and discuss it with your stu- teams named after nationality groups. "What else might you have done with your dents. For younger children, show it in 3 or 4 • Use the article (p. 67) on people fighting brother?" parts and discuss each separately. against "mascoting" as a discussion starter "Why do your brothers and sisters have • Ask students if they know any "Indian" on what people can do to fight stereotypes. feather headdresses and how do we learn

RETHINKING COLUMBUS PAGE 17 resident out. A similar role play about Co- lumbus or Thanksgiving can dispel the myth of the "discovery of the new world." The "discovered" purse exercise—where a teacher "discovers" and claims a student's purse or backpack—is a great way to start a discussion. (Thisexerciseisfurtherexplained in Bill Bigelow's article, p. 6) After such role plays, a good next step is reading or talking about accurate accounts of Columbus. Do the children know, for example, that few of the native children who witnessed Columbus's arrival in the Ameri- cas, ever grew to adulthood? Or that Colum- bus and the Spaniards purposefully used attack dogs against native peoples, not to mention more gruesome tactics such as cutting off hands and burning native people alive? That Columbus initiated the slave trade in the Western Hemisphere when he sent hundreds of native people back to Spain such things?" • Are native people always shown the on his second voyage, to be sold as slaves? Finally they decided there were more pro- same, without regard for the cultural, reli- As children become familiar with the true ductive things they could do. They first gious, and language differences among story of Columbus, they will certainly ask scoured the school library for books with tribes? questions such as, "Why do some books not stereotypes. Since they didn't find many, • Are native people described with racist tell the truth?" "Why was I told something they decided to investigate their siblings' imagery, such as "half-naked," "brutal," or else at home or last year in school?" "My first grade room. They wrote a letter to the "bloodthirsty"? Do the native people speak mom says Columbus was a brave man, and a teacher asking permission, and then went in in short, inarticulate sentences such as "Me hero." armed with clipboards, paper, and pens. Re- go. Soldier make fire. We now hide." Good Questions sults were a picture of an Indian next to the • Is native culture depicted in a conde- These are good questions without easy letter "I" in the alphabet strip on the wall. scending way in which, for example, reli- answers. I have found that only by integrat- They came back and decided they wanted to gious beliefs are "superstitions"? Is there a ing such questions throughout my entire cur- teach the first graders about stereotypes. I paternalistic distinction between "them" and riculum, do children begin to realize that the was skeptical, but agreed and after much "us"? content of TV and textbooks is very often rehearsal they entered the first grade class- One year after my 4th graders looked for shaped to serve interests of those who run room to give their lesson. Later they re- stereotypes and studied Native American society. In studying the American Revolu- flected on it and two students wrote in our history, a student wrote: InRoom25 we have tion, for example, children should learn that school newspaper been studying Native Americans. Indians only a handful of rich, white, male property We have been studying stereotypes of Na- are human beings like everyone else. They owners elected our first president. Why are tive Americans. What is a stereotype? It's are not animals, they are human beings. Not most children's textbooks silentonthatissue? when somebody says something that's not all Indians dress alike. Not all Indians dance What has been the history of social move- true about another group of people. For the same way. All Indians don't live in tee- ments in this country to change that? example, it is a stereotype if you think all pees. Indians wear feathers on their heads Over time my 4th and 5th graders develop Indians wear feathers or say "HOW!" Or if only for special ceremonies. The Indians are the ability to question the validity of what you think that all girls are delicate. Why? very sad that many of the white settlers took they read. I can help in that process by asking Because some girls are strong. their land and killed some of their relatives. such questions as, "How do you think Native Now some of them live on reservations and Americans [or other "silenced" people] feel Stereotype Checklist some in our city. when they hear such lies?" "Can we find The book Through Indian Eyes, edited by To find out what your students know about other examples in our books that might Slapin and Scale, has a checklist to evaluate Columbus, have them draw or write what present distortions or stereotypes about other children's books. The checklist examines they have learned in previous grades. Based people?" "Why do book companies print both blatant stereotypes and more subtle on what they know, different follow-up ac- such things?" "Do you think your mom and biases. Some of the many questions raised: tivities might be useful. dad, or maybe other teachers, might not have • In ABC books, is "E" for Eskimo or "I" Even for very young children, teachers can been told the whole story either?" "Who for Indian? In picture books are children talk about concepts such as fairness, discov- wins and who loses when these things about shown "playing Indian?" ery, and culture. Through role play and dis- native peoples are printed in books?" "How • Are native people shown as savages or cussion, children can recognize that if some- can you tell if what we read or hear is true?" primitive people rather than as human beings one was living in their house and some one Children might take such questions and who are members of highly complex societ- else came up and "discovered" it, it wouldn't interview people in their family and commu- ies? be fair for the new person to kick the current nity. They could also ask "What do you think PAGE 18 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION about Christopher Columbus?" The re- explaining their criticisms. A class of fourth sponses could then be charted and discussed graders in Milwaukee wrote to their U.S. Helping Young in class or small groups. Senator asking why he voted in favor of As children gain a new understanding of spending money on the quincentennial. He Children Critique Columbus and the damaging effects of ste- wrote back and enclosed seven xeroxed pages Columbus Books reotypes, they often want to do something of the World Book Encyclopedia on Co- about it. Encourage them to make their own lumbus. The children responded, "We know As part of an "anti-stereotype curricu- stories, dramas, murals, videos, drawings, what the encyclopedia and other children's lum," it is useful to have children break about Columbus and native peoples. books say about him [Columbus]. We do not into groups and examine books on Co- One year my students created a drama for think that everything written about him is lumbus. The following questions can be a school program on Columbus Day that had true. There are other places to look for written as a chart and can help children a space invader "discover" the entire planet information....Westill think our government recognize the subtle ways in which books earth and claim it for his own. First I gave the shouldn't spend money celebrating Colum- present stereotypes and distorted infor- children a cartoon drawing of Columbus's bus Day." mation. landfall with Tamo people looking on. I It is also important to link the myths sur- 1. How many times did Columbus asked them to write what both groups might rounding Columbus to other myths of U.S. talk? have been thinking. I asked them to either history. In particular, it is essential to expose 2. How many times did we get to write a skit about the interaction between the truth about the colonization of the Ameri- know what he was thinking? Columbus and the Taino, or about why some cas —its effect on the native populations and 3. How many times did the Native native people don't like to celebrate Co- how it led to the enslavement of millions of people have names? lumbus Day. As a class we combined the people from Africa. By critically evaluating 4. How many times did the Native ideas from the small groups and came up U.S. history as presented in most social people talk? with a play that had some children explain- studies books, we can help children learn to 5. How many times did we get to ing to their classmates why they weren't think critically and independently. know what the Native people were going to celebrate the holiday. They used the thinking? space invader analogy as a way to explain the Important Reminders 6. What do you learn about Columbus's issue to the audience. It ended with the aliens In discussing such issues, two points are life? taking slaves back to their own galaxy and especially important. First, both the Native 7. What did you learn about Native "settling" our planet. Americans and Africans fought valiantly, people's lives? Children can also illustrate theirown books sometimes successfully, for their own free- 8. Does the book describe the Native about the true story of Columbus, either dom. One of the most moving examples in people's feelings? using the story written by Tina Thomas on U.S. history involves the Seminole Wars in 9. Does the book describe how Co- page 32, or using a story they wrote based on Honda in the early to mid 1800s, in which lumbus treated the Native people? their new understanding about Columbus. Seminole Indians united with runaway and Students could also survey books in the free African-Americans to fight the U.S. school library or younger children's text- army. seek the justice they have been so long de- books and find out which books include or Henrietta Buckmaster's book, The Semi- nied. omit important facts. They could write addi- nole Wars, is a good source of information In this regard, a unit on Columbus for tions or notes of caution for those books and for children. Written at a 5th grade reading elementary aged children should be in the ask the librarian to put them with the biased level, selections of the book can be read to a context of a broader study of Native Ameri- books. They could carry the project one step whole class or by children in groups. The cans, including contemporary native issues further and write the publishers of the books, story of cooperation between Native such as protecting treaty rights, protecting American and Africans who freed themselves lands from mining companies, and ending all lends itself to provocative role plays and forms of discrimination. discussions about the need for multiracial This stress on contemporary questions is unity then and today. especially important with four or five year- Second, not all Europeans supported the old children. Educator, Louise Derman- barbarous acts against people of color. Even Sparks,authoTofAnti-BiasCwriculum,Tool5 in Columbus's era, there were forceful crit- for Empowering Young Children, cautions ics of the mistreatment of native peoples, that unless teachers are teaching Native such as Bartolome' de las Casas. And while American young children, "it is not effective the Founding Fathers of the United States to introduce activities about past Native were writing a constitution that made slavery American life. After all, children do not legal, Thomas Paine eloquently wrote against study the life-style of colonial Euro-Ameri- such a view. cans in preschool or in kindergarten (except Most important, children must understand for the very simplistic stereotypes of the that when we discuss Native Americans, it is 'Pilgrim.')" not only history. Native peoples have sur- By using various books, maps, and pic- In ABC books, I* "E" for "Eskimo?" vived despite the European conquest, and tures, teachers should help children under- From Reed A Oswald, My Little live and work in all strata of society. They stand that there are hundreds of different Golden Dictionary. continue their cultural traditions, and still nations of native peoples in the Americas RETHINKING COLUMBUS PAGE 19 Chlppewa Nick Hawkins, a Wisconsin treaty rights activist, prepares for a night of spear fishing. 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 innative 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 I went out into the hall after explaining that from them by force. Native Americans fought when I reappeared, it meant I had just com- back but lost, I told my class, and now there Native pleted a long ocean voyage and would need are only a few places left that they can call a place to live. their own. When I entered the classroom I asked, I could have added, but did not, that denial Land "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 see if he will give me some land." I explained occupation of Wounded Knee occurred about Rights: my need in pantomime since we didn'tknow this time, and TV news programs were filled each other's language, and he graciously let with the latest events in the battle between me use one-fourth of the room. Meanwhile, U.S. troops and descendants of the Sioux A Role Play he showed me what animals to hunt, how to people, many of whom had been massacred hunt, what vegetables to eat and how to plant in that same location 80 years before. But them. since I thought it would be too difficult to By Jane Califf Another boat came; the act was repeated. explain what was happening to six-year- Several times this happened until my col- olds, I never discussed it with them. laborator was standing in a corner of the A month later, a substitute teacher took the "What do you know about Indian people?" classroom with one square foot of space left class and the subject of Native Americans I asked a class of first-graders. I said, "I think I hear something again." came up. In describing our classroom drama, "They kill people." "Not another boat!" several children ex- one child shouted, "And then he was stand- "They tie people to a stake and burn them." claimed and ran to the door to check. "Yes, ing over there in the corner!"; the teacher "They chase people from their homes." there's another boat!" they said, thoroughly asked, "And what was that called?" An- I was shocked. Somehow I thought that caught up in the drama. swered one child: "Bandaged Knee." six-year-olds are too young to have internal- "Come on over," I called, and 50 more I learned much from this incident This ized such stereotypes, but I had underesti- phantom settlers entered the room. I asked child had made a connection between con- mated the power of TV, books and comics. the class, "Should the Lenni Lenape give up temporary events on the TV screen and the Most assuredly, the children's responses did his space in the corner for these new people?" drama that had unfolded in our classroom not fit into my lesson plan. I had come to "No," one boy said seriously, "because then four weeks earlier. Yet, I had not helped the class prepared to talk about the everyday life he would be in the closet." The class laughed. children make the connection, having under- of the Lenni Lenape, who had once lived in A girl jumped up. "If he has to give up that estimated their capacities—a common fail- the part of New Jersey where I was then little piece of land, then he won't have any ing among teachers. teaching. land at all, and that's no laughing matter." With older children, I have varied the I thought that if my students could appre- "Let's take sides then," I suggested. "Some drama. Usually a simple confrontation be- ciate aspects of Lenni Lenape life, I would be of you be Lenni Lenape people, and some of tween Native Americans and settlers, in which helping them to understand and respect Na- you be settlers with me. We'll have to dis- each side presents its views, is enough to tive Americans. However, I realized that this cuss this problem." They chose sides. A make clear the legitimate anger of Native would not be enough to counteract the false "settler" on my side began: "We're going to Americans over the theft of their land. One impressions the children in my class had of take all your land." "No, you're not!" said a second grader thought an Indian was "a per- Native Americans as "savages" and "killers." young "Lenni Lenape," stamping her foot. son who stands on a rock and when a cowboy I would try again. Suddenlyand spontaneously a"war"broke walks by he goes POW on his head with a I invited a Native American parent to visit out Children pushed, shoved, leapt over tomahawk." "Why?" lasked. "I don'tknow," the class and help me put on a skit to demon- desks and ran around the room defending he replied. In the role-playing situation I strate why Native Americans fought the their side in a mock battle. They became so chose him to be a Native American defend- white settlers. I introduced the parent as a caught up in the action that we were able to ing his people's right to their land. He put up member of the Penobscot Indian Nation. An bring the drama to a close only with some a good defense, and it was clear his attitude excited murmur echoed through the room at difficulty. was changed as a result of the role-play.... the thought of seeing a "real live Indian." "What happened?" we then asked. "There Theapparenteffectivenessoftheapproach Setting the stage for the skit, I told the was a fight!" "Why?" "Because they were which I have described was brought home to children that our guest would pretend to be a going to take all of the Lenni Lenape's land, me forcefully some time later. A seven-year- Lenni Lenape and that he and I were about to and that wasn't fair." old, who felt keenly the injustices Native put on a play about the Native Americans We then summarized the point of the skit, Americans have suffered, told me that one who were the first people to live in and suggesting that the next time they watched a night he was watching a TV program in around Planfield, New Jersey, where the TV show in which Native American people which he saw Native Americans portrayed school was situated. I described how differ- were fighting settlers, they would under- as wildly attacking peaceful settlers. "I went ent the area looked then. I took the role of the stand a little better why. It was not that right up to the TV and turned it off. I told my people from across the ocean who, because Native Americans like to kill people, but that mother and father that that wasn't a fair they were poor, unemployed and landless, despite their hospitality to the newcomers, movie." O were coming to find a better life for them- their land and homes were being taken away selves. I told the class to pretend that the hall and they had to fight back. I did not pursue Reprintedfrom the Council on Interracial was the ocean and the classroom was where this any further except to say that most of the Books for Children, Unlearning "Indian" the settlers landed. Native Americans' land was eventually taken Stereotypes. RETHINKING COLUMBUS PAGE 21 Scalping A Practice Dating to Ancient Greece

Because the image of "Indians" presented to children in this society is one of fierceness, savagery, and G violence, it is possible that some of your students may mention "Indian scalping." If this happens, the following may prove useful.... Scalping had been known By Hii EXCELLENCY in Europe as far back as I L L I AM S H I R L E T, Efq; Captain-General and Governor in Chief, in and brer Hii Maiefty'1 Prorince of the MtJfituftlll-Bty, in ffnv-England, ancient Greece. The practice and Vicc-AdmiiaJ of the fame, and Major-Gcncral in Hu MajcAf'l Arm/. in the American colonies of paying bounties for native A PROCLAMATION scalps — similar to the %t£P=$ii.eifidioui, baibaioui and inhuman Muidcn of divcil of h.i MajeDy i Etflijl Sulijccli ; and have al.lljincd ftom all Commerce and Cotrcfpondencc with Hi; MjjrP.y't is credited to Governor Kieft did Subjcfli lor many Monthi pift ; and tlie faid InJiani have fully difcovercd an inimical, traitcrioui and rebellion! Inlcn- of New Netherlands. By ri:>n and Dif|>oliiion ; attaching a profit motive to lube thmfoit tlioiifilit fit to iffnt tlrs proclamation, anb to Dttlate tlje ynbtans of tljc Nonidp.-- woek, Aiiefagtmlacook, Weweenock anb St. John'i CtlbtS. «nb tbt JllDiailS Of tl)t Otljtt 3CtlbtS ttCll) rj the practice of scalping, Lite inllflbiting tn the aarttrnanb moHUrm |>»tMof UI8 fiBajtttp'B ICtrritojlts of Niw-Engiand,anb Europeans were encouraged I in ail'aiitt anb Conftbcracp tbit() tl)t abobt-rttitcb CtibtB, fljt Penoi>fco» onlp tjctcpttb, to be frntmfte, Urtds anb Craito;a to bis f&ott isnrttti ©ai'tftp = 31"" H bo litrcbp rtqufrt Ijis cpnjtilv's to step up the slaughter of -ni-|fds of ti)i0 oroiifiut to tnibrnct nil iDppottunitits *f putfuiiig, captitiating,billing anD btdrofing native people to ease the all anb anp. of tljr afoufiib 3|lt|»"B. '!)'* ivnobfcou tjmptrb. AND WHEREAS the General Court of thu Province have voted, That a Bounty or Encouragement be granted and takeover of more territory. allowed to be paid out t f the Piibliclc-Ticafuiy to the matching Army that fhall be employed for the Defence of the Eaflein By 1703 the Massachusetts and VVertern Frontier! fioni the Twenty-fifth of tint Month of Juiti until the Twenty-fifth of November nctt ; Bay Colony was offering feAbc tlinttnlit fit to pubitft) tlit Taint ; anb 9 bo Ijtitbr pcomlft, 3CI)»t tljert Ojall btpafb out of tilt ^rolimct Irtafurr to all anb anpof tbt faiDjfojctf, ototranb about t|)titeount|> uponeiiUQintitt, $60 for each Native scalp. It)tttt CUagts anb AmtCQtntt, ttit )»tciiiiuiiii 01 KJounties fallotblng, «i. And in 1756, Pennsylvania For every Male Indian Prifoner above the Age of Twelve Yean, that IKall be taken and brought to Bo/Ion, FiftJ Povntlt. Governor Morris, in his Tor crciy Male Indian Scalp, brought in ai Evidence of their being killed, 1'srij PmnJt. Declaration of War against For every Female Indian Piifoner, uleo and brought in u afordaid, arid for every Male Indian Prifonet under the Age of the Lenni Lenape people, Twelve Yean, taken ami brought in ai aforciaid, TwtjUj-Jm offered "130 Pieces of Eight, For erery Scalp of fucb Female Indian or Male Indian under Twelve Yean of Age, brought aa Evidence of their being lulled, ai a/orc&id, "Ivuntj PftioJt. for the Scalp of Every Male GIVEN f*ltr <*> Hnni * BofloD, /« lit Trniftr t/irr/tlj, lUt Tvrl/H Dtj if June, If}}, tnj It tit foxftftiflll Tar if lit Rtir* Indian Enemy, above the «/>«<' Sntrtifm LirJ GEORGE /if i-(rW, *_, ik Cm if GOD, •/Groit-Brnaln, France, i*J Ireland, KING, DrfcnJtr •/ lit Age of Twelve Years," and /i,;*, kc. "50 Pieces of Eight for the Scalp of Every Indian I. Wii.i.*«s, . W. Shirley. Woman, produced as GOD Save the KING. evidence of their being BOSTON, 1 tbe HuaouraUc Uu M«jcll>'s COUNCIL. killed." Massachusetts, in this period, was offering bounties of British 1755 proclamation offering 40 pounds for the scalp of an adult Indian male, 20 40 pounds for a male Indian pounds for the scalp of an Indian woman or child. scalp, and 20 pounds for scalps of females or of children under 12 years old. Thus, the European practice Much of what is written about "Indian" always the victors who write the history of paying for the scalps of men and violence and scalping reflects the perspec- books, and it is the white viewpoint which woman reflected the intent of their warfare tives of the Europeans who wrote the early has dominated most accounts of our pasLd — the annihilation of the native popula- books and articles describing the period. tion. As this became clear, native nations Accounts written by Native American Reprinted from Unlearning "Indian" Ste- responded to the threat and changed their people would differ in their version of who reotypes, Council on Interracial Books for own methods of warfare, including the was or was not cruel, or who was and who Children. practice of taking scalps. was not defending their homes. But it is

PAGE 22 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION Once Upon a Genocide... Christopher Columbus in Children's Literature

By Bill Bigelow

Children's biographies of Christopher Columbus function as primers on racism and colonialism. They teach youngsters to accept the right of white people to rule over people of color, of powerful nations to dominate weaker nations. And because the Co- lumbus myth is so pervasive — Columbus's "discovery" is probably the only historical episode with which all my students at Jeffer- son High School are familiar — it inhibits children from developing democratic, multicultural, and anti-racist attitudes. Almost without exception, children's biographies of Columbus depict the journey to the New World as a "great adventure" led by "probably the greatest sailor of his time." It's a story of courage and superhuman tenacity. Columbus is brave, smart and determined. But behind this romanticized portrayal is a gruesome reality. For Columbus, land was real estate and it didn't matter that other people were already living there; if he "discovered" it, he took it If he needed guides or translators, he kidnapped them. If his men wanted women, he captured sex slaves. If the indigenous people resisted, he countered with wild dogs, hangings, and mutilations. On his second voyage, desperate to show his royal patrons a return on their invest- ment, Columbus rounded up some 1,500 Tamo Indians on the island of Hispaniola and chose 500 as slaves to be sold in Spain. Slavery did not show a profit as almost all the slaves died en route to Spain or soon after their arrival. Nonetheless, he wrote, "Let us in the name of the Holy Trinity go on sending all the slaves that can be sold."(2) Columbus decided to concentrate on the Columbus arrives. From Meat Christopher Columbus, by James T. do Kay. search for gold. He ordered every Indian 14 years and older to deliver a regular quota of gold. Those who failed had their hands Columbus's relationship to Native Ameri- in today's books hasn't changed much since chopped off. In two years of the Columbus cans and how these accounts justify racism I was in fourth grade. I remember my teacher, regime, probably aquarter of a million people and other social inequalities. I conclude with Mrs. O'Neill, asking our class this question. died. (3) an examination of the pedagogy implicit in As usual, I didn't have a clue, but up went This article follows Columbus as he sails these books and a discussion of more appro- Jimmy Martin's hand. "Why do men want to through eight children's biographies [see priate ways to teach Columbus. go to the moon?" he said triumphantly. Mrs. box next page], comparing the books' with O'Neill was delighted and told us all how the historical record, then analyzing how Portrait of Columbus smart Jimmy was because he answered a these accounts may influence young readers. Why did Columbus want to sail west to get question with a question. In other words: just I especially focus on portrayals of to the Indies? The answer offered to children because — because he was curious, because BETHINKING COLUMBUS PAGE 23 he loved adventure, because he wanted to proceeds from naval booty. According to these eight biographies, the prove he could do it—just because. And for As for Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand, major reason Columbus wants to sail west is years I accepted this explanation (and envied curiosity, adventure, and "exploration" were because of his deep faith in God. Columbus Jimmy Martin). the last things on their minds. They wanted thought "that the Lord had chosen him to sail In reality, Columbus wanted to become the tremendous profits that could be secured west across the sea to find the riches of the rich. It was no easy task convincing Queen by finding a western passage to the Indies. East for himself and to carry the Christian Isabella and King Ferdinand to finance this The books acknowledge — and even en- faith to the heathens. His name was Christo- highly questionable journey to the Indies, dorse — Columbus's demands and readily pher. Had not the Lord chosen his name- partly because his terms were outrageous. admit that securing "gold and spices" was an sake, Saint Christopher, to carry the Christ Columbus demanded 10% of all the wealth objective of the Enterprise. "Of course [Co- Child across the dark water of a river?" returned to Europe along the new trade route lumbus] wanted a lot! What was wrong with [D'Aulaire] Uncritically using a term like to Asia (where Columbus thought he was that?" James de Kay's Meet Christopher "heathens" to denote the indigenous peoples headed) — that's 10% of the riches brought Columbus tells second graders. But this quest of America is aproblem in mostof the books. back by everyone, not just by himself. And for wealth is downplayed in favor of adven- Religion, curiosity, adventure—all those he wanted this guaranteed forever, for him, ture. "Exploration" meant going to "strange motives are given preference in the Colum- for his children, for their children, in perpe- cities" where "many wonderful things" could bus biographies. But each of these motives tuity. He demanded that he be granted the be seen [de Kay]. Travel was exciting: Co- pales before the Spanish empire's quest for titles, "Viceroy" and "Admiral of the Ocean lumbus "felt the heady call of the open sea. 'I wealth and power. In burying these more Sea." He was to be governor of all new love the taste of salt spray in my face,' he told fundamental material forces, the Columbus territories found; the "Admiral" title was a friend, 'and the feel of a deck rising and books encourage students to misunderstand hereditary and would give him a share in falling under my feet...'" [Monchieri] the roots of today's foreign policy exploits. Thus students are more likely to accept platitudes — "We're involved in Latin America for freedom and democracy" — than to look Books reviewed in this article: for less altruistic explanations.

• 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, Dell, 90 pp. (Upper elementary/middle school) bus is delayed, this is the "most unhappy part 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.

Columbus "calm and alone, in command of Ms ships..." From Columbus, by the D'Aulaires. 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.

RETHINKING COLUMBUS PAGE 25 He stepped on the beach. He got on his knees think?" Columbus and crew than to seriously con- and said a prayer of thanks. This scene of Columbus's first encounter sider the Indians' point of view: "...if the Columbus named the island San Salvador. with the Indians — read in school by virtu- Spaniards were surprised to see naked na- He said it now belonged to Ferdinand and ally every child — is a powerful metaphor tives, the natives were even more surprised Isabella. about relations between different countries to see dressed Spaniards. All that cloth over He tried to talk to the people on San and races. It is a lesson not just about the their bodies! What were they trying to hide? Salvador. But they could not understand world 500 years ago, but about the world Tails, perhaps?" Jean Fritz's interior mono- him." today. Clothed, armed, Christian, white men logue for the Indians makes fun of the ex- Of course he couldn't understand them, from a more technologically "advanced" plorers but in the process trivializes the In- either. But de Kay attributes the inability to nation arrive in a land peopled by darker dians' concerns. understand solely to the Indians. Is it these skinned, naked, unarmed, non-Christians— Not a single Columbus biography ever Indians' implied ignorance that allows and take over. Because no book indicates asks children: "What might the Indians have heavily armed men to come onto their land which characteristic of either group neces- thought about the actions of Columbus and and claim it in the name of a kingdom thou- sitates or excuses this kind of bullying, stu- his men?" According to Mary Pope Osbome, sands of miles away? In Christopher Co- dents are left alone to puzzle it out. Might Columbus "thought [the Indians] could eas- lumbus and His Voyage to the New World, makes right Whites should rule over people ily be brought under control and that they had Robert Young doesn't even tell his young who aren't white. Christians should control no religion of their own. He wrote that they readers of the people on these islands. non-Christians. "Advanced" nations should would make 'good Christians and good ser- Young's Columbus found "lands" but no dominate "backward" nations. Each and ev- vants."' But Osborne doesn't prompt stu- people; in illustrations we see only palm ery answer a student might glean from the dents to wonder what the Indians would have trees and empty beaches. books' text and images invariably justifies thought about Columbus's plans. Why don't any of the books ask students to colonialism and racism. The silent Indians in Columbus stories think about the assumptions that underpinned In Columbus's New World "adventures," have a contemporary consequence. The this land grab? Naively, I kept waiting for the lives of the Indians are a kind of "muzak" message is that white people in developed some book to insert just a trace of doubt: —insignificant background noise. Only one societies have consciousness and voice, but "Why do you think Columbus felt he could book, Where do you think you're going, Third World people are thoughtless and claim land for Spain when there were already Christopher Columbus?, tries to imagine voiceless objects. The books rehearse stu- people living there?" or "Columbus doesn't what the Indians might have been thinking dents in a way of looking at the world that write in his journal why he felt entitled to about the arrival of the Spaniards. Still, the begins from the assumption: they are not like steal other people's property. What do you point here seems more to gently poke fun at us. A corollary is that we are more competent in determining the conditions of their lives: their social and economic systems, their political alliances and so on. Intervention in Vietnam, subversion of the government What do you mean, headed by Salvador Allende in Chile, the you haven't read the Wilder Books? invasions of Grenada and Panama, the at- tempted overthrow by proxy of the Nicara- guan and Angolan governments: our right to By Doris Seale The naked wild men stood by the decide what's best for them is basic to the fireplace..Laura smelled a horrible bad conduct of this nation's foreign policy. The smell...Theirfaces were bold and fierce... Columbus myth, as most children's first ex- The town I mostly grew up in was big posure to "foreign policy," helps condition enough to have a Carnegie library, one And so on. Many years stand between young people to accept the unequal distribu- of those squat, blood-red brick build- the nowday me and the round little girl tion of power in the world. ings, and it was the treasure house of with braids who, when this sort of thing my childhood. I don't remember how came up in the classroom, used to sit, with Theft, Slavery and Murder old I was when I discovered the Laura dry mouth and pounding heart, head down, Columbus's genocidal policies towards Ingalls Wilder books, but I was intrigued praying that nobody would look at her. the Indians were initiated during his second by them, and showed them to my dad. But the feeling is the same. The heart journey. The three books aimed at children Someway, I couldn't say just how he begins to pound, the mouth goes dry. Only in early elementary grades, Gleiter and worked it, we didn't take any of them now, the emotion is not sick shame, but Thompson's Christopher Columbus, de home that day. rage. D Kay's Meet Christopher Columbus and A few years ago, tired of hearing, Young's Christopher Columbus and His "What do you mean you haven't read The above is excerpted from an essay Voyage to the New World, conveniently stop the Wilder books?!" and still curious, I on children's literature in the book, the story after his first journey. The Colum- opened one and found out why my dad Through Indian Eyes, edited by Seale and bus myth can take root in young minds with- didn't check them out for me. In Little Beverly Slapin. Seale who is Santee, Cree out the complications of the slavery and House on the Prairie, for example, on and white, is a children's librarian in mass murder to come. page 137: Brookline, Mass. Columbus returned to a hero's welcome in Spain after his first trip. He also arrived telling all kinds of lies about gold mines and

P4CE26 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION spices and unlimited amounts of wealth. The gold from the Indians. Dolan writes that I find the most "honest" books about admiral needed royal backing for a second Columbus instituted "a system of forced Columbus's Enterprise — those that admit trip, and had to convince his sponsors that tribute: each Indian was to provide a certain slavery and other crimes — the most dis- the islands contained more than parrots and amount of gold each year. Penalties for fail- tressing. They lay out the facts, describe the naked heathens. ure to comply with this rule included flogging, deaths, and then it's on to the next paragraph During this second voyage, in February of enslavement, or death." Nothing here about with no look back. These books foster a 1495, Columbus launched the slave raids cutting people's hands off, which is what callousness toward human suffering — or is against the Tafnos of Hispaniola. Four of the Columbus did, but still it's pretty explicit. it simply a callousness toward people of eight books I reviewed — the ones aimed at Fritz writes simply that Indians who didn't color? Apparently students are supposed to older children — admit that Columbus took deliver enough gold "were punished." She value bravery, cunning, and perseverance Indians as slaves. [Monchieri, Fritz, Osborne, concludes that "between 1494 and 1496 one- over a people's right to life and self determi- andDolan] Theircritique,however,ismuted. third of the native population of Hispaniola nation. The stories prepare young people to No account tells children what slavery meant was killed, sold, or scared away." The pas- watch without outrage the abstract nightly fonts victims. One of the books, Monchieri's sive voice in Fritz's version — "was killed, news accounts — a quick segment about an Christopher Columbus, says that taking sold, or scared away" —protects the perpe- army massacre in El Salvador followed by a slaves was "a great failing of Columbus... He trators: exactly who caused these deaths? commercial for Chrysler Le Baron. saw nothing wrong with enslaving the More significantly, these accounts fail to American Indians and making them work for recognize the Indians' humanity. The books' Contempt for Native Resistance Spanish masters... Missionaries protested descriptions are clinical and factual, like Given that Columbus biographies scarcely against this policy, but they were not listened those of a coroner. What kind of suffering consider Indians as human beings, it's not to." End of discussion. Mary Pope Osborne must these people have gone through? How surprising that native resistance to the Span- in Christopher Columbus: Admiral of the did it feel to have their civilization com- iards' atrocities is either barely acknowl- Ocean Sea, writes that "this terrible treat- pletely destroyed in just a few years? What of edged or treated with hostility. Gleiter and ment of the Indians was Columbus's real the children who watched their parents Thompson's Christopher Columbus notes downfall." In fact Osborne is unable to offer butchered by the Spanish gold-seekers? These that in future trips Columbus "fought with even this minimal critique of the admiral books show no passion or outrage — at the natives." In a sentence, Lino Monchieri without at the same time justifying his ac- Columbus, at the social and economic sys- writes, "The Indians became rebellious be- tions: "Since Columbus felt despair and dis- tem he represented, or at textbooks for hiding cause [Columbus] compelled them to hand appointment about not finding gold in the this inhumanity for so many years. This over their gold." At least here the author Indies, he decided to be like the African devastation happened to human beings, sev- credits the Indians with what might be a explorers and try to sell these Indians as eral hundred thousand of them, maybe more. legitimate cause for revolt, though offers no slaves."[Osborne] Neither book ever de- Why don't the writers of these books get further details. Mary Pope Osborne buries scribes the character of slave life — or slave angry? the cause of resistance in non-explanatory, death. The other two biographies offer Columbus's justifications for taking slaves: "African explorers were always sending Africans back to Spanish slave markets, Columbus told himself. Besides, the natives were all heathens. It wasn't as if he were selling Christians into slavery." [Fritz] Dolan at one point blames it all on the men: "Given the attitude of the men at large, however, [Columbus] had little choice but to give his approval to the slaving sorties." Imagine, if you will, Nazi war crimes described in this way — nothing about the suffering of the victims, tepid criticism of the perpetrators, the crimes explained through the rationalizations of Hitler and his gener- als. How long would these books last in our schools? From the beginning, locating gold was Columbus's primary objective. In one passage, not included in any of the children's books, Columbus wrote: "Gold is a wonderful thing! Whoever owns it is lord of all he wants. With gold it is even possible to open for souls the way to paradise."(4) Two of the A racist drawing from D'Aulalres' Columbus. They say the Indians of eight authors, Fritz and Dolan, describe Dominica and Guadeloupe "were cannibals who ate their enemies." No Columbus's system for attempting to extract historical evidence validates this claim.

RETHINKING COLUMBUS PAGE 27 victimless prose: "But the settlers had run who lived there were wild too. They were phies implicitly discourage students from into trouble with the Indians, and there had cannibals who ate their enemies."[D'Aulaire] paying serious attention to these and other been a lot of fighting." In Dolan's Christopher Columbus: The In- contemporary movements for social justice. Some writers choose to portray Indian trepid Mariner, Columbus sends an armed Obviously, they leave children similarly ill- resistance not as self-defense, but as origi- contingent to "explore" the island that today prepared to respect current Indian struggles nating from the indigenous people's inher- is St. Croix. Because Caribs attack the Span- for land and fishing rights. ently violent nature. In Meet Christopher iards, Dolan considers this resistance suffi- Columbus, "unfriendly Indians" surprise the cient to label the Caribs as ferocious. Columbus's Legacy innocent Spaniards: "Suddenly more than 50 In fact, according to the account of Dr. I expected each book to end with at least Indians jumped out from behind the trees. Diego Alvarez Chanca, an eyewitness, the some reflection on the meaning of They had bows and arrows. They attacked Indians only attacked when the Spaniards Columbus's voyages. None did. In fact, only the men. The men fought back." Thus, In- trapped them in a cove.(7) In today's par- one book, Meet Christopher Columbus, even dian resistance to the Spaniards' invasion lance, the Caribs were the "radicals" and suggests that today's world has anything to and land grab is not termed "freedom fight- "extremists" — in other words, they tena- do with Columbus: Thanks to the Admiral, ing," but instead is considered "unfriendly." ciously defended their land and freedom. "Thousands of people crossed the ocean to Ironically, this story portrays the violence of The books condition young people to re- America. This 'new world' became new the Spaniards as self-defense. Note that in ject the right of the oppressed to rebel. We countries: the United States, Canada, Mexico, this quote, the Spaniards are "men" and the have aright to own their land, and they should Brazil, and many others." Indians are, well, just Indians. not protest — at least not violently. Those It's much simpler for the authors to ignore The books which bother to differentiate who do resist will be slapped with a pejora- both short and long term consequences of between groups of Indians single out the tive descriptor—cannibal, savage, commu- Columbus's Enterprise. Instead of linking Caribs for special contempt. Caribs are pre- nist, militant, radical, hard-liner, extremist the nature of Columbus's Spain to 20th cen- sented as cannibals, even though no histori- —and subdued. Black South Africans' fight tury America, each book functions as a kind cal evidence exists to corroborate such a against apartheid, the Palestinians' intifada, of secular Book of Genesis: In the beginning claim.(5) The Caribs lived on islands "so Honduran peasants organizing for land re- there was Columbus — he was good and so wild and steep, it seemed as if the waterfalls distribution, theUnitedFarm Workers' quest are we. came tumbling out of the clouds. The Indians for union recognition: the Columbus biogra- This is a grave omission. In addition to the genocide of native peoples in the Caribbean, the most immediate effect of Columbus's voyages was the initiation of the Atlantic slave trade between Africa and America (see story page 68). (8) Colonialism and slavery: this was the new world Columbus did not so much discover as help to invent. In the emerging commercial ethos of his society, human beings were commodities whose value was measured largely in monetary terms. The natural environment was likewise cherished not for its beauty but for the wealth that could be extracted. Columbus's Enter- prise and the plunder that ensued contributed mightily to the growth of the nascent mer- cantile capitalism of Europe. His lasting contribution was to augment a social order that confronts the world in commercial terms: How much is it worth? Asking Why? Why are Columbus biographies characterized 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, maintained 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

PAGE 28 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION decent values intermingle with biases against working class people, people of color, and Third World nations. The blindness of writ- Whose Columbus? ers and educators to these biases is simply an /, Columbus: My Journal —1492-3, with his crew and kind to the Indians: "I indication of how pervasive they are in the Edited by Peter and Connie Roop, Illus- warned my men to take nothing from broader society. The seeds of imperialism, trated by Peter E. Hanson, Walker and the people without giving something in exploitation and racism were planted with Co., New York, 1990, 57 pp. exchange." They neglect to include a Columbus's first trans-Atlantic Enterprise In what promises to be the most accu- passage from Columbus that foreshad- — and these seeds have taken root. Without rate of the children's books on Colum- ows his massive slave raids: 'They [the doubt, ours is a very different world than bus — because, after all, it's his own Indians] should be good servants and of 15th and 16th century Spanish America, but diary — Peter and Connie Roop have quick intelligence, since I see that they there is a lingering inheritance: the tendency produced an extraordinarily misleading very soon say all that is said to them..." for powerful groups to value profit over little volume. /, Columbus: My Journal The Roops' October 14 diary entry humanity, racial and cultural differences used —1492-3 is loosely based on Bartolome' does acknowledge that Columbus to justify exploitation and inequality, vast delasCasas' transcription of Columbus's "captured" Indian men, but fails to in- disparities in living conditions for different journal of his first voyage to America, clude a later passage from the diary on but with numerous fabrications and key that same day that places this act in a omissions. broader context. Columbus wrote: "... I counted no less than 15 totally made- I caused [the Indians] to be taken in up entries in the Roops' Columbus diary order to carry them off that they may The biographies for August, September and October of learn our language and return. How- 1492. These unacknowledged fictional- ever, when Your Highnesses so com- require readers ized insertions function in large part to mand, they can all be carried off to merely to listen, not solidify the conventional myth of the Castile or held captive in the island God-loving Columbus guiding his fear- itself, since with fifty men they would to think. ful, barely competent men. On Sunday, be all kept in subjection and forced to do September 9th, the Roops' Columbus whatever may be wished." Columbus's writes, 'This day we completely lost captives resist, by attempting to escape, sight of land. Many men sighed and sometimes successfully. The Roops wept for fear they would not see it again ignore this native resistance, as they social classes, economically and militarily for a long time. I comforted them with also overlook Columbus's further strong nations attempting to control the fates great promises of lands and riches." kidnappings. of weaker nations. Hence, life amidst injus- Nonsense. In the actual diary entry for Ironically, Columbus is much more tice in today's United States inures many of September 9th, Las Casas records that appreciative of Taino culture and hu- us to the injustice of 500 years earlier. Char- Columbus rebukes his men for steering manity than the Roops let on. On Oc- acteristics that appear to someone as natural badly, but mentions absolutely nothing tober 29, Columbus enters Indian homes and inevitable in the 20th century will likely about their fears. which "were well swept and clean, and appear as natural and inevitable in the de- On Monday, September 24th the their furnishing very well arranged; all scriptions of the world five centuries ago. Roops' pretend Columbus complains in were made of very beautiful palm his diary of "having serious trouble with branches." None of this in the Roop The Biographies' Pedagogy the crew... All day long and all night version. On November 6, Columbus The Columbus stories encourage passive long those who get together never stop describes the Tamos as "a people very reading, and never pose questions for chil- complaining... They have said that it is free from wickedness and unwarlike..." dren to think about. Did Columbus have a insanity and suicidal to risk their lives." And on December 16 writes: "They are right to claim Indian land in the name of the In fact, according to the real Columbus, the best people in the world and beyond Spanish crown? Were those Indians who September 24, 1492 was uneventful: all the mildest..." None of this in the resisted violently justified in doing so? Why "There came to the ship a booby," writes Roop version. does the United States commemorate a Co- Las Casas, "And they saw many pe- /, Columbus follows the same pattern lumbus Day instead of a Genocide Day? The trels." Nowhere is it mentioned that the as other biographies. It'sonemore piece narratives require readers merely to listen, Roops have taken such liberty in recon- of cheerleading that mis-educates chil- not to think. The text is everything, the reader structing Columbus's journal. dren. However, unlike other biographi- nothing. Not only are young readers condi- These distortions make Columbus's cal accounts, the choice of the journal tioned to accept social hierarchy—colonial- crew appear rowdier and more fearful structure more easily excuses the Roops ism and racism — they are also rehearsed in than they probably were, and echo other from prompting students to question an authoritarian mode of learning. biographies' contempt for working the myth. We're only letting Columbus By implication, I've tried in this review people. They could be forgiven if not for tell his own story, they can claim. Even essay to suggest the outlines of a more truth- later omissions which cleanse Colum- more effectively than other biographies, ful history of Columbus and the "discovery" bus of nefarious intentions. For example, the Roops' diary silences the perspec- of America. First, the indigenous peoples of on first encounter with the people of tives of the "discovered." n America must be accorded the status of full Guanaham, the Roops' Columbus is strict human beings with inalienable rights to self

RETHINKING COLUMBUS PAGE 29 tives are given Columbus, and how do those compare with the actual objectives of the admiral and the Spanish monarchs? Whom does the book "root" for, and how is this accomplished? What role do illustrations play in shaping the view of Co- lumbus? Why do the books tell the story as they do? Who in our society benefits and who is hurt from these presentations?(6) Teachers could assign children to write their own Columbus biographies — and some of these could be told from Indians' points of view. Or youngsters might take issues from their own lives suggested by the European invasion of America — fighting, fairness, stealing, racism — and write stories drawn from these themes. Significantly, to invite students to question the injustices embedded in text material is implicitly to invite them to question the injustices embedded in the society itself. Isn't it about time we used the Co- lumbus myth to allow students to begin discovering the truth? n

Bill Bigelow teaches at Jefferson High School in Portland, Oregon.

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

PAGE 30 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION Alphabet of Things that the Americas Gave to the World

A avocado, amaranth, asphalt B buffalo, beaver pelts, brazilian dye C canoe, corn, caucus, chocolate, cocoa, cassava, chicle, cotton, cashews, chayotes, catfish, chilis, cayenne D democracy, dyes, dog sleds E ecology F fertilizer, food preservation G gum, guano deposits, grits H hammock, hominy, hickory nut I impeachment, ipecac J jerky, Jerusalem artichoke K kidney beans, kayaks L libraries, long pants, llamas M milpa, moccasins, manioc, medicines, N nuts, names (half the state names of USA) O Oklahoma P potatoes, parrots, pumpkins, peanuts, popcorn, pineapple, passenger pigeon, pear cactus, par- kas, peppers, pomegranate, passion fruit, pa- paya, pecan, paprika Q quinine, quinoa R rubber S squash, silver, sisal, sunflowers, sweet potatoes, succotash T turkey, tapioca pudding, tomatoes, tortillas, tobacco, tar U USA Constitution (influenced by Iroquois) V vanilla W wild rice, witch hazel, words (several thousand words in English and Spanish), white potatoes X xylophone (the marimba of both African and American origin) Y yams Z zero, zucchini Source: Jack Weatherford, Indian Givers, Crown, New York, 1988.

RETHINKING COLUMBUS PAGE 31 The following story can be used by teachers as a model of student writing and/or as a text that can be assembled and illustrated by young children. The story is printed in large type so teachers can cut out sentence strips, place them on the bottom of a page and duplicate copies for students to illustrate and read together.Tina Thomas is a Cherokee, African-American student at Jefferson High School in Portland, Oregon.

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.

PAGE 32 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION After several months, Columbus returned to our island for a second visit. He brought hundreds of people on 17 boats. Before he left this time, he captured many of my people; over 500 were forced onto his boats. We later heard they had been taken to Spain to be sold as slaves. Many died on this voyage to Spain. Their bodies were thrown into the ocean. During this second visit, Columbus again told my people to bring him gold. "If you do not," he warned," we shall slay your people."

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...."

RETHIHKINa COLUMBUS PAGE 33 the latest news. Ten cent comic books were By Joe Suina finding their way into the Pueblo homes. Exchanging "old" comics for "new" ones And I lived with my grandmother when I was was a serious matter that involved adults as five through nine years of age. It was the well. Adults favored mystery and romance early fifties when electricity had not yet stories. For us children these were the first entered our Pueblo homes. The village day links to the world beyond the Pueblo. We school and health clinic were first to have it, enjoyed looking at them and role-playing Then and to the unsuspecting Cochiti, this was the our favorite hero rounding up the villains. approach of a new era in their uncomplicated Grandmother once made me a cape to leap lives. tall buildings with. It seems everyone pre- Transportation was simple. Two good ferred being a cowboy rather than an Indian I horses and a sturdy wagon met the daily since cowboys were always victorious. needs of a villager. Only five, maybe six Sometimes stories were related to both chil- individuals possessed an automobile in the dren and adults at these get-togethers. They Pueblo of four hundred. A flatbed truck fixed were highlighted by refreshments of coffee with side rails and a canvas top made the and sweet bread or fruit pies baked in the Went usual Saturday morning trip to Santa Fe. It outdoor oven. Winter months would most was always loaded beyond capacity with likely include roasted pinon nuts and dried 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 to exit, northbound from the village. over the following years. It was never to be the same again. 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 School: Inside, we had a traditional fireplace, 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 and a wooden crate carried our two buckets two of us protectingly during the long freez- Memories of all-purpose water. At the innermost part of 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 warmth and security I will always remem- used as comfortable sitting couches by day ber. and unrolled for sleeping by night. A wooden Being the only child at grandmother's, I Pueblo pole the length of one side of the room was had lots of attention and plenty of reasons to suspended about ten inches from the vigas feel good about myself. As a pre-schooler, I and draped with a modest collection of already had chores of chopping firewood Childhood colorful shawls, blankets, and sashes, making and hauling in fresh water each day. After this part of the room most interesting. In one "heavy work" I would run to her and flex corner sat a bulky metal trunk for our what I was convinced were my gigantic ceremonial wear and a few valuables. A biceps. Grandmother would state that at the dresser which was traded for her well-known rate I was going I would soon attain the status pottery held the few articles of clothing we of a man like the adult males in the village. owned and the "goody bag" — an old flour Her shower of praise made me feel like the sack Grandma always kept filled with brown Mr. Indian Universe of all time. At age five, candy, store-bought cookies, and Fig New- I suppose I was as close to that concept of tons. These were saturated with a sharp odor myself as anyone. of moth balls. Nevertheless, they made a fine In spite of her many years, grandmother snack with coffee before we turned in for the was highly active in the village ceremonial night. Tucked securely beneath my blankets, setting. She was a member of an important I listened to one of her stories about how it women's society and attended every tradi- was when she was a little girl. These accounts tional function, taking me along to many of appeared so old fashioned compared to the them. I'd wear one of my colorful shirts she way we lived. Sometimes she softly sang a made by hand for just such occasions. song from a ceremony. In this way, I went off Grandmother taught me appropriate behav- to sleep each night. ior at these events. Through modeling she Earlier in the evening we would make our showedme how to prayproperly. Barefooted, way to a relative's house if someone had not I greeted the sun each morning with a handful already come to visit us. There, I'd play with of cornmeal. At night I'd look to the stars in the children while the adults caught up on all wonderment and let a prayer slip through my PAGE 34 RETHINKIHG SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION lips. On meeting someone, grandmother morning and afternoon. Running carefree in would say, "Smile and greet. Grunt if you the village and fields was but a sweet memory must, but don't pretend they're not there." of days gone by. We all went home for lunch On food and material things, she would say, since we lived a short walk from school. It "There is enough for everyone to share and it took coaxing, and sometimes bribing, to get all comes from above, my child." I learned to me to return and complete the remainder of appreciate cooperation in nature and with the school day. my fellow men early in life. I felt very much School was a painful experience during a part of the world and our way of life. I knew those early years. The English language and I had a place in it, and I felt good about it the new set of values caused me much anxi- ety and embarrassment. I couldn't compre- And Then I Went to School hend everything that was happening, but I At age six, like the rest of the Cochiti six- could understand very well when I messed year-olds that year, I had to begin my school- up or wasn't doing so well. Negative mes- ing. It was a new and bewildering experience sages were communicated too effectively — one I will not forget. The strange sur- and I became more and more unsure of rounding, new ideas about time and expecta- myself. How I wished I could understand tions, and the foreign tongue were at times other things in school just as well. overwhelming to us beginners. It took some The conflict was not only in school perfor- effort to return the second day and many mance but in many other areas of my life as times thereafter. well. For example, many of us students had To begin with, unlike my grandmother, a problem with head lice due to the the teacher did not have pretty brown skin "unsanitary conditions in our homes." Con- from my sheepskin bedding to the dances and a colorful dress. She wasn't plump and sequently, we received a harsh shampooing and ceremonies which I had learned to have friendly. Her clothes were of one color and which was rough on both the scalp and the faith in and cherish. One day I dozed off in drab. Her pale and skinny form made me ego. Cleanliness was crucial, and a washing class after a sacred all-night ceremony. I was worry that she was very ill. In the village, of this sort indicated to the class that one startled awake by a sharp jerk on my ear, and being more pale than usual was a sure sign of came from a home setting which was not informed coldly, 'That ought to teach you to an oncoming fever or some such disorder. I healthy. I recall one such treatment and after- attend 'those things' again." Later, all alone, thought that explained why she didn't have wards being humiliated before my peers with I cried. I couldn't understand why or what I time just for me and the disappointed looks a statement that I had "She'na" (lice) so was caught up in. I was receiving two very and orders she seemed always to direct my tough that I must have been born with them. different messages; both were intended for way. I didn't think she was so smart since she Needless to say, my Super Indian self-image my welfare. couldn't understand my language. "Surely was no longer intact. Values in life style were dictated in vari- that was why we had to leave our 'Indian' at home." But then I didn't feel so bright either. "Leave Your Indian at Home" All I could say in her language was "Yes My language, too, was questioned right teacher," "My name is Joseph Henry," and from the beginning of my school career. To me, the house "When is lunch?" The teacher's odor took "Leave your Indian at home!" was like a some getting used to also. In fact, many times school trademark. Speaking it accidentally was just right. it made me sick right before lunch. Later I or otherwise was punishable by a dirty look Grandmother's learned from the girls this smell was some- or a whack with a ruler. This reprimand was thing she wore called perfume. for speaking the language of my people which affection completed meant so much to me. It was the language of the warmth and An Artificial Classroom my grandmother, and I spoke it well. With it, The classroom, too, had its odd character- I sang beautiful songs and prayed from my security I will istics. It was terribly huge and smelled of heart. At that young and tender age, it was always remember. medicine like the village clinic I feared so most difficult for me to comprehend why I much. The walls and ceiling were artificial had to part with my language. And yet at and uncaring. They were too far from me and home I was encouraged to attend school so I felt naked. Those fluorescent light tubes that I might have a better life in the future. I ous ways. The Dick and Jane reading series made an eerie drone and blinked suspiciously knew I had a good village life already, but in the primary grades presented me pictures over me, quite a contrast to the fire and this awareness dwindled each day I was in of a home with a pitched roof, straight walls, sunlight my eyes were accustomed to. I school. and sidewalks. I could not identify with these thought maybe the lighting did not seem As the weeks turned to months, I learned from my Pueblo world. However, it was right because it was man-made, and it wasn' t English more and more. It may appear that clear I didn't have these things, and what I natural. Our confinement to rows of desks comprehension would be easier. It got easier did have did not measure up. At night, long was another unnatural demand made on our to understand, all right. I understood that after grandmother went to sleep, I would lie active little bodies. We had to sit at these hard everything I had, and was a part of, was not awake staring at our crooked adobe walls things for what seemed like forever before nearly as good as the whiteman's. School casting uneven shadows from the light of the relief (recess) came midway through the was determined to undo me in everything fireplace. The walls were not longer just

RETHINKING COLUMBUS PAGE 35 right for me. My life was no longer just right. and pressed shirt and pants were the order of ways that belittled my own. However, it I was ashamed of being who I was, and I the day. I managed to adjust to this just as I didn't take long to "get back with it." Once I wanted to change right then and there. Some- had to most of the things the school shoved at reestablished my relationships with family, how it became very important to have straight me or took away from me. Adjusting to relatives, and friends, I knew I was where I walls, clean hair and teeth, and a spotted dog leaving home and the village was tough came from. I knew where I belonged. to chase after. I even became critical of, and enough. It seemed the older I got, the further Leaving for the boarding school the fol- hateful toward, my bony, fleabag of a dog. I I got from the ways I was so much a part of. lowing Sunday evening was one of the sad- loved the familiar and cozy environment at Since my parents did not own an automobile, grandmother's house, but now I imagined it I saw them only once a month when they could be a heck of a lot better if only I had a came in the community truck. They never whiteman's house with a bed, a nice couch, failed to come supplied with "eats" for me. I Negative messages and a clock. In school books, all the child enjoyed the outdoor oven bread, dried meat, characters ever did was run at leisure after and tamales they usually brought. It took a were communicated the dog or kite. They were always happy. As while to get accustomed to the diet of the too effectively and I for me, all I seemed to do at home was go for school. Being in town with strange tribes buckets of water and cut up sticks for a lousy under one roof was frightening and often became more and fire. Didn't the teacher say drinking coffee very lonely. I longed for my grandmother more unsure of would stunt my growth? Why couldn't I and my younger brothers and sisters. I longed have nice tall glasses of milk so I could have for my house. I longed to take part in a myself. strong bones and white teeth like those kids Buffalo Dance. I longed to be free. in the books? Did my grandmother really I came home for the four-day Thanksgiv- care about my well being? ing break. At first, home did not feel right anymore. It was much too small and stuffy. dest events in my entire life. Although I had Torn Away The lack of running water and bathroom enjoyed myself immensely the last few days, I had to leave my beloved village of Cochiti facilities was too inconvenient. Everything I realized then that life would never be the for my education beyond six. I left to attend got dusty so quickly, and hardly anyone same again. I could not turn back the time a Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) boarding spoke English. It occurred to me then mat I just as I could not do away with school and school thirty miles from home. Shined shoes was beginning to take on the whiteman's the ways of the whiteman. They were here to stay and would creep more and more into my life. The effort to make sense of both worlds together was painful, and I had no choice but to do so. The schools, television, automo- biles, and many other outside ways and values had chipped away at the simple cooperative life I began to grow in. The people of Cochiti were changing. The winter evening gatherings, the exchanging of stories, and even the performing of certain ceremonies were already only a memory that someone commented about now and then. Still, the two worlds were very different and the demands of both were ever present. The whiteman's was flashy, less personal, but very comfortable. The Cochiti were both attracted and pushed toward these new ways which they had little to say about There was no choice left but to compete with the whiteman on his terms for survival. To do that I knew I had to give up part of my life. Determined not to cry, I left my home that dreadfully lonely night As I made my way back to school, my right hand clutched tightly the mound of cornmeal grandmother had placed there and my left hand brushed away a tear. O Joseph H. Suina is an Associate Professor in the Department of Curriculum and In- struction at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. Reprinted from the New Mexico Journal of Reading, Winter 1985, Vol. V, No.2.

PAGE 36 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION I The Delight Song of Tsoai-Talee By N. Scott Momaday

I am a feather in the bright sky. I am the blue horse that runs in the plain. I am the fish that rolls, shining, in the water. I am the shadow that follows a child. lam the evening light, the lustre of meadows. I am an eagle playing with the wind. I am a cluster of bright beads. I am the farthest star. I am the cold of the dawn. I am the roaring of the rain. I am the glitter on the crust of the snow. I am the long track of the moon in a lake. I am a flame of the four colors. I am a deer standing way in the dusk. I am a field of sumac and the poome blanche. I am an angle of geese upon the winter sky. I am the hunger of a young wolf. I am the whole dream of these things.

You see, I am alive, I am alive. I stand in good relation to the earth. I stand in good relation to the gods. I stand in good relation to all that is beautiful. I stand in good relation to the daughter of Tsen-tainte, You see, I am alive, I am alive.

— From An Angle of Geese

RETHINKING COLUMBUS PAGE 37 Talking Back to Columbus: SECONDARY SCHOOL ISSUES Teaching for Justice and Hope

By Bill Bigelow It's probably not a good idea to encourage no fur to bring warmth students to scribble critical commentary in no wood for fire, the pages of history books like Annie did. for all the trees have died? "Of course, the writers of the books [that But we con encourage them to write critiques With gold it is even possible hide the truth or lie about Columbus] prob- of Columbus and his worldview. In my U.S. to open for souls ably think it's harmless enough—what does history class, students read numerous ex- the way to paradise, it matter who discovered America, really, cerpts from Native oratory and poetry which but I say that way is death, and besides it makes them feel good about reveal a different way of viewing the living and gold the destroyer of life. America. But the thought that I have been world than that of the European conquerors. Kim's poem longs for life pursuits that lied to all my life about this, and who knows Whether Shawnee — "Sell a country! Why don't "destroy life." While her piece does not what else, really makes me angry." not sell the air, the great sea, as well as the provide a blueprint for social transforma- Rebecca's written reaction to textbook earth? Did not the Great Spirit make them all tion, the talking-back assignment allowed accounts of Columbus's "discovery" hints for the use of his children?" — or Lakota— her to give voice to a humane and environ- that, in fact, the truth may not always set us "Every seed is awakened and so has all mentally respectful value system. I hope that free.(l) Often it makes us angry — and that animal life. It is through this mysterious once students have "tried on" new ways of anger can all too easily lead to cynicism. power that we too have our being and we understanding the world, they are more able Over the years, I've tried to find ways to therefore yield to our neighbors, even our to incorporate aspects of those world views tell the truth about history so that students animal neighbors, the same right as our- that make sense to them. leave feeling more hopeful and powerful selves, to inhabit this land" — the first than when we began. I aim to turn my classes Americans share a common understanding Giving Voice to the Tainos into communities of resistance and courage, oftheweboflife.(3) Students might be encouraged to rearrange hope and possibility: I encourage students to I ask students to step inside this worldview the assignment and complete it from the "talk back" to the history and to the history and talk back to the materialistic and exploit- standpoint of Christopher Columbus. In his writers; I prompt students to give voice to the ative values imported to the Americas by extraordinary book, The Harp and the social groups silenced in the traditional cur- Columbus and those who followed. Though Shadow, Cuban novelist Alejo Carpentier riculum; I highlight historical episodes of I never limit them to working from my sug- writes from the perspective of Columbus, struggle for social change and try to relate gestions, I provide quotes the students may alone on the verge of death, awaiting his those movements to the present day; I pro- respond to: "Gold is a wonderful thing! confessor. Sometimes haughty and vide opportunities for students to see them- Whoever owns it is lord of all he wants. With combative, sometimes probing and self selves as activists for justice; and I ask stu- gold it is even possible to open for souls the critical, Carpentier's Columbus can be dents to draw on their own lives as a source way to paradise," Columbus wrote in a letter excerpted as a prompt for students' writing. of hope and wisdom about resistance to in- to Isabella and Ferdinand in 1503.(4) And In a death-bed interior monologue, Columbus justice. These are lofty goals and I'd be less another, from Governor William Bradford thinks back to his first contact with the people than honest if I didn't admit that results are of Plymouth Plantation, who, in sharp con- he called Indians. sometimes ambiguous. trast to the Indians, saw the American land- {They] wore small bits of gold in their scape as "a hideous and desolate wilderness noses. I said: GOLD. Seeing this marvel, I Trying Out New Values full of wild beasts and wild men."(5) My felt a sort of internal shock. A lust the likes of In Annie John, anovel by Jamaica Kincaid student Kimberly Stubbs, then a sophomore, which I had never known rumbled in my gut. about a young black woman' s coming of age adopted the persona of a Plains Indian and My hands trembled. Shaken, sweating, de- on the Caribbean island of Antigua, Annie wrote a stinging rebuttal to the kind of arro- termined, crazed, peppering these men with "talks back" to history by defacing her school gance she saw in the Columbus quotation: sign-language questions, I tried to find out book's chapter on Christopher Columbus.(2) What is gold about the source of the gold, how they had Annie dislikes Columbus, representing as he when the buffalo's thunder obtained it, where it was found, how it was does the colonization of the West Indies and is stilled, the earth mined...(6) the initiation of the Atlantic slave trade. So in no longer drummedby mud-hardhooves?... In a later passage, Carpentier's Columbus her textbook, under a picture of Columbus What is gold describes reactions to Spanish society of the being transported in chains back to Spain when grass turns brown lone Tamo remaining in captivity from during his third voyage, Annie writes in when cold, cold wind blows ice Columbus's first voyage: large letters: 'The Great Man Can No Longer through tents and houses FromDiegito, the only one left,I knew that Just Get Up and Go." and there's no more buckskin these men neither liked nor admired us: they

PAGE 38 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION thought we were treacherous, lying, violent, hot-tempered, cruel, dirty, and foul-smelling, since we almost never bathed, unlike them, who freshened their bodies several times a day in the rivers, streams, and waterfalls of their land. They said our houses stank of rancid grease;... our finest horsemen of armpits; and that if our ladies wore so many bodices and ruffles and ribbons, it must be to hide some repulsive deformity or sore... Our perfumes and scented oils — and even in- cense—make them sneeze; they choke in our narrow rooms; and they think our churches are places of pain and panic because of the many filthy, crippled, pathetic dwarfs and monsters who clog their entrances. They can't understand why so many men who are not part of an army go about armed, nor how so many richly dressed women on dazzling horses can look down without shame on the perpetual grieving demonstration of misery and purulence, of amputees and beggars in rags...(7) Obviously, some students may want to shun Columbus, or anyone else, as mediator and simply let the Tamos speak for themselves. However, these excerpts can provide models of exploring indigenous perspectives and talking back to the silences. In a long illustrated poem, "Christopher's Fall From Grace," Jefferson student Rachel Drown depicts the unequal dialogue between Columbus and Tamos. Through verse, the cultures speak to each other: .. JVo welcome can we give to you, our souls you cannot steal. You've taken all we have by force, as your fate you try to seal. We have no more gold, we have no more pride, A Miskito woman of Nicaragua celebrates the struggle for autonomy. We have no more carefree days. Too many we love are dead or gone You became an evil man, ers ' rights, for women's liberation—as well and we fear there are more on the way. Amidst your lust for gold. as individuals who joined and led these But all the wealth within the world, movements — Sojourner Truth, Frederick Salutations lowly slaves, won't save your tarnished soul. Douglass, John Brown, Eugene Debs, Mar- I see you all look sad Rachel's Tamos "resist" Columbus and garet Sanger, Cesar Chavez. In that way, the You''II join yourfriends if you find no gold crew by maintaining their humanity in the link between injustice and people's capacity or in any way make me mad. face of his kidnapping, slavery and extor- to resist becomes for students a "habit of the I' ve taken your loved ones back to Spain, tion. The last drawing accompanying her mind." to serve rich noble men. poem portrays Tamos with their hands linked By deemphasizing native resistance to I need more gold or /' // make slaves, and thrust in the air — spiritually triumphant Columbus and those who came after, I unin- of all your kith and kin. even in their extermination. That this resis- tentionally encouraged students to view In- tance of the soul is the only fight the Tamos dians as objects, passively awaiting their Unwelcome is the mortal man, offer probably indicates that I didn't do an final fate at the hands of Columbus. The through heaven's pearly gates, adequate job teaching the varieties of Carib- Tamos in Rachel's poem thumb their noses who lies and steals and kills his own, bean Indians' flesh and blood struggles. at Columbus, but only as they die. Indeed, as with greed and lust and hate. Students can also find hope by learning the writings of Bartolom6 de las Casas and You cannot harm us anymore, about other people who fought for what they other contemporaneous chronicles record, or use us for your gain. thought was right. Our curriculum needs to many Indians did commit suicide, but also And long after your memory fades, feature movements for social justice — left a rich legacy of resistance. our spirits will remain. against slavery and imperialism, for work- From the beginning of the European con-

RETHINKING COLUMBUS PAGE 39 Painted design from the Northwest Coast, representing the Raven and perhaps two flat fish. 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 accuracy. 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 rience to be probed for deeper social mean- feat on their own. So they're the one on top. from a protest to Indiana Territory Governor William 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- notice as we listened to the papers? After our always run over them." ample, avoid Newton Frohlich's 1492 (St. Martin's, 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 "I think people 9. Jane, p. 29. times people fail to look for allies: "It was 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 when I told one class that it didn't appear them —just pursue your dream, preferably courage, affirming my link to female ancestors who 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- While most students begin to sense the social myth. In numerous ways, we can in- dard?, English Journal, Feb 1990, pp. 36-40; and Wil- 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 RETHINKIHG COLUMBUS PAGE 43 The Iroquois ARCTIC OCEAN Contribution to the Constitution

Most Americans are aware of Native American contributions such as corn and tomatoes. Few realize that the U.S. ATLANTIC Constitution also has roots in Native OCEAN American culture, in particular the model of government developed by the Iroquois Confederacy of Nations. According to Jack Weatherford in his book Indian Givers, the Iroquois helped the colonists resolve a major dilemma: how could 13 sovereign and separate NORTHV satis. CHIrtWYA* states be made into one country, without UIOA VlSIMIWAI SUBARCTIC \ < IlllA tOOII each one giving up its powers? WE oa Following are excerpts from a Congressional Resolution passed by the House and Senate in 1988 which, among other issues, recognized the U.S. debt to the Iroquois Confederacy. "Whereas the original framers of the Constitution, including, most notably, George Washington and Benjamin «0»IHB«cMti«» PLAINS_, ..nic Franklin, are known to have greatly admired the concepts of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy; OSTANOAk CALI- "Whereas the confederation of the ATLANTIC FORNIA CXICIASAW original Thirteen Colonies into one IAUUI OCEAN cr., |TUtA/CCT SOUTHEAST «" SOUTMWtaT CMDCTAW republic was influenced by the political CAJtUtlLA YAVAfAl F(HA system developed by the Iroquois Confederacy as were many of the democratic principles which were incorporated into the Constitution itself; GULF "Be it resolved by the Senate (the OF PACIFIC MEXICO House of Representatives concurring), OCEAN that (1) the Congress, on the occasion of MIDDLE CARIBBEAN SEA AMERICA the two hundredth anniversary of the CENTRAL AMERICA signing of the United States Constitu- AND THE tion, acknowledges the historical debt CARIBBEAN which this Republic of the United States CULTURE AREAS of America owes to the Iroquois AND TRIBAL LOCATIONS Confederacy and other Indian nations NORTH AMERICA for their demonstration of enlightened, democratic principles of Government and their example of a free association of independent Indian nations."

For more information see Forgotten Founders, by Bruce Johansen, Harvard Common Press, 1982.

PACE44 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION Loo-Wit* By Wendy Rose The way they do this old woman no longer cares what we think but spits her black tobacco any which way stretching full length from her bumpy bed. Finally up she sprinkles ash on the snow, cold buttes promise nothing but the walk of winter. Centuries of cedar have bound her to earth, huckleberry ropes lay prickly on her neck. Around her machinery growls, snarls and ploughs great patches of her skin She crouches in the north, her trembling the source of dawn.

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.

She was sleeping but she heard the boot scrape, the creaking floor, felt the pull of the blanket from her thin shoulder. With one hand free she finds her weapons and raises them high; clearing the twigs from her throat she sings, she sings, shaking the sky *Loo-Wit, Woman of Fire like a blanket about her (Cowlitz name for Loo-wit sings and sings and sings! Mount Saint Helens)

RETHINKING COLUMBUS PAGE 45 existed only in his imagination. And only to per which had separated the envelope from create trouble. She glanced at the circled the contents of the box. Bones paragraph. "Mrs. Catherine Perry, an attorney for the Dear Mrs. Perry: museum and its spokesperson on this issue, You won't bury the bones of our ancestors of said the demand by the Paho Society for the because you say the public has the right to reburial of the museum's entire collection of expect authenticity in the museum when it more than 18,000 Native American skel- comes to look at skeletons. Therefore I am Contention etons was' simply not possible in light of the sending you a couple of authentic skeletons museum's purpose.' of ancestors. I went to the cemetery in the "She said the museum is a research institu- woods behind the Episcopal Church of Saint tion as well as a gallery for public display, Luke. I used authentic anthropological meth- By Tony Hillerman and that the museum's collection of ancient ods to locate the burials of authentic white human bones is apotentially important source Anglo types — of anthropological information. She said that Through the doorway which led from her Mr. Highhawk's suggestion that the mu- receptionist-secretary's office into her own, Mrs. Morris Perry's fingers were under the seum make plaster casts of the skeletons and wrapping paper now, feeling dirt, feeling Catherine Morris Perry instantly noticed the rebury the originals was not practical 'both smooth, cold surfaces. box on her desk.... because of research needs and because the "Where'd thatcome from?" Catherine said, "Mrs. Bailey!" she said. "Mrs. Bailey!" indicating the box. But her eyes moved to the end of the letter. It "Federal Express," Markie said. "I signed was signed "Henry Highhawk of the Bitter for it."... Water People." Catherine Morris Perry....opened, "What?" Mrs. Bailey shouted. "What is it?" looked at the box, and made a wry face. She opened her desk drawer and extracted her letter opener. —and to make sure they would Then she buzzed Mrs. Bailey. be perfectly authentic, I chose "Yes'um." two whose identities you can "Mrs. Bailey. When personally confirm yourself. packages arrive like this, I ask that you accept these don't bring them in and two skeletons for authentic put them on my desk. display to your clients and Open them and get the release the bones of two of contents out." my ancestors so that they "Okay," Mrs. Bailey may be returned to their said. "I'll open it rightful place in Mother now...." She pulled open Earth. The names of these the top flaps. Under them two authentic — was a copy of the Wash- ington Post, folded to ex- Mrs. Bailey was standing pose the story that had beside her now. "Honey," quoted her. Part of it was she said. "What's wrong?" circled in black. Mrs. Bailey paused. "There's bones in that box," she said. "All MUSEUM OFFERS dirty, too." COMPROMISE IN OLD BONE Mrs. Morris Perry put the letter on CONTROVERSY the desk and looked into the box. From underneath a clutter of what seemed to be The headline irritated Catherine. There arm and leg bones a single empty eye socket had been no compromise. She had simply stared back at her. She noticed that Mrs. public has the right to expect authenticity stated the museum's policy. If an Indian tribe Bailey had picked up the letter. She noticed and not be shown mere reproductions.'" wanted ancestral bones returned, it had only dirt. Damp ugly little clods had scattered on The clause "the right to expect authentic- to ask for them and provide some acceptable the polished desk top. ity" was underlined. Catherine Morris Perry proof that the bones in question had indeed "My God," Mrs. Bailey said. "John Neldine frowned at it, sensing criticism. She picked been taken from a burial ground of the tribe. Burgoyne. Jane Burgoyne. Weren't those— up the newspaper. Under it, atop a sheet of Aren't these your grandparents?" CJ The entire argument was ridiculous and de- brown wrapping paper, lay an envelope. Her meaning. In fact, even dealing with that name had been written neatly on it. She Highhawk man was demeaning. Him and his Excerpted from the novel Talking God by opened it and pulled out a single sheet of Tony Hillerman. ©1989 by Tony Hillerman. Paho Society. A museum underling and an typing paper. While she read, her idle hand Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins organization which, as far as anybody knew, was pulling away the layer of wrapping pa- Publishers.

PAGE 46 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION Three Thousand Dollar Death Song By Wendy Rose

Nineteen American Indian Skeletons from Nevada...valued at $3000,,, — Museum invoice, 1975

Is it in cold hard cash? the kind that dusts the insides of mens'pockets lying silver-polished surface along the cloth. Or in bills? papering the wallets of they who threaten the night with dark words. Or checks? paper promises weighing the same as words spoken once on the other side of the grown grass and dammed rivers of history. However it goes, it goes Through my body it goes assessing each nerve, running its edges along my arteries, planning ahead for whose hands will rip me Spokane Museum By Ramona Wilson into pieces of dusty red paper, whose hands will smooth or smatter me into traces of rubble. Invoiced now, These are not relics it's official how our bones are valued from lost people, lost lands. that stretch out pointing to sunrise I know where they are. or are flexed into one last foetal bend, Give me that digging tool. that are removed and tossed about, I'll show you where catalogued, numbered with black ink in the spring we get roots. on newly-white foreheads. The wind will come, as it does, As we were formed to the white soldiers' voice, so we explode under white students' hands. blowing our dresses and hair Death is a long trail of days as we bend with certainty, in our fleshless prison. the pink flowers in our hands, the earth dropping From this distant point we watch our bones through our fingers. auctioned with our careful beadwork. our quilled medicine bundles, even the bridles of our shot-down horses. You: who have priced us, you who have removed us: at what cost? What price the pits where our bones share a single bit of memory, how one century turns our dead into specimens, our history into dust, our survivors into clowns.

Our memory might be catching, you know; picture the mortars, the arrowheads, the labrets shaking off their labels like bears suddenly awake to find the seasons have ended while they slept. Watch them touch each other, measure reality, march out the museum door! Watch as they lift their faces and smell about for us; watch our bones rise to meet them and mount the horses once again! The cost, then, will be paid for our sweetgrass-smelling having-been in clam shell beads and steatite, dentalia and woodpecker scalp, turquoise and copper, blood and oil, coal and uranium, children, a universe of stolen things. — From That's What She Said RETHINKING COLUMBUS PAGE 47 Half breed Girl in the City School By Jo Whitehorse Cochran

are you Mexican are you Italian are you Chinese are you Japanese spic wetback greaseball slant-eye you are dark enough to question you are light enough to ask you have near black hair brown eyes and speak slow-english we are blonde blue eyed and wear store bought sweaters skirts or pants you are in homemade clothes out of style we circle round you and your sister you hug your sister close she's small and even darker we kick we tug at braids and coats we pull "I'm Indian!" out of you

the social worker wants you to describe your family she asks does your father beat you does your mother does your father drink does your mother do you hate your parents do you cry tell me tell me do you like the reservation better are you ashamed in the classroom when you wet your pants why don't you speak up why don't you get excused why don't you go at recess tell me tell me speak!

you stare out the window turn an alphabet block in your hands speak english speak english the social worker caws outside Canadian geese pass through your immediate sky six in an arc going south if you were a Changer like Star Boy you could fly with those long-necks but you must stay and look out this window

Grandma's words pound in your head they want to strip us of our words they want to take our tongues so we forget how to talk to each other you swallow the rock that was your tongue you swallow the song that was your voice you swallow you swallow in the silence

— From Dancing in the Rim of the World P4GE48 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPEC/41 EDITION ft is Important By Gail Tremblay

On dark nights, when thoughts fly like nightbirds looking for prey, it is important to remember to bless with names every creature that comes to mind; to sing a thankful song and hold the magic of the whole creation close in the heart, to watch light dance and know the sacred is alive. On dark nights, when owls watch, their eyes gleaming in the black expanse of starless sky, it is important to gather the medicine bones, the eagle feathers, the tobacco bundles, the braided sweetgrass, the cedar, and the sage, and pray the world will heal and breath feed the plants that care for the nations keeping the circle whole. On dark nights, when those who think only of themselves conjure over stones and sing spells to feed their wills it is important to give gifts and to love everything that shows itself as good. It is time to turn to the Great Mystery and know the Grandfathers have mercy on us that we may help the people to survive. On dark nights, when confusion makes those who envy hate and curse the winds, face the four directions and mumble names, it is important to stand and see that only our work is to give what others need, that everything that touches us is a holy gift to teach us we are loved. When sun rises and light surrounds life making blessings grow, it is important to praise its coming, and exhale letting all we hold inside our lungs travel east and mix its power breathing in and know we live in good relations to all creation and sing what must be sung.

RETHINKING COLUMBUS PAGE 49 Native American Women In the Circle of Life

By Paula Gunn Allen characteristics designed to reinforce cultural beliefs about women, as well as Western adversarial and dualistic perceptions of reality. The tribes see women variously, but they do not question the power An American Indian woman is primarily defined by her tribal of femininity. Sometimes they see women as fearful, sometimes identity. In her eyes, her destiny is necessarily that of her people, and peaceful, sometimes omnipotent and omniscient, but they never her sense of herself as a woman is first and foremost prescribed by her portray women as mindless, helpless, simple, or oppressed. And tribe. The definitions of woman's roles are as diverse as tribal while the women in a given tribe, clan, or band may be all these cultures in the Americas. In some she is devalued, in others she wields things, the individual woman is provided with a variety of images of considerable power. In some she is a familial/clan adjunct, in some women from the interconnected supernatural, natural, and social she is as close to autonomous as her economic circumstances and worlds she lives in. psychological traits permit But in no tribal definitions is she per- As a half-breed American Indian woman, I cast about in my mind ceived in the same way as are women in Western industrial and post- for negative images of Indian women, and I find none that are industrial cultures. directed to Indian women alone. The negative images I do have are In the West, few images of women form part of thecultural mythos, of Indians in general and in fact are more often of males than of and these are largely sexually charged. Among Christians, the females. All these images come to me from non-Indian sources, and madonna is the female prototype, and she is portrayed as essentially they are always balanced by a positive image. My ideas of woman- passive; her contribution is simply that of birthing. Little else is hood, passed on largely by my mother and grandmothers, Laguna attributed to her and she certainly possesses few of the characteristics Pueblo women, are about practicality, strength, reasonableness, that are attributed to mythic figures among Indian tribes. This image intelligence, wit, and competence. I also remember vividly the is countered (rather than balanced) by the witch-goddess/whore women who came to my father's store, the women who held me and

PAGE 50 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION sang to me, the women at Feast Day, at Grab Days, the existence as she goes. women in the kitchen of my Cubero home, the My mother told me stories all the time, though I women I grew up with; none of them appeared often did not recognize them as that My mother weak or helpless, none of them presented told me stories aboutcookingandchildbearing; herself tentatively. I remember a certain she told me stories about menstruation and reserve on those lovely brown faces; I pregnancy; she told me stories about gods remember the direct gaze of eyes framed and heroes, about fairies and elves, about by bright-colored shawls draped over goddesses and spirits; she told me stories their heads and cascading down their about the land and the sky, about cats backs. I remember the clean cotton and dogs, about snakes and spiders; she dresses and carefully pressed hand- told me stories about climbing trees embroidered aprons they always and exploring the mesas; she told me wore; I remember laughter and good stories about going to dances and get- food, especially the sweet bread and ting married; she told me stories about the oven bread they gave us. Nowhere dressing and undressing, about sleeping in my mind is there a foolish woman, a and waking; she told me stories about dumb woman, a vain woman, or a plastic herself, about her mother, about her grand- woman, though the Indian women I have mother. She told me stories about grieving known have shown a wide range of personal and laughing, about thinking and doing; she style and demeanor.... told me stories about school and about people; I have memories of tired women, partying women, about darning and mending; she told me stories about stubborn women, sullen women, amicable women, selfish turquoise and about gold; she told me European stories and women, shy women, and aggressive women. Most of all I remember Laguna stories; she told me Catholic stories and Presbyterian stories; the women who laugh and scold and sit uncomplaining in the long sun she told me city stories and country stories; she told me political on feast days and who cook wonderful food on wood stoves, in stories and religious stories. She told me stories about living and beehive mud ovens, and over open fires outdoors. stories about dying. And in all of those stories she told who I was, who I was supposed to be, whom I came from, and who would follow me. Images of Women In this way she taught me the meaning of the words she said, that all Among the images of women that come to me from various tribes life is a circle and everything has a place within it. That's what she as well as my own are White Buffalo Woman, who came to the said and what she showed me in the things she did and the way she Lakota long ago and brought them the religion of the Sacred Pipe lives. CD which they still practice; Tinotzin the goddess who came to Juan Diego to remind him that she still walked the hills of her people and The above is excerpted from The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the sent him with her message, her demand and her proof to the Catholic Feminine in American Indian Tradition. Paula Gunn Allen, Laguna bishop in the city nearby. And from Laguna I take the images of Pueblo/Sioux,is one of'theforemost Native American literary critics. Yellow Woman, Coyote Woman, Grandmother Spider (Spider Old Woman), who brought the light, who gave us weaving and medicine, who gave us life. Among the Keres she is known as Thought Woman who created us all and who keeps us in creation even now. I remember lyatiku, Earth Woman, Corn Woman, who guides and counsels the The Sacred Circle people to peace and who welcomes us home when we cast off this coil of flesh as huskers cast off the leaves that wrap the com. I remember "You have noticed that everything an Indian does is in a circle, lyatiku's sister, Sun Woman, who held metals and cattle, pigs and and that is because the power of the world always works in sheep, highways and engines and so many things in her bundle, who circles, and everything tries to be round. In the old days all our went away to the east saying that one day she would return. power came to us from the sacred hoop of the nation and so long Since the coming of the Anglo-Europeans beginning in the 15th as the hoop was unbroken the people flourished. The flowering Century, the fragile web of identity that long held tribal people secure tree was the living center of the hoop, and the circle of the four has gradually been weakened and torn. But the oral tradition has quarters nourished it The east gave peace and light, the south prevented the complete destruction of the web, the ultimate disrup- gave warmth, the west gave rain and the north with its cold and tion of tribal ways. The oral tradition is vital; it heals itself and the mighty wind gave strength and endurance. This knowledge came tribal web by adapting to the flow of the present while never to us from the outer world with our religion. Everything the relinquishing its connection to the past. Its adaptability has always power of the world does is done in a circle. The sky is round and been required, as many generations have experienced. Certainly the I have heard that the earth is round like a ball and so are all the modern American Indian woman bears slight resemblance to her stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their forebears — at least on superficial examination — but she is still a nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours. The sun tribal woman in her deepest being. Her tribal sense of relationships comes forth and goes down again in a circle. The moon does the to all that is continues to flourish. And though she is at times beset by same and both are round. Even the seasons form a great circle in her knowledge of the enormous gap between the life she lives and the their changing and always come back again to where they were." life she was raised to live, and while she adapts her mind and being — Black Elk to the circumstances of her present life, she does so in tribal ways, mending the tears in the web of being from which she takes her RETHINKING COLUMBUS PAGE 51 Ceremony By Leslie Marmon Silko

I will tell you something about stories, [he said] They aren't just entertainment. Don't be fooled. They are all we have, you see, all we have to fight off illness and death.

You don't have anything if you don't have the stories.

Their evil is might but it can't stand up to our stories. So they try to destroy the stories let the stories be confused or forgotten. They would like that They would be happy Because we would be defenseless then.

He rubbed his belly. I keep them here [he said] Here, put your hand on it See, it is moving. There is life here for the people.

And in the belly of this story the rituals and the ceremony are still growing.

— From Ceremony

PAGE 52 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION Unlearning Myths that Bind Us Students Critique Stereotypes in Children's Stories and Films

By Linda Christensen

In this excerpt from a longer article, teacher Linda Christensen shows how many of the insidious social messages of the Columbus myth also inhabit children's stories and films. She indicates a number of ways to help students critically evaluate these biases.

I was nourished on the milk of American culture: I cleaned the dwarfs' house and waited for Prince Charming to bring me life; I swooned in Rhett Butler's arms — my waist as narrow and my bosom every bit as heaving as Scarlet's; I thrilled to the adventures of Swiss Family Robinson, whose tor- mentors were a swarthy hoard of Asians and Africans. Our students suckle the same pap. The stereotypes and world view in these stories become accepted knowledge. Children learn that women are passive, men are strong, and people of color are either absent or evil. As my student Omar wrote, "When we read children's books, we aren't just reading cute little stories, we are discovering the . tools with which a young society is ma- I-- •••?,* '>'•'• V *O; ^>- **sfc " ' -'• 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,

RETHINKING COLUMBUS PAGE 53 how to forget the past and suppress the fu- critiques of the cartoons. ture. We are taught more than anything else, Mira, a senior two years how not to rebel (Dorfman, 1983, p. ix)." ago, attacked the racism I ask students if they agree with Dorfman's in these Saturday notion that children receive a "secret educa- morning rituals. Because tion." Do they remember incidents from of her familiarity with their own childhood that support his allega- Native American cul- tions? This is difficult for some students. The tures, her analysis was dialogue journal spurs them to argue, to talk more developed: back, to create a conversation with the writer. Indians in Looney Many don't want to believe they have been Tunes are also depicted as manipulated by children's books or advertis- inferior human beings. These ing. characters are stereotypical to the greatest Dorfman's ideas bothered Justine, a senior degree, carrying tomahawks, painting their in my Contemporary Literature and Society faces, and sending smoke signals as their class a few years ago. In her dialogue journal only means of communication. They live in she responded: "Personally, handling the tipis and their language reminds the viewer dissection of dreams has been a major cause ofNeanderthals. We begin to imagine Indians of depression for me. Not so much dissecting as savages with bows and arrows and long —but how I react to what is found as a result black braids. There's no room in our minds of the operation. It can be overwhelming and for knowledge of the differences between discouraging tofindoutmy whole self image tribes, like the Cherokee alphabet or Celilo has been formed mostly by others or under- Tho Ugly Duckling salmon fishing. neath my worries about what I look like is years (17 of them) of being exposed to TV A Black Cinderella? images of girls and their set roles given to We start by watching cartoons and Kenya, a freshman, scolded parents in her them by TV and the media. It's painful to children's movies such as Bugs Bunny, essay "A Black Cinderella? Give Me A deal with. The idea of not being completely Popeye, Daffy Duck, Heckle and Jeckle, and Break." responsible for how I feel about things today Disney's The Little Mermaid. On first view- "Have you ever seen a Black person, an is scary. So why dissect the dreams? Why not ing, students sometimes resist critical Asian, a Hispanic in a cartoon? Did they stay ignorant about them and happy? The analysis. Kamaui said, "This is just a dumb have a leading role or were they a servant? reason for me is that those dreams are not little cartoon with some ducks running around What do you think this is doing to your unrelated to my everyday life. They influ- in clothes." child's mind?" She ended her piece, "Women ence how I behave, think, reactto things...My Later they notice the absence of female who aren't White begin to feel left out and dreams keep me from dealing with an un- characters in many cartoons. When women ugly because they never get to play the prin- pleasant reality." do appear, they look like Jessica Rabbit or cess." She wasn't alone in her feelings. Justine's dialogue with Dorfman shows Playboy centerfolds. We keep track of the Sabrina W. wrote, "I'm not taking my kids to her discomfort with prying apart her ideals, appearance of people of color in classic see any Walt Disney movies until they have with discovering where she received her children's movies — Cinderella, Sleeping a Black woman playing the leading role." ideas. Yet she also grudgingly admitted she Beauty, Snow White. We look at the roles of Although the students wanted the race of felt this process was necessary. Her dis- women, men, people of color, and poor the actors changed, they didn't challenge the comfort might also have arisen from feeling people. As they view each episode, they fill movies' underlying class or gender inequi- incapable of changing herself or changing in a chart Here is a partial sample from the ties. the standards by which she is judged in the ninth grade class evaluation of The Little larger society. Mermaid. (We also cover men's roles): Writing is a Vehicle for Change Justine's reaction is typical of many stu- Women's Roles: For some students the cartoon unit ex- dents. She was beginning to peel back the Ariel: Pretty, white, shapely, kind. Goal: poses the wizardry that controls our dreams veneer covering someof the social injustices. Marry the prince. and desires — our self images. But others She appreciated the importance of con- Ursula: Fat, white, mean. Goals: Get back shrug their shoulders at this. It's okay for structing a more liberatory set of possibili- at Triton, power. some people to be rich and others poor; they ties for girls and women, but at the same time Maid: Chubby, confused, nice, white. just want to see more rich people of color or was overwhelmed by the task. Goals: Meals on time, clean clothes. more rich women. Or better yet, be rich People of Color: themselves. They accept the inequalities in Charting Stereotypes None, although Sebastian the crab is Ja- power and economic relationships. To help Justine and her classmates dis- maican and the court musician. Their acceptance teaches me the strength mantle those old values and reconstruct more Poor People: Servants. No poor people of these myths and how some students, in the just ones, I have two goals when we study have major roles. absence of visions for a better world, need to children's culture: first, to critique portray- After filling in a couple of charts, students believe in the fairy tale magic that will trans- als of hierarchy and inequality; second, to write about the generalizations children might form their lives. enlist students in imagining a better world, take away from these tales. Mira and her classmates wrote their most characterized by respect and equality. Both the freshmen and the seniors write passionate essays of the year on this topic. PAGE 54 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION But venting their frustrations with cartoons a pamphlet which could be distributed at in a mirror only to find that her minute hips — and even sharing it with their class — PTA meetings throughout the city. They are simply too huge, she shows us how to turn seemed a limited task. Yes, they could write graded each show A-F and wrote a brief the mirror into an enemy.. And this scenario articulate essays. Yes, they honed their summary of their findings: is repeated in girls' locker rooms all over the arguments.Yes, they were both excited and DUCK TALES: At first glance the preco- world...because we can never look like dismayed by their discoveries. cious ducks are cute, but look closer and see Cinderella, we begin to hate ourselves. The But what was I teaching them if the lesson that the whole show is based on money. All Barbie syndrome starts as we begin a life- ended there? Ultimately, I was teaching that their adventures revolve around finding long search for the perfect body. Crash diets, it was enough to be critical without taking money. Uncle Scrooge and the gang teach fat phobias, and an obsession with the mate- action, that we could quietly rebel in the children that money is the only important rialistic become commonplace. The belief classroom, but we didn't really have to do thing in life. C- that a product will make us rise above our anything about the problems we uncovered. TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: competition, our friends, turns us into ad- Nor did we need to create anything to replace Pizza eatingNinja Turtles. What's the point? dicts. Our fix is that Calvin Klein push-up what we'd expelled. And those were not the There isn' t any. The show is based on fight- bra, Guess jeans, Chanel lipstick, and the lessons I intended. I wanted to develop their ing the "bad guy," Shredder. Demonstrating latest in suede flats. We don't call it decep- critical consciousness, but I also hoped to no concern for the town people, they battle tion, we call it good taste. And soon it feels move them to action. and fight, but never get hurt. This cartoon awkward going to the mailbox without For some students — especially the se- teaches a false sense of violence to kids:fight makeup. niors — the lesson didn't end in the class- and you don't get hurt or solve problems In her essay, Lila recalls how cartoons and room. Many say they can no longer enjoy throughfists and swords instead of words. D movies fueled her feelings of inadequacy: most children's cartoon. Instead of seeing a POPEYE: This show oozes with horrible "In first grade I adored Bonnie Bondell, a bunch of ducks in clothes, they see the rac- messages from passive Olive Oyl to the hero girl in my class. She wasn't a cartoon char- ism, sexism, and violence that swims under "man" Popeye. This car toon portrays ethnic acter, but she could have been. She had the surface. David told the class of coming groups as stupid. It is political also—teach- glossy blonde hair and blue eyes. She had a home one day and finding his nephews ab- ing children that Americans are the best and sparkly smile and a sweet voice. She could sorbed in Looney Tunes. "I turned that TV conquer all others. F have been Cinderella's younger sister or off and took them down to the park to play," On the back of the pamphlet, they listed Sleeping Beauty's long, lost cousin. For those he said. 'They aren't going to watch that tips for parents to select cartoons. reasons I longed to be just like her. I look at mess while I'm around." Most of the other students wrote articles old photos of myself now and have decided Radiance described how she went to buy they hoped to publish in various local and that I was pretty cute. I wasn't a traditional Christmas presents for her niece and nephew. national newspapers or magazines. Catkin cutie and that's exactly what bothered me "Before, I would have just walked into the wrote about the sexual stereotyping and ado- then. My father is African American and my toy store and bought them what I knew they ration of beauty in children's movies. Her mother is German and Irish. Put the two wanted — Nintendo or Barbie," she said. article describes how she and other teenage together and, well, /' m the result. Olive com- "But this time, I went up the clerk and said, women carry these messages with them still: plexion, dark, curly hair, brown and green 'I want a toy that isn't sexist or racist.'" Women's roles in fairy tales distort reality eyes. All wrong. At least according to the Students have also said that sexism and —from Jessica Rabbit's six-mile strut in Fairy Tale Book of Standards. racism they saw in cartoons, they see in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? to Tinkerbelle's Importantly, students saw themselves as advertising, on prime time TV, on the news, obsessive vanity in Peter Pan. These seem- actors in the world; they were fueled by the in school. Now that they'd started analyzing ingly innocent stories teach us to look for our opportunity to convince some parents of the cartoons, they couldn't stop analyzing the faults. As Tinkerbelle inspects her tiny body long-lasting effects cartoons impose on their restof the world. And sometimes they wanted children or to enlighten their to stop. As Justine wrote earlier, at times they peers about the roots of some would like to remain "ignorant and happy." of their insecurities. Instead of This year it became more evident than ever leaving students angry or that if we stayed with critique and didn't shaking their heads about how move to action students might slump into bad the world is, we provided cynicism. them the opportunity to make a difference.^ Taking Action Linda Christensen teaches To capture the passion and alleviate the English at Jefferson High pain, Tim Hardin, a fellow Jefferson English School in Portland, Oregon teacher, and I decided to get students out of and writes frequently for the classroom with their anger — to allow Rethinking Schools. their writing and learning to become ve- Works Cited hicles for change. Instead of writing class- -- ^ ' ofOi? " i Dorfman, Ariel. 1983. The Empire's room essays, we asked this year's students to rW ,:C*V'" ,^i think of an audience for their analysis of I^KDH Old Clothes. New York: Pantheon. cartoons. Most chose parents; a few chose Shor, Ira and Paulo Freire, 1987. A their peers. Then they decided how they Babar Pedagogy for Liberation. South Hadley, MA: Bergin & Garvey. wanted to reach them. Some wanted to create

RETHINKING COLUMBUS PAGE 55 Interview with Chief Tayac: Struggles Unite CONTEMPORARY STRUGGLES Native Peoples

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- Phil Tajitsu Nash. In the talk, Chief reclamation of Indian people. We have so ested in joining with other Indians in groups 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 taking 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 fighters." 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.

RETHINKING COLUMBUS PAGE 57 spite being only half of one percent of the they have no skills for living in a town. Six United States population, we have the highest months later, they are broke, homeless, and rate of imprisonment of any group. When wanting to go home again. Indian people go to prison, they are not even In Western Minnesota, thousands of acres recognized as Indians, but are called "others". of land have been taken at the White Earth I would like it if every American would Reservation. Indian people who had legiti- take a history book and look at the picture of mate claims were not told, and the govern- Chief Big Foot frozen in his grave at Wounded ment sold the lands to whites. Knee. These people were only seeking food to exist, and the United States exerted mili- Indian Wars Continue tary might against them. Today, this military In Canada last summer, the Indian Wars might still exists on the Indian reservations. continued. The Canadian government They use their "legal bullets", the FBI and brought tanks to Indian reservations and held BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) to come onto a siege at Oka. Less than 150 Mohawks reservations and investigate and imprison protesting the proposed use of an ancestral Leonard Peltier the Indian people. We stood up and exposed burial ground for a golf course were sur- the BIA's corruption in our occupation of rounded by 5,000 federal troops. BIA headquarters in 1972, and stood up and These Indian Wars will never be over until "We may have showed the world that Indian people were the Indian people get their land back. Would been happy still alive in our stand at Wounded Knee in the Jews accept money for the Wailing Wall? 1973. The Pope accept money for the Vatican? with the land I had the fortune in the early 1970's of Would a Moslem accept money for the sale that was originally reserved to us. meeting a survivor of the 1890 Wounded of Mecca? No, we can never accept the loss, But continually over the years Knee massacre. It seemed so impossible that the theft of ancestral lands. And because more and more of our land has it could have occurred, until you think about Indian people are all one people, we can been stolen from us by the the My Lai massacre and the other horrible never forget Wounded Knee, just like the Canadian and U.S. governments. incidents in Vietnam. Many Indians, like Japanese American people can never forget In the 19th Century, our land was AIM leader Bill Means, served in Vietnam, the internment their people suffered [during stolen from us for economic and recognized that, as soldiers, they were World War II]. reasons because the land was lush oppressors. Then at Wounded Knee in 1973, Even today in the United States, there are and fertile and abounded with he was being shot at by the same soldiers he Native American political prisoners such as food. We were left with what white had served with. The important lesson is that Leonard Peltier, who has served 15 years of society thought was worthless the Indians serving in Vietnam felt a kinship two consecutive lifetime sentences for mur- land.... with the Vietnamese. ders he did not commit. After a shoot-out at Today, what was once called Wounded Knee in 1975, the FBI used fear worthless land suddenly becomes We Are a Sovereign Peoples tactics and trumped-up charges to get Peltier valuable as the technology of This feeling of being outside the American arrested, tried, and jailed. While he is not while society advances. White government has its roots in the fact that we well known in the U.S., Peltier is well known society would now like to push us are sovereign people who were here thou- to many in Europe and is a modern-day hero, off our reservations because sands of years before Columbus. However, on the scale of Crazy Horse, to Indian people. beneath the barren land lie despite referendums in 1920 and 1922 where We all need to band together today to save valuable mineral and oil we said we did not want to be made United Mother Earth. We should be making food so resources. It is not a new develop- States citizens, we were forced [to be citi- that no one is hungry. Every person should ment for white society to steal zens] by the American Indian Citizenship have shelter and health care. There should be from nonwhite peoples. When Act of 1924. Then, compounding our prob- no dominant class based on color of skin or white society succeeds it's called lems was the Wheeler-Howard Act of 1934, gender. There should be no dominant coun- colonialism. When white society's which set up tribal corporations on Indian try because of the amount of money they efforts to colonize people are met lands. Some sell-out Indian person would be have or the power they wield. All human with resistance it's called war. made chairman of the local branch of this beings should come together for the good of But when the colonized Indians of federal agency, and then he could sign away the earth. North America meet to stand and our rights to land or minerals. These tribal The elders once told me that the Indian resist we are called criminals." chairmen also tried to take power away from people were spared so that we can be the —Leonard Peltier our traditional chiefs, using the lure of fed- driving force to save Mother Earth. The eral education or housing benefits. Fortu- ashes of our ancestors have been intermingled For more information on Leonard nately, many of the Indian people did not fall with the earth on this continent for millennia. Peltier, write the Leonard Peltier for this trap. In this 500th anniversary of the coming to- Defense Committee, PO Box 583, There are other issues in Indian country. gether with Europeans, it is a good time to Lawrence, Kan., 66044, 913-842- 5774. You can also write Leonard At Big Mountain in the Southwest, the Hopi remember this, n Peltier, #89637-132, PO Box 1000, and Navajo are being relocated because min- Leavenworth, Kan., 66048. erals were found under the land. Once people are relocated and given a small settlement,

PAGE 58 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION Columbus Day By Jimmie Durham

In school I was taught the names Columbus, Cortez, and Pizzaro and A dozen other filthy murderers. A bloodline all the way to General Miles, Daniel Boone and General Eisenhower. QVISTA No one mentioned the names Of even a few of the victims. But don't you remember Chaske, whose spine Was crushed so quickly by Mr. Pizarro's boot? What words did he cry into the dust?

What was the familiar name Of that young girl who danced so gracefully That everyone in the village sang with her — Before Cortez' sword hacked off her arms As she protested the burning of her sweet- heart?

That young man's name was Many Deeds, And he had been a leader of a band of fighters Called the Redstick Hummingbirds, who slowed The march of Cortez'army with only a few Spears and stones which now lay still In the mountains and remember.

Greenrock Woman was the name Of that old lady who walked right up And spat in Columbus'face. We Must remember that, and remember Laughing Otter the Taino who tried to stop Columbus and was taken away as a slave. We never saw him again.

In school I learned of heroic discoveries Made by liars and crooks. The courage Of millions of sweet and true people Was not commemorated.

Let us then declare a holiday For ourselves, and make a parade that begins With Columbus' victims and continues Even to our grandchildren who will be named In their honor.

Because isn't it true that even the summer Grass here in this land whispers those names, And every creek has accepted the responsibility Of singing those names? And nothing can stop The wind from howling those names around The corners of the school.

Why else would the birds sing So much sweeter here than in other lands?

RETHINKING COLUMBUS PAGE 59 In 1954, at the urging of large U.S. corpora- Guatemala tions such as UnitedFruit Company (Chiquita bananas), the Eisenhower administration financed military coup. The military seized the peasants' new lands and returned them to Indians Fight large landowners. With the military in power to deal with peasant protests, the landowners and multi- Modern Conquistadores nationals began an aggressive campaign to expand their holdings. The US Agency for International Development (AID) began By Deborah Menkart This division reflects fundamentally dif- massive funding for agro-exports such as ferent beliefs about society and its relation- beef, with devastating repercussions for the ships to the environment Mayan Indians majority of the population. To graze cattle, "We have been fighting for our land for hold that the "land is sacred, the corn is growers take land away from peasants and 500 years," says Rigoberta Menchii, a Gua- sacred, the rain is sacred. The land is alive deforest vast expanses of rainforest Cattle temalan Quiche Indian woman. In Guate- and gives us life." The multinationals look at ranching produces few jobs and deprives mala, as in most of the Americas, the inequi- land in terms of potential profits. If carna- families of farm land. ties created by the European conquest con- tions are more profitable than corn on the Though tremendously profitable for a few, tinue today. international market, then that's what they'll this agricultural "boom" has resulted in in- The new conquerors are multinational plant, even if as a result children in the local creasing poverty for much of the population, corporations, governmentand military elites. community die of hunger. widescale destruction of the rain forest, and Modern-day conquistadores travel by jet intense pesticide contamination of the people instead of by sailboat, but control of cheap U.S.-Financed Coup and the environment. labor and resources are still the paths to gold. In Guatemala, native people have consis- Campesinos have organized to take back Ads in the Wall Street encourage business- tently resisted the abuse of their land and their land and resources. They speak for the men to "Come Discover" the low wages of communities. In 1944, a coalition of Indians defense of the environment and their com- Puerto Rico or Mexico. and middle-class ladinos toppled the govern- munities. Indians and poor ladino peasants (of mixed ment. They instituted land reform, wrote a Their demands are frequently met with Indian and European descent) continue to new constitution, and held elections. violence. In 1980, Indians marched to Gua- fight for the right to grow enough food for The wealthy landowners and foreign cor- temala City to petition the government. Their families and to protect cultural traditions. porations were angry at the new government pleas were ignored and, to call attention to their plight, they occupied the Spanish Em- bassy. The Guatemalan army attacked and burned the building, killing nearly everyone inside. Massacres like this marked a turning point that has resulted in an upsurge of grassroots resistance, as entire Indian communities joined the popular movement or the armed opposition. In an effort to repress this growing opposition, the army has systematically murdered over 45,000 people, mostly Indian, razed hundreds of villages, destroyed vast areas of forests and fields, and displaced more than a million people. Guatemalans have been forced by the thousands to settle in "model villages." Ethnocide Against Indians As A Kekchi Indian explains: "Ethnocide is being carried out in Guatemala against the indigenous people, not just by killing us by the thousands, but also by the destruction of our way of life. Today in Guatemala we are facing the greatest threat to our land and people since the conquest." Guatemalan resistance takes many forms, Children in Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala. The Impact of 50O yean of ranging from almost daily skirmishes be- European colonization has been devastlng on the children of the America*. tween guerillas and the army, to the organi-

P4GE 60 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION zation of industrial and agricultural unions, neighborhood associations, and church groups. It includes day-to-day efforts of thousands of Indian people to maintain their values and their culture. And there are people in "Communities in Resistance" who refuse to be resettled into the army's militarized zones, and who live clandestinely in the forests of Quiche\y grow food for their own consumption in small scattered fields and struggle to keep ahead of the army's troops. These Communities in Resistance serve as the seed of hope for a new society. Rigoberta Menchu Rigoberta Menchu provides an example of the spirit of resistance found throughout the Americas. Her commitment to her ancestors, 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. They life, "but the story of all poor Guatemalans." rain, and we had nothing to protect ourselves used ambushes. Our grandparents used to 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 grandfather coffee plantations, her family and community roughly built hut out of leaves. We had only when he saw that we were beginning to talk 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 rid organize: with streams of water running along the ourselves of the landowners before we'd be "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?' My wanted to take our land and our neighbors' those people tried to take our land away, we grandfather gave us a lot of support. My land. After many years of hard work, when have grieved very much. My grandfather grandfather said, 'Yes you have to defend 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 when 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 same 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, Rigoberta 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. selves. They hurled them up in the air; and, "We began to organize. Our organization 1988, CT: Curbstone Press. 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 them out and they all broke. That was the They used to set traps in their houses, in the teacher describes the military attack on his community. revenge of the landlord on us peasants be- path of the conquistadores, the Spaniards. Our Schlesinger, Stephen and Stephen Kinzer. Bitter Fruit: cause we wouldn't give up our land. Then ancestors were good fighters, they were real The Untold Story of the American Coup in Guatemala. they threw out all the corn that we had stored men. It's not true what white people say, that 1983. NJ: Doubleday.

RETHINKING COLUMBUS PAGE 61 James Bay: Cree and Inuit Defend Lands James Neacappo, a 48-year-old Cree in tive Americans and environmental groups in merged by the project's reservoirs. This con- the James Bay region of Canada, remembers this country to stop phases two and three. tamination has spread to the region's fish, to the beaver-trapping areas of his childhood. The James Bay project encompasses the wildlife that feed on the fish, and to But he can never trap there again. The region roughly 135,000 square miles in a region of people who eat the fish and wildlife. As a now lies under more than 500 feet of water. rivers, lakes and wetlands jutting off James result, two-thirds of the Cree are estimated to The trapping ground is a victim of the Bay, which lies on the southern end of Hudson have dangerously high mercury levels. James Bay hydro-electric development. The Bay in Quebec, Canada. The project is the Mercury is not the only problem, however. largest such project planned in the world, it brainchild of Quebec Premier Robert Displaced Cree, stripped of their ancestral is due to include hundreds of dams and Bourassa, who has made it the centerpiece of hunting and trapping grounds, also suffer the dikes, scores of power stations and the diver- his administration's economic development consequences of being hurled into a new way sion of dozens of rivers. plans. The first phase, known as the La of life. According to a special report in the The Cree view the project as both a threat Grande complex, was started in 1971. Canadian magazine, MacLeari s, alcoholism to their way of life and an environmental Completion of phases two and three is sched- is on the rise, and the unemployment rate catastrophe comparable to the destruction of uled for the early part of the next century. among Cree aged 15 to 21 is now 55%. tropical rainforests. The scope of even the first phase defies Environmental groups have banded to- "We've been living off the land for 5,000 imagination. Rivers were blocked and di- gether with the Cree, stressing the global years," said Matthew Mukash, a member of verted, dams and dikes were built that extend importance of James Bay. According to the the Grand Council of the Cree of Quebec, the for scores of miles, and reservoirs were publication Earthroots in Toronto, the group leading opposition to the project. "If formed where once there were rivers, lakes Hudson Bay/James Bay region is North you flood the land, you destroy our eco- and wetlands. The La Grande 2 dam gives a America's main migratory waterfowl area, nomic base." sense of the project's scope. The dam is 1.7 Canada's largest wetlands region, and one of The project's first phase has already dis- miles long, almost half a mile wide at the the world's largest inland seas. Itcontainsthe placed thousands of Cree from their tradi- base, and is as tall as a 53-story building. world's largest beluga whale population and tional lands. Two more phases are planned. The Grand Council of the Crees of Quebec the largest caribou herd. If completed, the project would affect a total has successfully sued the Quebec and Cana- As a result of their lawsuit demanding of 10,500 Cree and 6,000 Inuit in an area dian governments to prevent expansion of environmental and social impact studies, the larger than reunified Germany. the James Bay network until all environmen- Cree have delayed the start of phase two until The Cree and Inuit note that the project is tal and social impact studies are completed. at least November 1992, Mukash said. being built primarily so Quebec can export Mukash said one of the main problems is "We're hopeful that they will have to can- energy to the northeast United States. Thus the mercury contamination caused by the cel the [rest of the] project," Mukash said. they have been building alliances with Na- decomposition of vegetation in lands sub- "But there's no guarantee yet" O PAGE 62 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION Our Land, Our Life: Native Peoples Organize for Justice in the Americas

"Holy Mother Earth, the trees and Ixil successfully stopped the construction of a all nature are witness of your thoughts To protect their access to farm lands, the toxic waste incinerator within their reserva- and deeds." - A Winnebago saying Ixil of El Quich6, Guatemala have formed tion. CARE organized the first national "popular resistance communities." These meeting of grassroots groups working on Native Peoples throughout the Americas communities fled army massacres in 1982 environmental issues in the summer of 1990. share this perspective and today are organiz- and remain in the mountains. As one Ixil ing to protect the earth and their culture from woman explained, "We are living in resis- Ojibway those who would abuse them. Below are a tance from the army. Our demand is that the The La Courte Oreilles and other bands of few examples: government grant us true peace and free- Ojibways in Wisconsin oppose the construc- dom." tion of a copper and zinc mining facility Amazon which will devastate the local ecosystem. Amazonian Indians are protesting the dam- Lakota age caused by logging and mining compa- The Native Resource Coalition of the Pine Sirionos nies and gold prospectors. They are Ridge Reservation in South Dakota opposes In Beni, Bolivia, the Sirion6s and other demanding that international aid to the Ama- a toxic waste dump and surface mining. indigenous groups have fought since 1988 to zon come with the strictcondition that Indian save their lands from destruction by cattle organizations be involved in the programs. Lillioett ranchers and logging companies. Over 700 The Lillioett people of British Columbia Chimanes, Movimas, YucanSs, Sirionos and Caribs seek to protect an undeveloped mountain Mojenos joined a 600-kilometer March for To strengthen their continuing struggle for and its valley from development and log- Territory and Dignity in 1990 to publicize justice today, Caribs held the first Confer- ging- their demand for the "right to their land and ence of Indigenous Peoples of the English- dignity." speaking Caribbean in 1987. They now plan Mohawk to build links with the indigenous groups of In protest to the extension of a golf course Wauja Guyana and the rest of Central and South into ancestral lands in Oka, Quebec, A traditional native people of the America. Mohawks erected barricades over a bridge Brazilian rainforest, the Wauja are linking Montreal with its southern suburbs. peacefully organizing to defend their land Cheyenne During the nine-week impasse, the police from ranchers and poachers. O Native Action, a citizen's organization in and the Mohawks clashed violently. Northern Cheyenne, Montana, is opposing the Federal Government's largest coal sale Navajo Sources: Amazon Network, The Panos in the history of the U.S., which includes a Citizens Against Ruining our Environ- Institute, NACLA, S AIIC, (Addresses in the 100-mile tract of land in Wyoming, Mon- ment (CARE) on the Navajo Reservation resource guide.) tana, and South Dakota.

Cree and Inuit At James Bay in Canada, the Cree and Inuit are organizing against the construction of the single largest hydroelectric dam project in North America.

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.

Hoopa and Yurok In the Smith River Recreational Area in N. California, the Hoopa and Yurok people have been fighting to ensure the protection of religious and sacred sites in their homeland, which is threatened by U.S. Forest Service plans to construct a logging road in the area. Colombian Indians protest human right* violation* by government.

RETHINKING COLUMBUS PAGE 63 " Indian Singing in 20th Century America by Gail Tremblay We wake; we wake the day, the light rising in us like sun - our breath a prayer brushing against the feathers in our hands. We stumble out into streets; patterns of wires invented by strangers are strung between eye and sky, and we dance in two worlds, inevitable as seasons in one, exotic curiosities in the other which rushes headlong down highways, watches us from car windows, explains us to its children in words that no one could ever make sense of. The image obscures the vision, and we wonder whether anyone will ever hear our own names for the things we do. Light dances in the body, surrounds all living things - even the stones sing although their songs are infinitely lower than the ones we learn from trees. No human voice lasts long enough to make such music sound. Earth breath eddies between factories and office buildings, caresses the surface of our skin; we go to jobs, the boss always watching the clock to see that we're on time. He tries to shut out magic and hopes we'll make mistakes or disappear. We work fast and steady and remember each breath alters the composition of the air. Change moves relentless, the pattern unfolding despite their planning - we're always there - singing round dance songs, remembering what supports our life • impossible to ignore.

PAGE 64 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION The Earth is a Satellite of the Moon By Leonel Rugama

Apollo 2 cost more than Apollo 1 Apollo 1 cost plenty.

Apollo 3 cost more than Apollo 2 r Apollo 2 cost more than Apollo 1 Apollo 1 cost plenty.

Apollo 4 cost more than Apollo 3 Apollo 3 cost more than Apollo 2 Apollo 2 cost more than Apollo 1 Apollo 1 cost plenty.

Apollo 8 cost a fortune, but no one minded because the astronauts were Protestant they read the bible from the moon astounding and delighting every Christian and on their return Pope Paul VI gave them his blessing.

Apollo 9 cost more than all these put together including Apollo 1 which cost plenty.

The great-grandparents of the people ofAcahualinca were less hungry than the grandparents. The great-grandparents died of hunger. The grandparents of the people ofAcahualinca were less hungry than the parents. The grandparents died of hunger. The parents of the people ofAcahualinca were less hungry than the children of the people there. The parents died of hunger.

The people ofAcahualinca are less hungry than the children of the people there. The children of the people ofAcahualinca, because of hunger, are not born they hunger to be born, only to die of hunger. Blessed are the poor for they shall inherit the moon.

RETHINKING COLUMBUS PAGE 65 Textbook Crimes and Misdemeanors: Columbus is only the beginning

The danger of the Columbus myth War II, and to develop empathy for another stories of murder, stolen cattle, and stage- goes beyond distortions about the people's human rights and dignity, but the coach robberies. Joaquin! they gasped. No European conquest of the Americas. author chose to gloss over the issue. one felt safe... Who was this Mexican ban- The myth also prepares children to dit?... The people of California were not Oh California (Grade 4) taking any chances. They hired a man named accept a winners'perspective and to Excerpt: "Cort6s found beautiful silver Captain John Love to find Joaquin... They ignore the views of less powerful and gold treasures in the Aztec cities. The cheered when they heard the news of the groups. Spanish government started a colony in Mexican bandit's death." (p. 146, emphasis The following is excerpted from a Mexico and ordered that all the riches found added) 85-page analysis that grew out of a there had to be sent to Spain." (p.59) Comment: Joaquin Murieta was a Mexi- struggle against the California state Comment: Cort6s did not "find" anything can hero and liberator who, in his battles with adoption of the Houghton-Mifflin — he raped, killed, looted, and pillaged the the invaders, stole from the rich and gave to Aztec nation. Like all of this chapter, the the poor. Mexican revolutionaries were called history/social science series. Written narrative takes the perspective of the invad- "bandits" by the wealthy and powerful in by members of Communities United ers, omitting the fact that the invaders de- order to discredit their struggle. against Racism in Education, it pro- stroyed entire societies of indigenous peoples. vides a concrete example of how Excerpt: "The writings of (Charlotte parents and teachers can organize to Excerpt: "Joaquin! Just the whisper of his Perkins) Oilman and other women urged the make education more equitable. name sent chills down the spines of Califor- government to make laws that would protect nians. It was the winter of 1852-1853, and workers and families. Women helped bring the legend of Joaquin Murieta and his gang about new schools and housing, safer food, The World I See (kindergarten) was spreading quickly across California. In and higher pay for laborers. One of the big- Comment: In the lessons on family and the cities and towns, fearful citizens shared gest victories was in 1911, when the community, all the families shown or discussed are intact nuclear families; all of the communities appear to be middle-class. No- where is discussed single-parent or alternative families (e.g. families formed by adoption, foster families, court-appointed place- ments, gay or lesbian parents). Nowhere is discussed homelessness or poverty.

Some People I Know (Grade 2) Excerpt: "Yoshiko Uchida wanted to be both Japanese and American. Sometimes this was hard. During those years, America and Japan were at war with each other. Many people thought Japanese people could not also be Americans. Uchida's family and other Japanese Americans had to leave their homes and go to special camps built by the Army. While Uchida was there, she taught second grade. When the war was over, the camp was closed and everyone left to make new homes." (pp. 169-170) Comment: This passage justifies the in- carceration of Japanese-American people by the U.S. government, and fails to mention the wholesale theft of Japanese-American property. Nor does it mention that the U.S. government was forced to apologize and pay reparations to survivors of the internments. Picture from Houghton Mifflln text which identifies John Wesley Powell, but The opportunity existed here to explore the not the Native American. The text also says Powell was the first to travel issue of Japanese internment during World the Colorado River the entire length of the canyon.

PAGE 66 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION Progressives passed a law that gave Califor- nia women the right to vote." (p. 235, teachers edition) The Danger of Comment: From this passage, it would appear that women were the passive recipi- ents of the right to vote. The author does not "Harmless" see fit to mention the women's struggle for the vote, for equal rights, and against slavery and other forms of exploitation. School Mascots America Will Be (grade 5) Excerpt: "How did the invention of the cotton gin increase the need for slaves in the Go White Boys! •Why are Indians used as names for teams South? (Additional slaves were needed to Victory to the Black Skins! and as mascots in the same way as badgers, work these larger fields.)" (p.404, teachers Rah Rah Chinamen! gophers, or eagles? Are Indian people equated guide) "Thus, Eli Whitney' s time- and labor- Can you imagine any school district in the with animals and seen as less-than-human? saving invention actually increased the need country tolerating such racist cheerleading • Mascots are often used to provide comic for slave labor." (p.404, emphasis added in for sports teams? relief during half time; they are silly crea- both) Of course not. So why are millions of tures not to be taken seriously. Why Comment: The cotton gin increased the children attending schools with mascots and perpetuate such a view of Native Ameri- need for labor, not slave labor. The use of sports teams such as the Redmen, the War- cans? slavery was an individual and collective riors, the Red Raiders and the Indians? •The mascots help people deny the mod- choice as a system of labor, not an inevitable Nor are such demeaning stereotypes lim- component of United States society. This ited to elementary and high schools. There's passage justifies slavery by presenting it as also the Marquette Warriors at Marquette essential. University in Milwaukee, the Atlanta Braves baseball team, and the Washington Redskins "By tolerating Excerpt: "During the 1870s and 1880s, football team — just to name a few. many companies built railroads in other the use parts of the United States. By 1880, over Concrete Way to Fight Bias of demeaning 115,000 miles of track crisscrossed the Organizing against such mascots and sports country." (p. 480) names provides a concrete way to combat stereotypes in our Comment: Companies did not build the bias against Native Americans. At best, your public school systems, railroads. Workers built the railroads. There efforts will lead to a change in names. At is no mention, except in the teachers guide, worst, it will raise consciousness about the we desensitize entire of the thousands of Chinese workers who negative nature of such mascots and names. built the many railroad systems connecting While some schools have gotten rid of generations the West with the rest of the country. Native American mascots, many refuse to do of children." so. In Wisconsin, for example, there are an Excerpt: "John Wesley Powell, standing estimated 78 schools with Native American on the right, explored the Grand Canyon by mascot names, according to the state's De- boat, in 1869. Few people knew about the partment of Public Instruction. canyon's beauty until Powell shared infor- The Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council has ern-day existence of "real Indians" living mation he learned on his journey." (p. 21) asked Wisconsin officials to prohibit public and working in the 20th century. Comment: This photograph shows two schools from using Native American images • The mascots perpetuate the stereotype men. One of them is John Wesley Powell. and caricatures as mascots or in logos. Public that Native Americans are bloodthirsty and The other, a native man, is not identified. opposition to the proposal has underscored savage. Why? And we doubt that "few people knew the amount of work that needs to be done in •Teams and mascots aren't named the Jew about the canyon's beauty." What about the changing attitudes. Boys, or the Black Savages, or the Spies, or indigenous peoples who lived there? Here, In the Wisconsin town of Milton, a letter- the Yellow Peril. Why isn't there the same "White people" equals "people," and native to-the-editor reflected a common reaction to sensitivity toward racism against Native people, as usual, are invisible. O attempts to change the name of the high Americans? school's teams, the "Redmen." "Racially demeaning stereotypes are This analysis was prepared by Beverly "Why does one woman want to change a dangerous," notes Carol Hand, a Native Slapin, with Junee Hunt, Doris Scale, Jose logo that has been used at Mil ton High School American parent who has filed a legal com- Garda.JeanlshibashiandSamCacas. Some foroverSOyears...," the letter asked. "People plaint against the Milton school mascots. of the above is drawn from The Association of Milton, don't let her get away with it "By tolerating the use of demeaning stereo- of Chinese Teachers and the Rochester City Stand up and fight like your Redmen teams types in our public school systems, we de- School District Multicultural Project (spe- do." sensitize entire generations of children." D cial thanks to Joyce King and Ellen Swartz.) Native Americans make several points to counter such views: —Barbara Miner

RETHINKING COLUMBUS PAGE 67 African-Americans: Mourn the Quincentenary BACKGROUND/CONTEXT and Celebrate Resistance

By Bill Fletcher, Jr. European slave trade. Their resistance ranged The impact of the African slave trade was from individual escapes to rebellions involv- staggering. By the time it was over in the mid ing hundreds and, in some cases, tens of 1800s, Africa had lost millions of people. No African-Americans have no reason to cel- thousands of people. one knows how many, with estimates rang- ebrate the Columbus Quincentenary. Rather, ing from 5 million to as high as 40 million. we should mourn his arrival in the Americas. Columbus Boasts of Slavery Lerone Bennett, Jr., in his book, Before the Columbus opened up the Western Hemi- From the first day Columbus arrived in the Mayflower, A History of Black America, sphere to European invasion and exploita- Western Hemisphere, he thought about en- points out that the slave trade's consequences tion. This had devastating consequences not slaving native peoples. As he wrote the cannot be captured by mere statistics: only for Africans, but for Hispanics, Native Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella, "The slave trade was a black man who Americans and other people of color. "Should your majesties command it, all the stepped out of his house for a breath of fresh Columbus also initiated the trans-Atlantic inhabitants could be taken away to Castile, or air and ended up, ten months later, in Geor- slave trade, sending 500 Tamos back to Spain made slaves on the island. With 50 men we gia with bruises on his back and a brand on during his second voyage. In later decades, could subjugate them all and make them do his chest. millions of Africans were kidnapped and whatever we want." The slave trade was a black mother suffo- broughtas slaves to the Western Hemisphere. On his second voyage, Columbus tried to cating her newborn baby because she didn t The slave trade not only killed and dehuman- make good on this boast Some 500 Tafno want him to grow up a slave. ized millions of people, it irrevocably dis- Indians were sent back to Spain to be sold as The slave trade was a 'kind' captainforc- torted the development of African civiliza- slaves, although most of them died enroute ing his suicide-minded passengers to eat by tion. Families were torn apart, societies or shortly after arriving. breaking their teeth, though, as he said, he collapsed, and the way was opened for was 'naturally compassionate.' Europe's invasion and colonization of the The slave trade was a bishop sitting on an continent. ivory chair on a wharf in the Congo and Examining Columbus's impact on Afri- Columbus's pioneering extending his fat hand in wholesale baptism cans can help us understand current prob- ventures in thievery and of slaves who were rowed beneath him, go- lems. African-Americans still suffer the ef- ing in chains to the slave ships." fects of the racist ideology that justified enslavement helped set in slavery. Likewise, the European-American motion events which left The Evolution Toward Slavery ruling class still uses racism to maintain its Africa vulnerable to over Slavery did not immediately assume a power. Just as in the previous 500 years, leading position in the economic life of the discrimination and division based on skin 400 years of invasion and Western Hemisphere. color is used to prevent unity between people colonization. In what is now the United States, the of color and poor and working-class whites. colonial upper classes initially relied upon Despite the myths surrounding Columbus, European paupers for much of their labor he is integrally connected to these legacies. It would only take a short time after Co- force. Many immigrants served as inden- He initiated large-scale experiments in ex- lumbus arrived for the Spanish and Portu- tured servants who had to work seven years ploitation which would become trademarks guese to decide to bring African slaves to the before they could gain their freedom. Others of the European invasion of the Americas: Americas. TheEuropean colonizers realized came as "redemptioners," obligated to pay the plundering of gold and silver, and the that while Native Americans were able to their trans-Atlantic fare within two years of enslavement of native peoples. He brought flee into the forests, Africans would have a their arrival or be sold to the highest bidder. sugar cane root from the Canary Islands and hard time escaping on an alien continent. Much of this servant class was provided by planted it on what is now the Dominican By 1501 the Spanish monarchs had issued Irish, English, and German tenant farmers Republic. By the early 1500s, African slaves their first laws governing the African slave seeking a better life. owned by his son Diego were harvesting trade and by 1510 hundreds of slaves had The demand for a colonial workforce also sugar cane; throughout the West Indies, hun- been transported to the Americas for sale. By encouraged unscrupulous practices: kidnap- dreds of thousands of Africans suffered early the 1700s, slavery was flourishing in the pers snatched adults and children off the deaths from overwork on sugar plantations. middle and lower colonies of British America, streets of London and Bristol, and magis- It is also important to understand that in the West Indies, and on the mainland of trates transported religious dissenters and Africans and native peoples resisted the South America. people convicted of petty thievery.

PAGE 68 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION Together, the indentured servants, redemptioners, those kidnapped, and former "convicts" composed about one-half of all English immigrants during the colonial period. By the middle of the 1600s, the European and colonial upper classes saw drawbacks in this approach. British merchants worried that emigration was depriving them of inexpen- sive wage laborers. And in the British colonies along the Atlantic seaboard, poor whites remained scarce in relation to labor needs, and threatened to become an independent political force. Further, indentured servants often escaped, or demanded land at the end of their service. Black slaves thus became an attractive source of labor. Racism conveniently justified slavery. And from the European perspective, using African slaves made economic sense. The same amount of money it took to buy 10 years of a white person' s labor would buy the entire lifetime of a black person's. To make slavery work, laws and ideas in the colonies had to be changed. From 1619, when the first Africans appeared in English America, until about 1660, blacks shared many of the rights enjoyed by poor whites. Black indentured servants could gain their freedom after seven years, just as whites could. In many places, blacks were allowed to own land, vote, and testify in court. With Virginia and Maryland in the lead, the colonies began to promote the preju- dices, legal codes, and customs upon which a slave economy could flourish. Laws were passed which made blacks slaves for life and which outlawed intermarriage. Confronted with the embarrassment of Christian slaves, presumably possessing souls equal to those Toussaint L'Ouverture defeated English, Spanish, and French armies, of whites in the eyes of God, Virginia legis- paving the way for Haitian Independence In 1825. lators passed a 1667 law which stipulated, "The conferring of baptisme doth not alter Native-American, and forced laborers. Other escaped to states where slavery was illegal the condition of the person as to his bondage endeavors based on slavery, especially the and Canada, using the "Underground Rail- or freedom." production of sugar, cotton, and tobacco, road" organized by black and white aboli- Once sanctioned by law and religion, sla- also became a tremendous source of capital. tionists. very in the 13 colonies took off. In 1710, In addition, slave products from the Western The largest slave revolts took place in there were 50,000 slaves in what is now the Hemisphere, such as cotton, provided raw South America and the West Indies. The United States. In 1776 there were 500,000, materials for British factories. longest rebellion took place in Northeast and on the eve of the civil war there were 4 Brazil, where escaped slaves organized the million. Slave Resistance kingdom of Palmares—which grew to one- Slavery brought immense wealth to a tiny From the beginning of the trans-Atlantic third the size of Portugal. For most of the class of Europeans both in Europe and the slave trade, Africans organized rebellions. 18th century, until ultimate defeat, thou- Western Hemisphere. This wealth not only Historian Herbert Aptheker has documented sands of former slaves successfully resisted supported extravagant lifestyles, it provided 250 conspiracies, revolts, and acts of resis- dozens of Dutch and Portuguese military the money needed to launch modern-day tance in the United States during the slave expeditions. capitalism and the industrial revolution. era. Insurrection leaders such as Gabriel The most famous slave revolt was led by This wealth first came from the gold and Prosser, Denmark Vesey, and Nat Turner the Haitian slave Toussaint L'Ouverture in silver taken from the Western Hemisphere, struck terror into the hearts of slave owners. the early 1800s. A brilliant general, minerals mined by slaves, both black and In addition, at least 40,000 slaves in the U.S. L'Ouverture defeated English, Spanish, and

RETHINKING COLUMBUS PAGE 69 societies became fractured and demoralized, particularly in Western Africa. Class divi- sions and inequalities deepened as African rulers provided increasing numbers of people to the slave market. As historian Hosea Jaffe notes, "Slaving became the major commerce inside Africa itself, involving more people and money than all other commerce put together." While slavery existed among Africans before the European slave trade, slaves owned by Africans were not treated with the abso- lute brutality which characterized the Euro- pean slave trade. And by encouraging the capture of slaves for export, the trans-Atlan- tic slave trade inalterably changed life in large regions of Africa. West Indian historian Walter Rodney describes the impact of slavery in West Africa this way: "For the vast majority it [the slave trade] brought insecurity and fear, whether or not they were able to escape sale into slavery, because the slave trade meant violence in the form of skirmishes, ambushes and kidnappings — often carried out by professional man-hunters under the supervi- sion of the ruling elites. This atmosphere of fear caused people to flee their villages into the bush or remove their homes to places which were difficult to get to and agricultur- ally inhospitable. Alternatively, as was no- Abraham, a Florida slave who become an Influential Interpreter and ticeable on the waterside, many Africans counselor with the Semlnoles. walked in armed expectation of attack." While Columbus deserves condemnation for many of his actions, we should remember French armies — laying the groundwork for Columbus's African Legacy that his significance is in many ways sym- Haitian independence from France in 1825. While North Americans, both black and bolic. The point is not to focus exclusively on Haiti thus became the first free black repub- white, have had to confront the reverbera- Columbus, but to criticize the political and lic in the Western Hemisphere. tions of slavery in the United States, we have economic forces which he both represented Faced with a common oppressor, Native scant knowledge of the slave trade's pro- and encouraged. Americans and African slaves were often found impact on Africa. To the extent most When asked to commemorate the 500th allies. Perhaps the most remarkable example Americans think of Africa, it is as a homoge- anniversary of Columbus, we should reply in what is now the United States were the neous place — rather than a massive conti- that we refuse to celebrate the European "Seminole Wars" in Florida from the early nent filled with many different ethnic groups plunder of the Western Hemisphere's riches. 1800s until 1842. The Seminoles were com- which defy easy generalizations. We refuse to celebrate the European subju- prised of Creek Indians who settled in Florida, Perhaps one safe generalization is that gation of the Western Hemisphere's native runaway slaves and remnants of the original most of Africa's peoples were eventually peoples. We refuse to celebrate the kidnap- tribes in the area. Together, they resisted the affected by Columbus's voyages. His pio- ping and enslavement of millions of Afri- U.S. Army during the Seminole Wars, which neering ventures in thievery and enslave- cans. were the costliest wars ever fought by the ment helped set in motion events which left There is only one thing we should cel- United States against Native Americans, and Africa vulnerable to over 400 years of inva- ebrate: the 500 years of resistance to Colum- which never ended in clear victory for the sion and colonization. bus and the greed and cruelty that he U.S. Army. The slave trade had the same effect on represents. D According to Guyanese historian Jan various societies in Africa that the kidnap- Carew, U.S. soldiers sent to fight these insur- ping of an individual family member would gents "brought back tales of extraordinary have on an individual family — multiplied Bill Fletcher, Jr. is a labor activist based courage, of the Indians and Negroes fighting several million times. To fuel the slave trade in the Washington D.C area. He has been together, Indians under the leadership of European invaders pitted ethnic groups and active in the African-American liberation Negroes, Negroes under the leadership of empires against one another, supplying some movement for many years. The author would Indians, and of the great devotion between groups with weapons and then buying the like to thank David Levine for his assistance the two groups." prisoners from any wars. As a result, many on this article.

PAGE 70 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION "If I Had Five Minutes To Spend With Students..." Interview with LaDonna Harris

The following interview is with depicted them. There's always thatsilly thing vated foods that revolutionized the food chain LaDonna Harris, president and ex- about the woman walking behind the man of the world. ecutive director of Americans for and all that nonsense. Also, the wealth that came from this hemi- Indian Opportunity, a national advo- In fact, many of the societies were sphere — the gold and silver, the tobacco, matrilineal. Everyone was importantand had cotton and sugar crops—changed the entire cacy group basedin Washington, D.C. their role. Within the social and political economic structure of Europe: from serfdom Harris, 60, is a Comanche who has structure, the Comanches allowed you to be into industry. It's ironic that the wealth which been active in Indian struggles as a strong individual so that you could contrib- came from the Indian people was so detri- well as civil rights and women's is- ute back to the tribe. mental to them. sues. She was interviewed by Barbara In traditional cultures, women were not Miner of Re thinking Schools. treated in a demeaning or less than equal What are some of the ongoing contribu- way. tions of native peoples? What should be the perspective of teach- I feel very strongly about the uniqueness ers when discussing Columbus and Native What are some of the key contributions of tribal society in the American system. We Americans? of native peoples? have much to offer discussions about the If I had five minutes to spend with students, Because native peoples did not have writ- autonomy of different peoples within a larger one of the most important points I would ten documents, many of their contributions political system. Look at Eastern Europe and make is thatlndians are 500 differentcultures are not well known. But take the contribu- the Middle East today, where people are in this country. We have different languages, tions to political philosophy, for example. crying out for more autonomy. This is an different perspectives on life. And you can't important discussion. be an Indian in a vacuum. You have to be a We should be able to discuss how you let member of a tribe. And that tribe is a unique those who are "different" from white Euro- phenomenon with a specific social, political centric America contribute their strengths to and economic order which makes it a par- the larger society. Rather than seeing dif- ticular culture. Comanches are different than The wealth that came ferences as a weakness and divisive to the Navajos, who are different than Cherokees. from this hemisphere society in general, American society should Another thing that is very important. Indian see these differences as a strength. The tribes are autonomous political units of gov- changed the entire "browning of America" should be viewed as ernment. We are part of the federal system, economic structure of a strengthening of America rather than as a not a part of the states. Our political relation- dividing of America. ship is not well known and little understood, Europe. Ecologically, Indians also have much to which causes a great deal of problems. contribute. I was brought up to believe in kinship relationships, not only to your rela- What are some of the ways in which the tives, but also to this earth. Thus, being an legacies of Columbus continue into the environmentalist is also part of being an present? Indian. The predominant legacy is the Euro-cen- The Iroquois confederacy of different tribes tric culture in American society which states influenced the thinking of Benjamin Frankli n What are some of the particular that history began with Europe. When in and Thomas Jefferson, and that influence is strengths in native culture that have helped fact, the peoples of this earth and their re- reflected in the U.S. Constitution. People native peoples survive in the last 500 years? spective cultures came from different places borrowed from the philosophies of Indian The strength of Indian peoples, both indi- and thus should be honored and respected. people and made it their own. That's all right. vidually and collectively, is in the tribe. We As a Comanche, I grew up to believe that we But it would be nice if we had gotten some have something we can identify with, a col- should respect all cultures and peoples. credit. lective strength. I can be here in Washington And of course you can go through the food and know that I am a Comanche and am part Are there any legacies that have par- chain. Where would the Irish be without the of something bigger than myself. I have a ticularly affected Native American potato? Where would the Italians be without sense of belonging, a sense of self, because women? the tomato? Foods that are considered ethnic within that community of people I know Women in Indian society were much stron- foods of Europe actually came from this where I belong and how I fit in. O ger and more equal than Western society has continent. They were well developed, culti- RETHINKING COLUMBUS PAGE 71 The following selection outlines the effect of the Spanish and U.S. By Andres G. Guerrero La Raza: conquests of what is now the southwestern United States, and the unique Conquest is at the ground of Chicano his- historical events that led to the devel- tory. Two major conquests stand out The opment of the Chicano people. The first conquest was by the Spaniards in the Product sixteenth century; the second by the gringos selection is written by Andres G. in the nineteenth century. The history and Guerrero, a Chicano whose great- personal identity of the Chicanos is shaped of Two grandfather was a Cherokee. by these two conquests. Both conquests were Guerrero adapted the selection from so brutal that they left unforgettable memo- his book, A Chicano Theology, pub- ries upon the conquered. In a sense Chicanos lished by Orbis Books. are a by-product of these two historical con- Conquests flicts. The roots of Chicano history are in the sixteenth century conquest, when two cultures, two world views, and two world powers — the indigenous and the Spanish — merged violently. The Spanish conquistador married or raped the conquered Indian woman. The children born of this union were neither indigenous nor Spanish. Thus began a new race (La Raza), which had characteristics of both groups. At first these children had a difficult time; both groups rejected them. Neither the Spanish nor the indigenous wanted them. The Spaniards labeled these children mestizos — a mixture of Spanish and indigenous. This phenomenon of the New World was called mestizaje. This was not the first time mestizaje had occurred however. From the beginning, these people had two names. The Spaniards called them mestizos; they called themselves La Raza. Both names mean the same thing. Today, Chicanos are mestizos and they call themselves La Raza. Chicano is the name we gave ourselves after the second conquest in the nineteenth century by the gringos. After this second conquest the gringo called us Mexican-Ameri- can — a hyphenated name. During the first conquest, the institution that was instrumental in bringing to reality the mestizo phenomenon was the Catholic Church. Once Native Americans were baptized, they were Christians and fell under the jurisdiction and protection of the church's laws. Under the church's sacraments, Span- iards andNative Americans, more positively this time, intermarried. In principle (thanks to the church), there was equality, but not in practice. After the second conquest what had been almost half of Mexico's territory became the American Southwest. For a second time, we were a people conquered by outsiders. Once more a church with an alien clergy (the Native clergy was ousted or repressed) continued its sacramental tradition among the mestizos. Mestizos had resided in the South-

PAGE 72 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION In Mexico the conquest is now seen in much the same way as it was seen by the Indian poet of four centuries ago. Cort6s, instead of being a national hero, is regarded as a ruthless invader. This feeling is shown Birth of the Mestizo by the conspicuous lack of his name on Mexican streets and monuments and by Diego Rivera's portrayal of When he first came to the New Broken spears lie in the roads; him as a brutal killer in a mural in the World Cort6s rejected an offer of we have torn our hair in our grief. National Palace, On the other hand, land, stating, "I came to get gold, The houses are roofless now, and their walls Montezuma and Cuauht6moc are not till the soil like a peasant." It are red with blood. national heroes, and streets, monu- was his longing for gold and his ments, and two of Mexico's most audacity which determined that Worms are swarming in the streets and plazas, popular brands of beer bear their Cortes should be the conqueror and the walls are spattered with gore. names. Perhaps the best summary of of Mexico. However Cortes's The water has turned red, as if it were dyed, the conquest is on a plaque at the defeat would only have put a and when we drink of it, Plaza of Three Cultures in Mexico stop to his own career. The it has the taste of brine. City. Here the final battle of the conquest, part of the expansion conquest is commemorated with an of the Spanish empire, would We have pounded our hands in despair inscription which concludes: have occurred anyway. against the adobe walls, Seen from the side of the Indi- for our inheritance, our city, is lost and dead. It was neither a victory nor a de- ans, the conquest was a double The shields of our warriors were its defense, feat. It was the painful birth of the tragedy: military defeat and the but they could not save it. mestizo people of today's Mexico.O end of the Aztec empire. The feelings of the Aztecs were re- We have chewed dry twigs and salt grasses; Excerptedfrom Mexico in Transi- corded by an Aztec poet of the we have filled our mouths with dust and bits of adobe; tion by Philip Russell, Colorado conquest period: we have eaten lizards, rats and worms.... River Press.

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

It lies within our comfortable liberal tradition that we don't like events to be depicted in stark colors. We like shadings. We particularly don't like things or people to be written up as all bad. Everything has its nuances, we claim. Only fanatics and ex- graphic credit: Ricardo Levins Maalcs, huracln/ACD tremists fail to see that Mankind and womankind, sitting (still rather well-fed) in their (still rather well- the honor of that Holy Faith in whose name la raza, is a reality. These children of con- heated) rooms, feel a considerable tender- a continental massacre was committed.... querors and slaves are the only achievement ness toward themselves. But men like these were pathetically few of the conquest, the only wealth it produced. Upperdog, mostly white, mankind, that is. in number, and still are. The Spaniards cut For all the gold and silver stolen and shipped And throughout its bloody history, mankind off the hands of the Arawaks [Tamos] who to Spain did not make the Spanish people has labeled as fanatics, agitators, and didn't come in with enough gold. More than richer. It gave their kings an edge in the troublemakers all those who have felt less four hundred years later, Brazilian entrepre- balance of power for a time, a chance to hire tender and rosy about the world. neurs cut off the ears of the Indians who more mercenary soldiers for their wars. They Well, fanatical and extreme as it may be, I didn' t come in with enough wild rubber. The ended up losing those wars, anyways, and all find it very hard to think of any shadings or Spaniards threw the Indian children in the that was left was a deadly inflation, a starv- nuances in a character portrait of Christo- sea, shouting, "Boil in hell, children of the ing population, the rich richer, the poor pher Columbus. devil." The United States General poorer, and a ruined peasant class. Grant him the originality and fierce ambi- Westmoreland announced, "An Oriental does Perhaps in the children of la raza lies the tion needed to set that western course. But not prize his life like we do." He used new hope for a final reconciliation of this war that what else is there to say? Here was a man and improved napalm, while the Spaniards Europe and its white outposts have waged on greedy in large ways, and in small ways—to in Hispaniola used green wood for burning America and Africa. the point where he took for himself the re- the Indian caciques in order to make them But we up north, we call October 12 "Co- ward for first sighting land from the Pinta suffer and scream longer — as an example lumbus Day." Are we committed then to lookout. Cruel in petty things, as when he set for the others, of course. continue in that bloody track? Shouldn't we a dying monkey with two paws cut off to In what is now the United States, the try to have our thoughts, on the anniversary fight a wild pig; cruel on a continental scale, Indians were destroyed no less effectively of the day it all began, run in a new direction? as when he set in motion what de las Casas than in Hispaniola. In Brazil, it is going on Shouldn't we change that name? called "the beginning of the bloody trail of even now. Perhaps the only exceptions were Our false heroes have long burdened our conquest across the Americas." the Indians of the Canadian wilderness; and history and our character. We may try to redeem him by stating that only here was there no economic premium Shouldn't we wind up that Enterprise of he was a man of his time. That is certainly on their extermination.... Columbus and start thinking of a truly New true. And it is to the greater glory of those The curse of the conquest still lies over World?n men who were not "of their time": de las most of Latin America. Here the encomiendas Casas, who in vain fought for half a century continue in a more subtle form, and the very Hans Koning is the author of a number of to save the Indians; Antonio de Montesinos, few still own the very many. fiction and non-fiction books, including I a Dominican friar who preached in Santo South of the United States border, October Know What I'm Doing, Acts of Faith, and A Domingo in 1511, "I am a voice crying in the 12 is now commemorated as "the day of the New Yorker in Egypt. wilderness." (He was recalled shortly there- race." The race, that is, as it now exists, of The above is excerpted from the final after.) It would be the lives of those very few mixed Spanish and Indian and African stock. chapter of Columbus: His Enterprise, men who would, if such were possible, save You cannot find fault with that. That race, Monthly Review Press.

PACE 74 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION George Washington Speculator in Native Lands

The selection below outlines some den area. But the King's Proclamation didn't object is their total destruction and devasta- of George Washington's activities stop Washington. He employed a surveyor to tion and the capture of as many persons of against Native Americans. The selec- secretly locate more valuable land for him. every age and sex as possible. tion is particularly useful to balance Washington wrote to a friend: It will be essential to ruin their crops now information given to students during Between ourselves, [the restrictions should on the ground, and prevent their planting Washington's Birthday celebrations be viewed] as a temporary expedient to quiet more.... the minds of he Indians...Any person, there- in February. It is based on historical Parties should be detached to lay waste all fore who neglects the present opportunity of settlements around, with instructions to do it documents as reported in "The Writ- hunting out good lands...will never regain it. in the most effectual manner, that the country ings of George Washington," edited At his death, Washington "owned" 40,000 may not be merely overrun, but destroyed.... by John C. Fitzpatrick and from acres of Native American land west of the The records of the destruction by General Charles A. Beard's "An Economic Alleghenies. Sullivan report that: Interpretation of the Constitution." Because of the activities of men like Wash- The force under Col. Daniel Brodhead ington, most native nations decided not to burned 11 towns, containing about 165 support the colonists in their struggle against houses, which for the most part were con- George Washington fought Native peoples Britain. But Britain, too, had a record of structed of logs and framed timber. They during the "French and Indian War." As breaking promises made to native nations. destroyed more than 500 acres of cultivated payment he received thousands of acres of That is why many of them, like the Six Nations land, and took loot estimated at $30,000. Native peoples' land on the south bank of the of the Iroquois Confederacy, tried to remain Many homes were large and beautifully Ohio River — land given him by the British, neutral during the Revolutionary War. How- painted, with architecture that impressed the not by the Native people who lived on the ever, the British used lies to trick some war- officers. land. He also owned shares in the Mississippi riors from the Confederacy into fighting for As Sullivan wrote in his official report: Company, a land speculation group that "held" them at the battle of Fort Stanwix. In retalia- The quantity of corn destroyed might 2.5 million acres of native land in the Ohio tion, George Washington ordered a military amount to 160,000 bushels, with vast quan- Valley. Native people still lived there and had campaign against the Iroquois Confederacy. tities of vegetables of every kind....We have never given it to the Company. On May 31,1779, Washington wrote to Gen- not left a single settlement or field of corn in Washington was a slaveholder (at the time eral Sullivan: the country of the Five Nations, nor is there of his death, in 1799, he held 317 Black The expedition you are appointed to com- even the appearance of an Indian on this side people in slavery.) Like other large plantation mand is to be directed against the hostile of the Niagara. O owners, he was often in debt to British mer- tribes of the Six Nations of Indians with their From Unlearning "Indian" Stereotypes, chants. To help meet this debt, he and others associates and adherents. The immediate Council on Interracial Books for Children. speculated (bought and sold) in native lands, as a way of making quick profits. Because much of the land in the 13 colonies was in large estates, common people who wanted to buy land were encouraged to "settle" west of the Alleghenies, paying the land speculators handsome profits, while the Native people, whose land it was, received nothing and lost their lands. In 1763, the great leader of the Ottawa nation, Pontiac, united 18 native nations to fight this white invasion of their lands. The confederacy he formed almost defeated the British. In an effort to stop such fighting, the British King issued the Proclamation of 1763. It said that no more white settlements could go west of the Allegheny mountains and demanded that white settlements already there "forthwith...remove themselves." Ottawa Chief Pontiac, This action threatened the financial inter- born In Ohio around ests of Washington and other wealthy colo- 172O, organized 18 nists (like Patrick Henry and Benjamin native nation* to resist Franklin) who had bought land in the forbid- the white Invasion.

RETHINK/NO COLUMBUS PAGE 75 Maps: Taking Europe Off Center Stage

By Ward L. Kaiser

Recently a university professor asked his students to rank certain countries by size. Included in the list were France, Germany, Great Britain, Brazil, Italy and Japan. Over- whelmingly, Brazil was put last, though it was actually the largest country on the list. Similarly, students rated the Soviet Union larger than the continent of Africa, though it is in fact much smaller. These results point to at least two underlying realities. First, we associate geographical size with a country's perceived power. Second, the maps that shape our view of the world have seriously distorted our understandings. Such countries as Great Britain, Germany and the U.S.S.R. are often visual- ff ized as larger than they are because traditional maps show them that way. Help, fortunately, is at hand. A new world map, based on newer and more accurate The traditional Mercator Projection Map, shown on top, distorts the world to the advantage of European Colonial powers. The Peters Projection principles, has been developed. It presents (lower) gives a more accurate view. every area, every country, every continent in its true scale. The new map is called the of his map, but two-thirds of the way down. cently been known by its creator's name — Peters Projection World Map. This had two immediate results: it cut off the Peters Projection. The world map most of us are familiar much of the Southern Hemisphere, includ- Although the Peters Maps has not yet with is based on Mercator's Projection of ing the fourth largest land mass (Antarctica) achieved total acceptance, it is making great 1569. Gerhard Kremer — whose name in and it set what is now Germany at the optical strides. It has strong support from United Latin was Mercator—lived in Flanders and center of the map, even though it belongs in Nations DevelopmentProgram andUNICEF. Germany during the age of European expan- the top quarter of the earth's surface. By Because of its "fairness to all peoples" it is sion when European sailors needed a world conscious or unconscious design, those ar- used by many church organizations, includ- map for navigation. Mercator provided such eas of the world then inhabited primarily by ing the World Council of Churches and the a map. Leaving aside the question of the whites were enlarged and centered. Vatican. The Peters Map has also been se- accuracy of the information Mercator worked The new world map was developed by Dr. lected by several TV networks in Europe as with, the map he prepared immediately gave Amo Peters, Director of the Institute for the backdrop for world news broadcasts, d rise to problems since no rounded surface Universal History in Bremen, Germany. (the world) can be transferred to a flat surface Peters first published the mathematical Ward L. Kaiser, Executive Director of (a map) without some adjustment. basis for the new map projection in 1967; in Friendship Press, is the publisher of the Mercator maps are accurate for distance 1974 he was invited to present his findings Peters Projection Map in English. only on the equator; distortion begins imme- to the German Cartographical Society, and This article was adaptedfrom an article in diately north or south of that line and in- in the same year he published the World Map Rethinking Schools, Vol. 5, Number 4. Re- creases steadily with every degree of lati- in German. The first English version ap- printed from Interracial Books for Children tude. peared in 1983. Originally known as the Bulletin. Mercator set the equator not in the middle "Orthogonal" Projection, it has more re-

PAGE 76 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION Rethinking Terminology

By Philip Tajitsu Nash and sects, as well as the medicinal uses of local half of the world two-thirds of the map — plants. He can guide his sons in building a subtly but surely sending the message that Emilienne Ireland two-story tall house using only axes, ma- the southern hemisphere is less important. chetes, and materials from the forest. He is an Popular descriptions of the events of 1492 Think about the people in your hometown. expert agronomist He speaks several lan- are often one-sided. Seemingly neutral terms Is there any adjective that describes them all? guages fluently; knows precisely how he is such as "encounter" and "discovery" are less Are they, without exception, honest, wild, related to several hundred of his closest kin; painful to European Americans than the immoral, spiritual, ignorant, hostile, gener- and has acquired sufficient wisdom to share words some Native Americans would prefer: ous, brutal or noble? his home peacefully with in-laws, cousins, genocide, murder, rape, butchery, or con- Are they all baseball fanatics or beer children, and grandchildren. Female elders quest. drinkers? Uniformly kind to strangers? are comparably learned and accomplished. "Civilizing" or "Christianizing" a people Talkative or quiet? Other phrases to watch out for include presumes that their own society and religion Sure, you may be able to come up with a Stone Age, trapped in time, prehistoric, are inferior. Calling the European conquer- few generalizations. But it would make no timeless, and ancient. All imply that cultures ors "courageous" or "far-sighted" justifies sense to describe them as a group in terms of and people never change, that they no longer their actions. Saying that European atrocities personality traits, moral values, or even exist, or that they are somehow inferior or in the Western Hemisphere were "unavoid- physical appearance. backward. And words such as warlike, able" (or that the perpetrators of genocide With this in mind, think about the words bloodthirsty or treacherous do notask whether were only "products of their time") dulls our used to describe the events of 1492, and to a group resorted to war in self-defense. sense of injustice regarding events both past refer to Europeans and Native Americans in Implicit assumptions and biases also af- and present. general. You may find that the words you use fect geographic terms. The earth was all In articles written for Rethinking Colum- reveal hidden assumptions or biases. formed at one time, so why is one hemi- bus, we have tried to be sensitive to such sphere called old and the other new? Why do biases. People and cultures we choose Greenwich, England to serve as We have tried not to use the term New Many words used to describe peoples and the center of the earth, determining East and World, for that implies that somehow the cultures implicitly compare one group with West? (This is also related to the words Western Hemisphere was formed after Eu- another. What do we really mean by terms oriental, "from where the sun rises" in Latin, rope or Asia, or that history began with the such as "primitive culture" or "simple soci- and occidental, "from where it sets"). arrival of Europeans in the Americas. Because ety?" In what ways are the communitites Since it is universally agreed that Native no geographically or politically neutral term "primitive" or"simple"? Why is it that words Americans were around before Columbus, is widely accepted for this section of the with such negative connotations are used to why do phrases such as "uninhabited land", globe, we have generally used the term describe some societies and not others? Do "virgin land", and "unknown land" persist? Western Hemisphere or the Americas. we mean merely that their material technol- Do terms such as "untamed land" and "un- We have also tried to be sensitive to how ogy is less complicated and less expensive to productive land" imply that deforestation Native Americans refer to themselves. When produce than that of modern-day industrial and agriculture are the only suitable ways to appropriate, cultures and peoples have been societies? use land? defined as narrowly as possible, so that spe- No human society is "primitive" or Maps also reveal biases. For example, the cific names such as Apache or Wauja have "simple." Every society is primitive in some Mercator Projection Map is useful for sail- been used. ways and complex in others. ing, but distorts geography. It makes the top We encourage readers to think about the If we put aside our fascination with tech- implicit assumptions of words. Ask yourself nology and material wealth, we may find that how people refer to themselves before de- for many people in U.S. and European so- scribing them to someone else. Whose point cieties today, life is primitive and stunted in of view is represented in the terms you are terms of family values, spiritual life, com- "Cm/King" or using? Whose point of view is left out, mini- mitment to the community and opportunities mized or distorted? for rewarding work and creative self-ex- "Christianizing" a Rethinking our terminology is essential to pression. Thesearethe very areas mostrichly people developing analytical minds. As we ap- developed in traditional Native American proach the Columbus Quincentenary, we communities. presumes that must teach our children to respect all peoples, Nor can traditional Native American life and to celebrate humanity rather than its be called "simple" or "primitive" in an in- their own society destruction. O tellectual sense. A typical elder of the Wauja and religion are Phil Tajitsu Nash is a board member of the people in the Amazon rain forest, for example, Asian American Legal Defense and Educa- has memorized hundreds of sacred songs inferior. tion Fund, and a professor at City University and stories; plays several musical instru- of New York Law School. ments; and knows the habits and habitats of Emilienne Ireland is a co-founder of the hundreds of forest animals, birds, and in- Amazon Network.

RETHINKING COLUMBUS PAGE 77 Timeline: Spain, Columbus and HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS Native Americans

Approximately 13,000 B.C.: First known human beings live in the Caribbean. Approximately 8 B.C.: The people who call themselves Tafno, or "men of good," arrive in the region. With great care for the earth, the Tainos are able to feed millions of people. No one in a community goes hungry. They play sports and recite poetry. They are great inventors and travel from island to island. One Spanish priest reported that he never saw two Tainos fighting. There are frequent skirmishes between Tainos and Caribs on nearby islands, but these threaten neither civilization. 1451: Columbus is bom probably in the Italian port city, Genoa. At the time of his birth, there may be as many as 70 to 100 million people living in what will one day be called the Americas. They are of many na- tionalities, with perhaps 2,000 different tuguese king. At the same time, Bartolome' Aug. 3, 1492: Columbus departs from languages. Dias claims Africa can be rounded by sea to Palos instead of the port of Cadiz, which is 1453: Turks conquer Constantinople and get to the Indies. This eliminates Portugal's filled with ships taking some 8,000 Jews into the eastern Mediterranean, restricting land interest in looking for a westward route. exile. routes from Asia to Europe. 1490: Queen Isabella's advisors urge the Oct. 12,1492: Juan Rodriguez Bermejo.a 1455: Christian Castile [Spain] launches queen to reject Columbus's proposal. But sailor on the Pinta, shouts, "Land, Land!" the re-conquest of territories governed by the Isabella keeps Columbus on the royal pay- Columbus later claims he first spotted land Moors, who practice the Islamic religion, for roll, offering him hope his proposal will and thus will collect the lifetime pension eight centuries. There will be six invasions eventually be granted. promised. The ships arrive at the island, of Moorish Granada, in southern Spain, be- Jan. 2, 1492: The Moors surrender Guanahani, where Columbus takes posses- tween 1455 and 1457. Granada. Under the agreement, all Moors sion of the island for Ferdinand and Isabella. 1471: About this time, Columbus first can stay in Spain, keep their property and Columbus receives presents from the people goes to sea on a Genoese ship. practice Islam. (Ten years later Spain will he encounters and gives them some red caps, 1483: King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella demand that all Moslems convert to Christi- glass beads, and "many other things of little launch the Spanish Inquisition to root out anity or be expelled.) value." Jews who had converted to Christianity but March 30,1492: Ferdinand and Isabella The first thing he tries to ask the people is still practice Judaism. Many hundreds will order all Jews to leave Spain. "if they had gold." be tortured and burned to death. April, 1492: Ferdinand and Isabella agree October 14: Columbus's thoughts turn to 1484: Columbus first presents his idea to to Columbus's westward voyage to the Indies. slavery:"... When Your Highnesses so com- the king of Portugal for reaching the Indies They also agree to his demands: 10% of all mand, they [the Indians] can be carried off to by sailing west. The plan is rejected, not the wealth returned to Spain, the title of Castile or held captive in the island itself, because the king's advisors don't believe the Admiral of the Ocean Sea, governor and since with 50 men they would be all kept in world is round, but because they think viceroy of all the territory he discovers. All subjection and forced to do whatever may be Columbus's estimate of the distance is way these titles are to be inherited by his heirs. wished." too small. Aug. 2,1492: Deadline for Jews to leave November 12: Columbus kidnaps 10 1486: Columbus first proposes a western Spain. Between 120,000 and 150,000 are Tainos: My men "brought seven head of voyage to Queen Isabella, whose advisors forced out, able to take only what they can women, small and large, and three children." postpone any recommendation. carry. They must leave all their gold, silver, November 17: Two of his captives es- 1488: Columbus appeals again to the Por- jewels and money for the King and Queen. cape.

PAGE 78 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION December 9: Columbus sails into the har- 1493: The men left behind at La Navidad readily "secure the welfare of their souls." bor of the island the Tafno people call Bohio. brutally mistreat the Tainos. They steal, take Columbus recommends to the king and Its plains are "the loveliest in the world" and slaves and rape women. In response, the queen that supplies needed in the Indies remind Columbus of Spain. He calls the Tamo cacique, Caonabo, kills all the Span- could be paid for in slaves, "well made and of island Espafiola. iards on the island. very good intelligence," and that slave ship- October/November/December: Sept. 25,1493: Columbus's second voy- ments could be taxed to raise money for Columbus's every move is determined by age begins. His fleet includes 17 ships and Spain. Spanish priest Bartolom£de Las Casas where he believes he can find gold. On between 1200 and 1500 men (no women). later writes that claims of cannibalism are December 23 he writes in his journal: "Our Pressure is high for Columbus to make good used to "excuse the violence, cruelty, plun- Lord in His Goodness guide me that I may on his promises. At least some of the money der and slaughter committed against the In- find this gold, I mean their mine, for I have to finance the voyage comes from wealth dians every day." many here who say they know it." Still, by taken away from Spanish Jews. Feb/March: In Isabella, Spaniards are mid-December Columbus has found very November 3, 1493: Columbus lands on dying of disease, and there is less food every- little gold. Dominica. On Guadeloupe, his men go ashore day. Columbus uses violence against Span- December 25: Columbus's ship, the Santa "looting and destroying all they found," ac- iards who disobey his orders to work. Any Maria, hits rocks off Espafiola. He is forced cording to Columbus's son, Fernando. They Spaniard found hiding gold is "well to abandon it. The Tamo cacique (leader), capture 12 "very beautiful and plump" teen- whipped." Colonist Michele de Cuneo writes Guacanagari, weeps when he hears of the age Taino girls. that "Some had their ears slit and some the shipwreck. Tamos help unload the ship Mid-November: Columbus's crew trap a nose, very pitiful to see." Many blame Co- "without the loss of a shoe string." "They small group of Caribs in a harbor at what is lumbus, governor of the island, for their are," Columbus writes, "a people so full of now St. Croix. In defense, the Indians shoot problems. Demoralized, many want to leave. love and without greed... I believe there is no arrows at the Spaniards, killing one and Late March/early April: Columbus is better race or better land in the world." wounding one. The Indians are caught, and told that Indians are leaving their villages December 26: Realizing he will have to one is horribly mutilated, then killed, by the and that the cacique, Caonabd, is preparing leave men behind, Columbus orders a fort Spaniards. to attack the fort at Isabella. Las Casas writes and tower built. He writes that it is necessary November 28: Columbus finds the fort at that Columbus "ordered Alonso de Hojeda to make the Indians realize that they must La Navidad burned. to lead a squadron by land to the fort of Santo serve Spain's king and queen "with love and Early February, 1494: Columbus sends Tomas and spread terror among the Indians fear." 12 of the 17 ships back to Spain for supplies. in order to show them how strong and pow- January 2, 1493: Columbus prepares to Several dozen Indian slaves are taken aboard erful the Christians were." leave Bohio. He leaves behind 39 men and — "men and women and boys and girls," he April 9, 1494: Hojeda takes 400 men orders them "to discover the mine of gold." writes. He justifies this by writing that they inland, captures acaciqueand some relatives, January 13: First reported skirmish be- are cannibals and thus slavery will more accuses one of theft and has his ears publicly tween Spaniards and Indians: After landing on an island to trade for bows, Columbus writes that many Indians prepared "to assault the Christians and capture them." The Span- iards "fell upon" them, "they gave an Indian a great slash on the buttocks and they wounded another in the breast with an arrow." Colum- bus believes that these people were "Carib and that they eat men [though he offers no evidence]."He regrets he didn'tcapture some to take back to Spain. February 15: Columbus returns with relatively little of value. In a letter written aboard ship, Columbus lies, saying that on Espafiola, "there are many spices and great mines of gold and of other metals." Mid-April: Columbus welcomed by Ferdinand and Isabella. They begin planning his second voyage. Of the six Indians brought to Spain, one would stay and die in two years. The others would leave with Columbus for Espafiola and three would die enroute. May 28,1493: The king and queen confirm that Columbus, his sons and his heirs will be Admiral and Viceroy and Governor of the islands and mainland discovered "now and forever." Approximately September/October RETHINKING COLUMBUS PAGE 79 March 1496: ColumbusdepartsforSpain. Two ships make the journey. Onto them, Columbus forces 30 Taino prisoners, including the cacique, Caonabd, who led the first resistance to Spanish rule in Espafiola. It takes 3 months to make the voyage. Caonab6 dies enroute; no one knows how many others also die. Columbus arrives and awaits an answer from the king and queen to his reuqest for a third voyage. July 1496: Ferdinand and Isabella agree to see Columbus. He sets out for Burgos with his Taino slaves. Columbus promises to locate the mainland so that it will come under Spanish rather than Portuguese control. The king and queen will not agree to Columbus's plans for almost two years. May 30,1498: Columbus's third voyage \ Hispanlola, a sketch by Co/umbu* begins. Three ships head directly for Espafiola, another three, with Columbus, travel farther south. July 31,1498: Columbus sails past and names Trinidad. He saw what is today Ven- cut off. When Hojeda returns to Isabella — are chained and taken to ships to be sent ezuela, but didn't realize that it was the with these and other prisoners, Columbus to Spain as slaves. "Of the rest who were mainland. orders a crier to announce their public de- left," writes Cuneo, "the announcement went Mid-August 1498: Columbus lands in capitation. Las Casas comments, "What a around that whoever wanted them could take Espafiola. The admiral finds a rebellion pretty way to promote justice, friendship, as many as he pleased; and this was done." against his brothers' rule. He backs down and make the Faith appealing — to capture 1495: Columbus establishes the tribute and offers amnesty to anyone who will return aKing in his own territory and sentence him, system. Every Tamo, 14 or older, is required to Spain or will accept free land. his brother and his nephew to death, for no to fill a hawk's bell full of gold every 3 1500: By now the Spaniards have estab- fault of their own!" months. Those who comply are given copper lished at least seven forts in Espafiola and at April 24,1494: Columbus leaves Isabella tokens to wear around their necks. Where least 340 gallows. to seek the mainland of the Indies. Columbus decides there is little gold, 25 August 1500: The king and queen, upset Spring 1494: Columbus explores the coast pounds of spun cotton is required. The Span- over the negative reports of Columbus's of Jamaica. Andres Bernaldez, accompany- iards cut the hands off those who do not bad government, though not his mistreat- ing Columbus, writes of the island's "ex- comply; they are left to bleed to death. As ment of Tainos, sends a commissioner to treme beauty."Columbus sets looseavicious Las Casas writes, the tribute is "impossible take charge in Espafiola. The commissioner dog against the Indians. Bernaldez writes and intolerable." arrives amid another uprising against the that it "did them great damage, for a dog is Columbus will soon replace the tribute Columbus brothers. He arrests them and in the equal of 10 men against the Indians." system with outright slavery, though the October sends them to Spain for trial. June 12,1494: Columbus, off the coast of Queen will rule that Indians forced to work Late October: Columbus arrives in Cadiz Cuba, believes he has reached the mainland. must be paid "wages." It is called the in chains. A few months later, he presents The nextday he begins his return toEspafiola. encomienda system, in which colonists are his case to the king and queen. He demands September 14: Columbus reaches the simply granted land and numbers of Tamos. he be reinstated governor. He will make one southern coast of Espaflola. Instead of re- March 24, 1495: Columbus, and his more voyage but will never regain his power. turning to Isabella, Columbus heads to Puerto brothers Diego and Bartolome, who had ar- May 20, 1506: Columbus dies in Rico to raid for Carib slaves. However, he rived earlier, send an armed force to the Valladolid, Spain. becomes ill and his officers return the ships mountains to put down Tamo resistance to 1542: Bartolom6 de las Casas writes that to Isabella. Spanish brutality. The force includes 200 a mere 200 Tainos still live in Espanola. One November 1494: Returning to Spain, mu- soldiers in full armor, 20 vicious dogs and 20 scholar recently estimated thatperhaps more tineers against Columbus complain to the mounted cavalry. The Spaniards confront a than 3 million Tainos lived there when king and queen. They say there is no gold large number of Tainos in a valley 10 miles Columbus first arrived. O and that the enterprise is a joke. south of Isabella, attack them and, according Compiled by Bill Bigelow February 1495: Columbus must be des- to Columbus's son, "with God's aid soon Sources: Cecil Jane, The Journal of Christopher perate to prove that his "enterprise" can be gained a complete victory, killing many In- Columbus; Benjamin Keen, c.d., The Life of the Admiral profitable. He rounds up 1600 Tamos—the Christopher Columbus by His Son Ferdinand; Hans dians and capturing others who were also Koning, Columbus: His Enterprise; Bertolom£ de las same people he had earlier described as "so killed." Casas, History of the Indies; Milton Meltzer, Columbus full of love and without greed." Some 550 of October 1495: Responding to reports of and the World Around Himi Samuel Eliot Morison, them — "among the best males and fe- Columbus's misrule, the king and queen Admiral of the Ocean Sea; Kiricpatrick Sale, Conquest males," writes colonist Michele de Cuneo send an investigator to Espafiola. of Paradise. PACE 80 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION > v •' •*• w T*4-, „ , 4-. 1! , /,£!'> & Sj 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 entries from his journal for his first inland to find the village and to see or have be given to them, without saying that it is 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 ish brutality, the priest Bartolomede death to satisfy your greed? And why don't and frighten the preacher and his compan- 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 sermon was a scandal, the admiral said, and the waters of insensitivity and drowning Tell me demanded that fray Montesinos take it all without being aware of it. Then he said: "I back. Otherwise, they would take needed have come here in order to declare it unto what right measures. Fray Montesinos answered that you, I the voice of Christ in the desert of this what he had preached was the result of a great island. Open your hearts and your senses, all you have to deal of thought and was the opinion of all the of you, for this voice will speak new things friars. He said the Indians were becoming harshly, and will be frightening." For a good enslave extinct and that they were as uncared for as while the voice spoke in such punitive terms beasts in the fields, and that it was up to the that the congregation trembled as if facing the Indians? friars to save the souls of both Spaniards and Judgment Day. "This voice," he continued, Indians on the Island. As Christians and as "says that you are living in deadly sin for the To war preachers of the Truth, fray Montesinos said, atrocities you tyrannically impose on these it was their duty to serve the King faithfully innocent people [the Indians]. Tell me, what against them? 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 sermon 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 possessions, 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 oppression 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 the except travellers. They could publicize this by spreading the idea that they all were Dominicans of Hispaniola were pressured and they could write to anyone they pleased condemned to Hell because they used Indi- by their own hierarchy in Spain, as well as by 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 Hanke God and the King. After fray Montesinos aimed at nothing else but to deprive him of in The Spanish Struggle for Justice in the left, the people grumbled in indignation, both power and a source of income. Conquest of America, "the Dominicans were 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 fought 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 in The Spaniards left church in a state of rage preaching against the government and caus- part led to adoption of the 1512 Laws of and again salted their meal that day with ing disturbances all over the world. The King Burgos, which both offered some protection bitterness. They decided not to bother again ordered him to correct this by threatening to for Indians but also made permanent the 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 . RETHINKING COLUMBUS PAGE 83 Land of the Spotted Eagle

The following selection is from Land of the Spotted Eagle, the autobiography of Chief Luther Standing Bear, of the Oglala band of Sioux.

The Indian was a natural conservationist. He destroyed nothing, great or small. De- struction was not a part of Indian thought and action; if it had been, and had the man been the ruthless savage he has been accredited with being, he would have long ago preceded the European in the labor of destroying the natural life of this continent. The Indian was frugal in the midst of plenty. When the buffalo roamed the plains in multitudes he slaughtered only what he could eat and these he used to the hair and bones. Early one spring the Lakotas were camped on the Missouri river when the ice was beginning to break up. One day a buffalo floated by and it was hauled ashore. The animal proved to have been freshly killed and in good condi- animal life just as he did the natural man life the natural order of things, of inferior position, a welcome occurrence at the time since upon this continent, as "pests." Plants which tion and title; and this attitude dominated his the meat supply was getting low. Soon an- the Indian found beneficial were also "pests." actions toward all things. The worth and other came floating downstream, and it was There is no word in the Lakota vocabulary right to live were his, thus he heartlessly no more than ashore when others came into with the English meaning of this word. destroyed. Forests were mowed down, the view. Everybody was busy saving meat and There was a great difference in the attitude buffalo exterminated, the beaver driven to hides, but in a short while the buffalo were so taken by the Indian and the Caucasian to- extinction and his wonderfully constructed thick on the water that they were allowed to ward nature, and this difference made of one dams dynamited, allowing flood waters to float away. Just why so many buffalo had a conservationist and of the other a non- wreak further havoc, and the very birds of the been drowned was never known, but I relate conservationist of life. The Indian, as well as air silenced. Great grass plains that sweet- the instance as a boyhood memory. all other creatures that were given birth and ened the air have been upturned; springs, I know of no species of plant, bird, or grew, were sustained by the common mother streams, and lakes that lived no longer ago animal that were exterminated until the com- — earth. He was therefore kin to all living than my boyhood have dried, and a whole ing of the white man. For some years after the things and he gave to all creatures equal people harassed to degradation and death. buffalo disappeared there still remained huge rights with himself. Everything of earth was The white man has come to be the symbol of herds of antelope, but the hunter's work was loved and reverenced. The philosophy of the extinction for all things natural to this conti- no sooner done in the destruction of the Caucasian was, 'Things of the earth, earth" nent. Between him and the animal there is no buffalo than his attention was attracted toward — to be belittled and despised. Bestowing rapport and they have learned to flee from his the deer. They are plentiful now only where upon himself the position and title of a supe- approach, for they cannot live on the same protected. The white man considered natural rior creature, others in the scheme were, in ground....D

PAGE 84 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION Our resource guide is only a beginning. We encourage our readers to draw on the other resource listings in the curricula listed below andonpublishers' catalogs of books that you like. Prices listed are for paperback editions. Books that are currently out of print books are indicated by "OIP." They might be available at a library. Ask your local bookseller to request that the publisher reissue the book. Books listed for a particular age group might be very appropriate for other ages so please read the entire list. Finally, we ask that readers send comments on this list and additions to Rethinking Schools so that we might include them in future editions. RESOURCES

emphasis is on an interdisciplinary approach Through Indian Eyes, The Native Experi- CURRICULAR GUIDES to teaching about the earth and Native ence in Books for Children, edited by Beverly American cultures. Keepers of the Earth Slapin and Doris Scale. 1991. Available The following curricula should be Teacher Guide, ISBN 1-55591-040-8 is from Oyate, 2702 Mathews Street Berkeley, in every school's professional library. available for $9.95. CA 94702, 510-848-6700. $24.95. An excellent resource for elementary classroom American Indian Stereotypes in the World Open Minds to Equality: A Sourcebook of teachers and librarians. The first half of the of Children: A Reader and a Bibliography, Learning Activities to Promote Race, Sex, book is filled with articles, stories, and po- by Hirschfelder, Arlene B. The Scarecrow Class, and Age Equity, by Nancy etry. In the second half are in-depth reviews Press, Inc, Metuchen, N.J. 1982. ISBN 0- Schniedewind and Ellen Davidson Prentice of books dealing with Native Americans. 8108-1494-3. $22.50. Hall. 1983. ISBN 0-13-637264-3. $21.50. The final section includes one of the best An activity packed guide for grades 3 to 8 bibliographies of books on Native Ameri- Anti-Bias Curriculum, Tools for Empow- that does an excellent job addressing contro- cans for children. ering Young Children, by Louise Derman- versial topics. Also available by Sparks and the A.B.C. Task Force. National Schniedewind is Cooperative Learning Co- Two Visions of the Conquest. A one week Association for the Education of Young operative Lives: A Sourcebookfor Learning unit comparing the Spanish and Aztec views Children, 1834 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Activities for Building a Peaceful World. of the Spanish in Mexico. Package includes Washington, DC 20009-5786.1989. ISBN # W.C. Brown Company. 1987. ISBN 0-6977- slides of Aztec and Spanish paintings of 0-935989-20-X. $7.00. Perhaps thebestbook 02274-9. Available for $26 from Circle events during the conquest and real eye- for the early child/primary level teacher on Books, 30 Walnut St., Somerville, MA 02143. witness accounts from both perspectives. how to teach children about all forms of bias Recommended for grades 9-12 (with sug- and what to do about it. Thinking and Rethinking U.S. History, gested adaptations for grades7-8). Available edited by Gerald Home. Council on Interra- for $18.95 plus 10% shipping and handling Caribbean Connections: Stories, inter- cial Books for Children, (address above) from SPICE/Latin America Project, views, songs, drama and oral histories are 1988. ISBN 1-55591-040-8. $16.95. Acriti- Littlefield Center, Room 14,300 Lasuen St., accompanied by lesson plans for secondary cal analysis of 12 textbooks with accompa- Stanford University, Stanford, CA 9305- language arts and social studies. Separate nying historical analysis. Includes lesson 5013. (415)-723-1114. curriculum books include Puerto Rico ($15), plans. Middle school/high school/teacher Jamaica ($15), and an Overview of Regional training. Unlearning "Indian" Stereotypes, A History ($19). Available from NECA (see Teaching Unit for Elementary Teachers and organizational listing for address). Children's Librarians, published by The Racism and Sexism Resource Center for Inside the Volcano: A Curriculum on Educators, a Division of the Council on Nicaragua, edited by Bill Bigelow and Jeff Interracial Books for Children. 1981. Native Edmundson. 1990. ISBN 1-878-554-01-8. Children talk about their various cultures, Poetry, short stories, and interviews bring dreams, and the harm done by the stereo- Nicaraguan voices to the classroom. $15 types they find around them, especially in available from NECA (see organizational children's picture books. $39.95. Available listing for address). fromCIBC, 1841 Broadway, New York, NY 10023, 212-757-5339. Ask for their com- Keepers of the Earth, Native American plete catalog. Teaching guide is available Stories and Environmental Activities for separately for $4.95. Also available are Un- Children, by Michael J. Caduto and Joseph learning Chicano and Puerto Rican Stereo- Bruchac, Golden, Colorado, Fulcrum Inc. types (1982), and Unlearning Asian Ameri- 1988. ISBN # 1-55591-027-0. $19.95 The can Stereotypes (1982). All are appropriate book features a collection of North Ameri- (with some modification) for 1st through can Indian stories and related hands-on ac- high school. Particularly good for teacher tivities designed to inspire children. The training.

RETHINKING COLUMBUS PAGE 85 tions story of the deliberate destruction of the 1990.ISBNO-87358-500-3.$14.95. Ancient ELEMENTARY BOOKS bison. Apache story retold and illustrated.

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 The 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 to 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 the Indian Movement, chronology, photos. describes the horrendous consequences United States. Perennial Library, Harper and 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 wi 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, written 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 Meltzer, Milton. Columbus and the World story of the FBI coverup of the murder of an Adorno, Rolena. Guaman Porno: Writing Around Him. Watts, Franklin Inc. (387 Park AIM activist. and Resistance in Colonial Peru. University Avenue South, New York, NY 10016 800- of Texas Press, 1986. ISBN 0-292-72741-0 672-6672). 1990. ISBN 0-531-15148-4. Broker, Ignacia. Night Flying Woman. $10.95. A Peruvian chief's account of life $ 13.95. Describes the voyages of Columbus, Minnesota Historical Society Press. (St. Paul, 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 the of the Native Americans on their white con- his great-great grandmother. 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, Meltzer, Milton. Hunted Like a Wolf: The History of the American West. Dell Publish- read it. Las Casas is the most qualified of all Story of the Seminole War. Farrar, Straus & ing. 1975. ISBN 0-440-95768-0. $1.50. the 16th century chroniclers. Adapted for young readers by Amy Ehrlich Giroux. 1972. ISBN 0-374-33521-4. Sum- marizes one of the most famous wars of from Brown's Bury My Heart at Wounded Jane, Cecil, ed. The Journal of Christo- resistance by Native Americans, noting the Knee. pher Columbus. New York: Outlet Book unity between Native and African-Ameri- Company, Crown Publishing Co. (225 Park cans O/P. Carter, Forrest. The Education of Little 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: The Chapman and Hall. 1985. ISBN 0-86091- grows up with his grandparents. 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- and economic system of Guatemala that op- Chronicles of American Indian Protest. 2nd 5499-2. $11.95. The Aztec left a particularly presses Native people. Revised Edition, New York, CIBC. 1979. rich written record which Leon-Portilla uses 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. Eyewitness account by a Guatemalan primary How the American Indian Helped Shape Lunenfeld, Marvin. 1492: Discovery, In- school teacher, detailing one instance of Democracy, Harvard Common Press. 1982. vasion, Encounter. DC Heath. 1991. ISBN violent conflict between the indigenous ISBN 0-916782-90-5. $12.95. 0-669-21115. Original source material. Mayan people and the army. Vanderwerth, W.C., compiler. Indian Small, Deborah, 1492. Monthly Review Katz, William. Black Indians: A Hidden Oratory: Famous Speeches by Noted Indian Press 1991. ISBN 0-85345-836-7. $15. Heritage. Macmillan. 1986. ISBN 0-689- Chieftains. Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 1971. Weaves together a narrative history of 31196-6. $15.95. The first paths to freedom ISBN 0-8061-1575-0. $12.95. Inspiration Columbus's invasion with poetry, quotations, by runaway slaves led to Native American from lotanka Tatanka (Sitting Bull), and illustrations. villages. Describes historic links between 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.

PAGE 88 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION cans for elementary through adult audiences. AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS $15 rental from HONOR (see organizations MAPS, POSTERS, ETC. for address). Long and short VHS video Canyon Record and Indian Arts, 4143 N. available. Peters Projection World Map presents all 16th St., Phoenix, AZ 85016 (602) 266- countries according to their true size. Tradi- 4823. The largest distributor of American Native Americans on Film and Video. tional Mercador Projection maps distorts Indian audio tapes, LPs, CDs (over 600 titles). Elizabeth Weatherford & Emilia Seubert, sizes, making Europe appear much larger Includes various forms of music and leg- editors. Detailed descriptions of approxi- than it actually is. (See p. 76). A New View of ends. Also for sale is the American Indian mately 400 films and videos about Indians the World by Ward Kaiser is a handbook on Music for the Classroom Teaching Package and Inuit of the Americas. $5. Available the Peters world map. Map/510 and hand- by Dr. Louis W. Ballard (4 cassette kit) for from Museum of the American Indian, Broad- book/$3.95 available from Northern Sun $75. Write for free catalog. way at 155th St.,New York 10032.212-283- Merchandising, 2916 E. Lake St., Minne- 2420. apolis, MN 55406. The Columbus Controversy: Challenging Distribution of Indian Tribes of North How History is Written. Directed by Nick Treaties, Truth and Trust. This video pre- America by A. Kroeber. 21" x 28" map of the Kaufman. 1991 American School Publish- sents 10 of the most commonly asked ques- time of first contact with white people. ers 800-843-8855. This24 minute VHS video tions on treaty rights. The answers are given Available from Southwest Museum, High- examines the Columbus controversy using by Wisconsin Tribal leaders and bishops land Park, Los Angeles, CA 90042. footage from classroom of Bill Bigelow, from various religious communities. VHS along with historians John Mohawk and 14 minutes $15 purchase/$10 rental avail- Indians of North America, An archaeo- William McNeil. $89. able from HONOR. logical and ethnological map. 32" x 37" with notes, 1979. National Geographic Society, "Columbus Didn't Discover Us" is a 30 Unlearning "Indian" Stereotypes, (Film Educational Services, Department 82, minute VHS video from indigenous activists Strip) see curriculum section, p. 85. Washington DC 20036, 301-948-5926. from North, South, and Central America. Filmed at the First Continental When the Mountains Tremble. By Yates Waldman, Carl. Atlas of the North Ameri- Congress of Indigenous Peoples in Quito, and Sigel. Story of 23 year old Guatemalan can Indian (maps & illus by Molly Braun.) Equador in 1990. Eng. & Spanish versions Quich6 woman, Rigoberta Menchu. 83 min. 1989. ISBN 0-8160-2136-8. Facts on File. available. Low-income: purchase: $39.95, Video $300. New Yorker Films, 16 West $16.95. rental: $20. Institution: purchase: $89.95, 61st St., NY NY 10023. 212-247-6110. rental $50. Turning Tide Productions, PO Turn about Map of the Americas presents Box 864, Wendell, MA 01379. 508-544- South America on the top and North America 8313. on the bottom. Available in English, Span- ish, or Portuguese. In full color $6.95 from El None. By Gregory Nava. 141 min. PUBLICATIONS Laguna Sales, Inc.7040 Via Valverde, San video. 1983. Story of two young Guatemalan Jose, CA 95135. Mayans who are forced to flee their homeland Important sources of information on Na- and travel to 'The North." Available from tive American and alternative quincentennial Posters. A variety of progressive posters video outlets & CINECOM, 212-239-8360. activities (addresses in the organizational are available from Syracuse Cultural Work- listing on pages 90 and 91.) ers, Box 6367, Syracuse, NY 13217, 315- First Contact. Describes first contact be- Akwesasne Notes 474-1132; Northern Sun Merchandising, tween white traders and Okanagan people Baste! (see Chicago Religious Task Force on 2916 E. Lake St., Minn., MN 55406; and from point of view of Okanagan. The Central America.) TABS,438Fourth St., Brooklyn, NY 11215. En'Owkin Centre, Box 218, Penticton, BC CALC Report A source for Native American posters is the Canada V2A6K3. 604-493-7181. The Connection (Central American Resource Perfection Form Company, Logan, Iowa. A Center) collection of 84 maps and charts on Native Geronimo Jones. A young boy (Apache/ huraca"n: 500 Years of Resistance (Alliance American history is available from Historic Papago), living on a reservation experiences for Cultural Democracy) Indian Pub., 1404 Sunset Drive, P.O. 16074, the conflicts between his Indian heritage and Indigenous Thought (Committee for Ameri Salt Lake City, UT 84116, 801-328-0458. the pressures of the dominant culture. 1970. can Indian History) 21 minutes. All ages. Purchase: 16mm, $295; Lakota Times Guatemala: 500 Years of Resistance 1992 rental $30. Available from Learning Corpo- Native Nations Calendar. From Ayuda, PO Box 1752, Bos- ration of America, 1350 Ave. of the Ameri- News from Indian Country ton MA 02105. $8. cas, NY, NY 10019. 212-397-9330. Northeast Indian Quarterly Rethinking Schools Graphics in resource guide are taken from More thanBowsand Arrows, aclassic film Re...view 1992 North American Indian Designs, by Eva to increase understanding of Native Ameri- SAIIC Newsletter Wilson. Dover, 1984.

RETHINKING COLUMBUS PACE 89 Ancient Forest Chautauqua, 5031 Univer- Mason University,Fairfax,VA22030-2038; ORGANIZATIONS sity Way, N.E., Seattle, WA 98105; 206- 703-323-2038. Activist, academic and stu- 523-2747. Events and newsletter focusing dent group organizing conference and activi- Africa World Press. 15 Industry Ct., on environment and indigenous perspectives. ties around peace issues and the Trenton, NJ 08638; 609-771-1666. Publishes Quintentennial. and distributes excellent books on Africa Artie to Amazonia Alliance, PO Box 73, and the Americas. Strafford, VT 05072; 802-765-4337. Media Cultural Survival, 53 Church Street, Cam- outreach, teacher training. bridge, MA 02138,617-495-2562. Addresses Akwesasne Notes, Mohawk Nation, PO issues of indigenous peoples and educates Box 196, Rooseveltown, NY 13683-0196; Campafla Continental, 500 Afios de world-wide audience through quarterly news (518) 358-953 I.Canada; 613-575-2063. Six Resistencia Indigena y Popular, Secretaria magazine. Events, newsletter, info packet issues/year. Cost: U.S.$15, Canada and Operativa, Apartado Postal 7-B, Sucursal El on quincentennial. Mexico $18, Foreign $20. A long-estab- Trebol, 01903 Guatemala Ciudad, Guate- lished, excellent quarterly on Native Ameri- mala, C.A. Leading organizer of North, Educators for Social Responsiblity, 13 can affairs. Central and South American indigenous Garden St., Cambridge MA 02138. Peace struggles and communications. and justice teaching materials. Alliance for Cultural Democracy, P.O. Box 7591, Minneapolis, MN 55407. Ask for Canadian Alliance in Solidarity With Na- Food First, 145 Ninth St., SF< CA 94103; a copy of their journals, Cultural Democracy tive Peoples, P.O. Box 574 Station P, Toronto, 800-888-3 314. Curriculum resources on root and huracdn. ($15/YR). How To 1992 Ontario M5S 2T1 Canada. Send $19.95 fora causes of hunger and food problems. Comic book project. copy of Resource Reading List 1990 (ISBN 0921425031), which helps educators in Global Village, 2210 Wilshire Boulevard, Amazon Network, 3941 Fairfax Square, Canada and the U.S. by describing films, Box 262, Santa Monica, CA 90403; 800- Fairfax, VA 22031; 703-352-5168. Bring- periodicals, distributors, language books, and 955-GLOBAL. Anti-bias multicultural ma- ing together people of and for the Amazon other resource materials. terials. Write for catalog. Rainforest. Speakers, educational cassettes, video and slide presentations. Call for bro- Central American Resource Center- Quin- Grand Council of the Cree (of Quebec), 24 chure. centennial Education Project, 1407 Cleve- Bayswater Ave., Ottawa, Ontario Kl Y 2E4. land Avenue, North, St. Paul, MN 55104; Organizing against the James Bay Hydro American Friends Service Committee: 500 612-644-8030. Publishers of the Connection; electric project in Quebec. See story p. 62. Years is Enough, 1501 Cherry Street, Phila- development of resource library, curricula, delphia, PA 19102; 215-241-7169. packets of materials, study sessions, and HONOR, Inc, 2647 N. Stowell Avenue, workshops. Milwaukee, WI 53211; 414-963-1324. American Indian Law Alliance, 488 Sev- Treaty rights focus; newsletter, booklet of enth Avenue, Suite 5K, New York, N.Y. Chicago Religious Task Force on Central statements and resolutions. Write for excel- 10018; 212-268-1347. Resource center and America, 59 East Van Buren, suite 1400, lent resource catalog. advocacy organization working on behalf of Chicago, 111 60605; 312-663-4398. Publish- Native peoples and issues. Call for informa- ers of monthly journal, Basta!, which fo- Indigenous Women's Network, P.O. Box tion about speakers or materials. cuses on social and economic justice issues, 174, Lake Elmo, MN 55402. A continental including Quincentennial. and pacific network of women who are ac- American Indian Library Association, c/o tively involved in their community. Pub- Lisa Mitten, Secretary, 207 Hillman Library, Clergy and Laity Concerned.PO Box 1987. lishes Indigenous Woman, $4 per issue. University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA Decatur, GA 30031; 404-377-1983. Pub- 15260; 412-648-7723. Ask for bibliogra- lishers of CALC Report, Columbus educa- International Indian Treaty Council, 710 phies and programs. tional packet ($8). Clayton Street,#l, San Francisco, CA94117; 415-566-0251. American Indian Program, Attention: Committee for American Indian History, Carol Cornelius, 300 Caldwcll Hall, Cornell 6802 SW 13th St, Gainesville, FL 32608; Indian Law Resource Center, 601E Street, University, Ithaca, N.Y. 14853; 607-255- 904-378-3246. Coordinates activities and S.E., Washington, D.C. 20003; 202-547- 6587. Program guides and curriculum pack- publishes Indigenous Thought, a newsletter, 2800. Defense of Indian rights and the ages for teachers on Native Americans. with special focus on Quincentennial issues environment. from a Native American perspective. In- Amnesty International, Rights of Indig- service training for teachers. In the Heart of the Beast Puppet Theater, enous Peoples Project, 53 West Jackson 1550 E. Lake St., Minneapolis, MI 55407; Street, #1162, Chicago, IL 60604; 312-427- COPRAD (Consortium on Peace Research, 612-721-2535. A "Discover America" 2060. Curriculum on the rights on indig- Education, Development), c/o Center for Touring Show. enous peoples under United Nations law. Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George

PAGE 90 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION Native American Authors Distribution News From Indian Country. A twice Re-View 1492-1992, PO Box 801, New Project, Greenfield Review Press, 2 Middle monthly newspaper that reports on Native York, NY 10009. A bilingual (English/ Grove Rd.,PO Box 308, Greenfield Center, struggles around the country $18/yr from Spanish) newsletter on the quincentennial. NY 12833. Offers more than 250 different Indian Country Communications, Inc. Rt. 2, titles from over 70 different publishers. Au- Box 2900-A, Hay ward, WI 54843,715-634- S AIIC (South and Meso-American Indian dio cassettes of American Indian storytelling. 5226. Information Center), PO Box 28703, Oak- land, CA 94604; 415-834-4263, FAX 415- NAES Bookstore, 2838 West Peterson, 1992 Alliance, c/o Morning Star Founda- 834-4264. Liason between North, Central Chicago, IL 60659. Books by and about tion, 403 10thSt.,SEWashingtonDC20003. and South American Indian people, with Indian communities. Write for catalogue. excellent newsletter updating general public North American Congress on Latin about counter-Quincentennial activities National Council of Churches of Christ in America (NACLA), 475 Riverside Drive, around the world. Audiovisuals for sale. the USA, Racial Justice Working Group, Room 454, New York, N,Y, 10115. Phone: 475RiversideDrive,NewYork,N.Y. 10115. 212-870-3146. Publishing four special re- Submoloc, PO Box 6157, Bozman, MO 212-870-2298. Write for their resolution, ports on the conquest, land, and indigenous 59715. Network of Indian artists trying to entitled, "A Faithful Response to the 500th peoples. Excellent. rename cities named Columbus with Anniversary of the Arrival of Christopher Submoloc (Columbus backwards). Columbus". Key resource for those organiz- Northeast Indian Quarterly, 300 Caldwell ing in communities of faith. Study/action Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. 14853. Turtle Island Bioregional Congress, c/o packet for $9. 607-255-4308. Scholarly articles on Native 3026 N. 38th Street, Milwaukee, WI 53210; issues and perspectives, with Fall 1990 issue 414-871-4296. Resource lists, guidelines for Native American Ministry, United Meth- serving as resource guide for 1992. Indig- alliance building. odist Church, P.O. Box 75050, Milwaukee, enous Communications Resource Center WI 53215; 414-384-1500. Distributors of a collecting Quin. materials. $10. Traditional Circle of Native American fine annotated bibliography on Native Elders, c/o American Indian Institute, P.O. Peoples of North America (created by the Our Developing World, 13004 Paseo Box 1388,Bozeman,MT59715.Supporters Women's Division of the General Board of Presada, Saratoga, C A 95070.408-3794431. of Native American Alliance, a leading Na- Global Ministries of the UMC), with sec- Developing multicultural curriculum to re- tive American voice on spiritual, environ- tions on children, women, law, spirituality, examine Thanksgiving, Columbus Day, etc. mental and other 1992-related issues. and so forth. Resources, workshops. Underground Railway Theater, 41 Foster Native Nations magazine, 175 5th Ave., Panos Institute, 1717 Massachusetts Ave., Street, Arlington, MA 02174;617-643-6916. Suite 2245, NY, NY 10010. $20/year. 212- NW, Suite 301, Washington D.C. 20036. "The Discovery of Columbus," a play with 741-2365. Excellent. 202-483-0044. Research and information on humor, music, puppetry, and audience par- the environment and people of color. ticipation, deals with the Columbus story National Coalition of Education Activists from the Taino perspective. Available for PO Box 405, Rosendale, NY 12472. 914- Peace and Dignity Journeys, 1301W. 16th bookings nationwide. 658-8115. Activist group of parents and Street, Chicago, 111 60608; 312-733-6363, teachers working on anti-racist education FAX 312-733-6006. Dual relays north from WBAI-99.5 FM, "Columbus in Context", projects including the quincentennial. Argentina and south from Alaska from April 505 Eighth Avenue, 19th floor, New York, to October 1992. N.Y. 10018. Phone: 212-279-0707. (Attn: Native American Center for the Living Phil Tajitsu Nash or Mario Murillo). Special Arts, 25 Rainbow Mall, Niagara Falls, N.Y. Peacework, 2161 Massachusetts Avenue, radio programs, including a regular series 14303. Cross-cultural education through Cambridge,MA02140;617-661-6130.Peace from now until 1992, to be produced by this museum and art exhibitions and publishing. and social justice group with newsletter fo- Pacifica Radio Network station. "Turtle Quarterly" publication will focus on cusing on counter-quincentennial - $1. 1992 issues Witness for Non-violence, 1759A N. Pueblo to Pueblo, 1616 Montrose #4500, Marshall, Milw., WI 53202; 414-271-3309. Network of Educators on Central America, Houston, TX 77006; 800-843-5257. Non- Posters, training manuals for non-violent 1118 22nd Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. profit group which sells products from ag- witnessing at Chippewa boat landings. 20037; 202-429-0137, FAX 202-429-9766. ricultural coops in Latin America. Co-producer of Rethinking Columbus and sponsor of training workshops on "Rethink- Rethinking Schools, 1001 E. Keefe Ave., ing Columbus," featuring Bill B igelow, from Milwaukee, WI 53212. Publishers of quar- now until 1992. Quarterly "Central America terly newspaper which has regular Colum- in the Classroom " and workshops for schools bus Column. Also publishers of Rethinking and teachers. Columbus.

RETHINKING COLUMBUS PAGE 91 cataloging the items they use from Native cultures. What ways did Native Americans impact European culture? How would their lives be different without these things? Older children could be encouraged to write skits about Native contributions and perform these for younger children. Note: Charts of Native contributions to the world often acknowledge foods like potatoes and chilis without emphasizing that these TEACHING GUIDE plants were not simply found in the Americas but were developed by Native agriculturalists. In recognizing Native contributions we should not become complacent about the human costs of the exchange: "They are OK because they gave us something, we are OK because These suggestions supplement ideas presented in articles else- we credit them for it" where in this booklet, especially in Elementary School Issues and Secondary School Issues. The Untold Story, by Tina Thomas, p. 32

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.

Nicely, Nicely, p.14 The Delight Song of Tsoai-Talee, by N. Scott Momaday, p. 37 Ask for more examples of how parts of nature care for each other. How do people care for each other? Write a poem drawn from these Ask students to write a poem about themselves modeled after examples. Momaday's. Begin with "I am..." and complete the sentence. You might give them a specified number of descriptions, say 10, to list. Indian Children Speak, by Juanita Bell, p. 14 Loo-Wit, by Wendy Rose, p. 45 Choose two students to read the poem. One should read the parts beginning with "People said..." and another the responses. Note: Loo-Wit, or Mt. St. Helens, is in southwestern Washington Why might these Indian children be having problems in school? Is state. It is an active volcano that erupted with tremendous force in it because they aren't as "bright" as other children? 1980. The forests on Mt. St. Helens and throughout the Cascades are Ask students to imagine they are the children being complained heavily logged by timber companies. about. Choose one of the Indian responses and use it as the first line Write a poem from the perspective of a stream where salmon no of a poem. And/or take the ideas in the poem and write a "dialogue longer run, that is no longer fished by Native Americans; of a river poem." For example: that has been dammed, of a meadow that has been turned into a park, "Indian children are very silent." had a road cut through it, or is now a city dump. Talk with students If I am silent it is because... about the way Wendy Rose gives Loo-Wit consciousness and personality. Alphabet of Native Contributions, p. 31 Bones of Contention, by Tony Hillerman, p. 46 Does it surprise you to know that the items on the list come from America before Columbus arrived? Which surprised you the most? Why does Perry have such contempt for Henry Highhawk and the Why? Paho Society? What can you tell about Perry's attitude towards Draw pictures of some Native American contributions to the Native people? What motivated Highhawk's demands? Were they world. Cut out pictures from magazines and make a collage. unreasonable? What do you think of the Highhawk' s action? How do Ask students to look around the room. What originated with Native you think Perry felt when she realized her grandparents' bones had Americans? Have them make a list as they go through a day been dug up? What should Perry do now?

PAGES2 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION Stage a debate between Highhawk and Perry. your fantasies? Why is she attracted to being a "Changer" like Star Write a brief reaction from Perry's point of view. Or write Mrs. Boy? What is a "changer?" Are there students in your school who Bailey's reactions. Write Henry Highhawk's thoughts leading to his wish they were a Changer like Star Boy? If so, what could the school digging up Perry's grandparents' bones. Ask students to read these do to treat them with respect and dignity? Why are her grandma's aloud. words important to her? What is meant that she swallows "in the You are an editorial writer for a local white-owned newspaper. silence"? Write an editorial attacking or defending Highhawk's actions. Com- Remember someone who was in one of your classes who was plete the same assignment from the point of view of a writer for a treated in mean ways by either students or teachers. It might have paper that serves the Bitter Water people. been because they looked different, were a different race than the Investigate the policies of local museums about the remains of majority of children, did not conform to school rules or norms, etc. Native people. Contact local Native organizations to learn if they are Use Jo Whitehorse Cochran's poem as a model and write about this satisfied that archaeologists respect their ancestors and sacred sites. person. Notice how Cochran uses questions — does your father beat Have students research national debates about the remains of Native you... do you hate your parents—to underscore the child's torment. people. What are the policies of the S mithsonian Institution and other Write a letter to the girl's teacher, fellow students, or social worker major museums? instructing them how they should and should not treat this child. Imagine you are this girl many years later. Write a letter of advice Three Thousand Dollar Death Song, to a young girl or boy who you believe is in a similar situation. by Wendy Rose, p. 47 Native Women in the Circle of Life, Why is she angry? Who does she blame? by Paula Gunn Allen, p. 50 Think of a time when something you really cared about was stolen. Ceremony, by Leslie Marmon Silko, p. 52 Quickwrite: Where did you get this object? Why was it meaningful to you? How did it feel to lose it? How did you feel about the person/ Read the last paragraph in Paula Gunn Allen' sNative Women in the persons who stole it? From these notes write about the incident as if Circle of Life. Why is the oral tradition so important in her culture? you were telling a friend. Ask students to read their completed stories. What special role do women play in maintaining this tradition? Using the following questions as a guide, have them take notes as Read "Ceremony." Who is the "they" who tries to destroy the they listen: Whether or not we knew the person(s), how did we feel stories? Why would "they" want those stories destroyed? Whose evil about them? Who did we blame? What did we do about the thefts? is mighty? Why can it it overpower the strength of the stories? Talk about: How does this help us understand the writer of the Think about stories that may be moving in our bellies. Ask students poem? of the Native American experience in general? In what ways to bring in stories from their lives — ones that teach, that amuse, that were our experiences different? remember. Seat students in a circle, maybe even on the floor, and Write a "talking back" poem modeled after Wendy Rose's. You share these as a group. Afterward talk about the roles stories play in might choose a quote to respond to, as she did. Notice the structure our families and in our cultures. Compare these to Paula Gunn of her poem, how she remembers, invents details, poses questions. Allen's descriptions of the role stories played in her life.

Spokane Museum, by Ramona Wilson, p. 47 The Sacred Circle, by Black Elk, p. 51

Ask students to write their own poem arguing that Native people Ask students: If a circle best represents Black Elk's society, what are not "relics." As a prompt, encourage them to begin with the lines: symbol best represents life in this society? Ask students to draw their "These are not relics symbol and write an explanation. How would life in the United States 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.

RETHINK/NO COLUMBUS PAGE 93 ship bound for Spain. Recall that he led the first resistance to the Spanish on Bohio. Write an appropriate epitaph for Columbus. Have students do more research and continue the timeline. Have them choose events on the timeline to research more thoroughly. The Spanish Fight for Justice in the Indies, by Bartotom£ de las Cassis, p. 82

According to Montesinos, what is wrong with Spanish rule in the Indies? What does Montesinos think about Native people? Does he believe Native people should rule themselves? How did Montesinos want the Spaniards on the island to change? Did he want them to get out of the Indies? Why are Columbus and the others so upset? Why don't they just ignore Montesinos? What did Montesinos risk? Write the thoughts of Montesinos preparing for his second sermon. And/or ask students to improvise a discussion between Montesinos and Father Cordoba. Write the reaction of a Tamo cacique to Montesinos. Does he approve of everything Montesinos says and does? Encourage students to research Spaniards like Bartolome de las Casas, author of this adaptation, who fought for Native rights in the Americas. Also see Talking Back to Columbus for other teaching ideas. Let's Leave Columbus Behind, by Hans Koning, p. 74 Is Koning too hard on Columbus? If Columbus is as bad as Koning Other Teaching Ideas suggests why is he seen by some as a hero? Do we need heroes? If we do, what characteristics should our heroes have? Koning links • At the conclusion of your study of Columbus and consequences, incidents in today's world to actions of the Spaniards. What's the ask students to list at least three things that made them sad, ashamed, connection? powerless or hopeless. Then, on a different sheet of paper, ask them Write about how "Columbus Day" should be commemorated, or to list at least three things they found inspiring, hopeful or made them even whether it should be commemorated. [Watch the video, The feel powerful. In the middle of the room, place a box and tell students Columbus Controversy: Challenging How History is Written.Use the it represents a coffin. One by one ask students to come to the center comments of Jefferson High School students, John Mohawk and of the room, read their hopeless statements aloud, then place them in William McNeil to suggest ideas and/or refute different positions.] the coffin. Next, ask students to share what they wrote that made them feel hopeful. You might use these as the basis for a concluding poem Timeline: Spain, Columbus and Native Americans, p. 78 or essay.

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

PAGE 94 RETHINKING SCHOOLS SPECIAL EDITION is the prosecutor and the students, in small groups, defendants. In Biographical Information on Poets groups, give them an opportunity to prepare a defense against the charges. Before the trial begins, choose a jury of three students, who • Jimmie Durham (Wolf Clan Cherokee), author of the book of agree to forgo their group allegiances. Prosecute each group one by collected poems, Columbus Day. one. Allow each group to cross-examine the other groups. Allow the • Leslie Marmon Silko (Laguna Pueblo), author of Ceremony. jury to deliberate and reach a verdict. • N. Scott Momaday (Kiowa), first Native American to win the Pulitzer Prize, Regent's Prof, of English at the Univ. of Arizona. • Compare the conditions of children in the Americas now with • Wendy Rose (Hopi-Miwok) teaches social science at Fresno City conditions when Columbus arrived. You might begin with a survey College. of conditions in Haiti and the Dominican Republic or Jamaica (see • Leonel Rugama, a Nicaraguan who died in 1970 while fighting for issues of NACLA Report on the Americas — address in Resources the Sandinista National Liberation Front section.) How did early observers describe living conditions of • Gail Tremblay (Onondaga, MicMac and French Canadian), teaches Tamos, Caribs and others? How do observers describe conditions at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash. today? Students might complete a timeline from 1492 to today listing • Jo Whitehorse Cochran (Lakota/Norwegian), Artist in Residence in key events that transformed life for Caribbean peoples. Get United the Seattle public schools, 1992 and 1993. Nations documents on the rights of children. Are these rights being maintained? O • Ramona Wilson (Colville Confederated Tribes), Project Director of Katrine Barber, Bill Bigelow, Linda Christensen, and Deborah an American Indian bilingual program in Oakland, CA. Menkart added ideas to this teaching guide. Taking Your Students Beyond the Classroom Walls Students may want to take their new learning outside the the meaning of the "encounter" between European and Native classroom walls. Encourage them to think of ways they might people 500 years ago. How should October 12,1992 be commemo- influence change. rated? How should the next 500 years be different from the last 500 • Students might critique books in the school library for race, sex years? It's important these contests not encourage a kind of indi- and class bias. They could evaluate the library's books about vidualism that would be antithetical to the cooperative values of Native Americans, Columbus and other "explorers." You might Native America. Make sure the contributions of all participants are organize a field trip to the city or county library. Ask them to write recognized. up their findings and suggested alternatives. Students can present • Students should be encouraged to find out about Native people these to librarians. Another idea would be for students to launch a in the local area. What are the active organizations? What issues are parent/teacher/student study group. they concerned about? How could they support Native Americans who are working for justice? • Students might write up a "report card" on various textbooks, or books in the school or local library. [See "Unlearning the Myths • Students can be encouraged to submit critiques, report cards or that Bind Us.] The report cards could be distributed to parents, essays to school and local newspapers. People often begin to take other teachers, other classes, librarians, the school district's cur- their own ideas more seriously when they see them in print. riculum department or the school board. They might also want to meet with local Native organizations to share their report card with • Students can write skits, children's books or choreograph them and to find out Native perspectives on their work. dances to perform for other classes or at community events. Others can plan follow-up discussions about the issues raised. • Investigate state and local Quincentenary committees. How is their tax money being spent? In Wisconsin, a bill was recently • Teachers can work with students to develop resolutions to take introduced to rename a state highway after Christopher Columbus. to their unions, professional organizations, school administration How much will this cost? What else could the money be spent on? or school board. Students might take resolutions to student councils How is this decision made? How much public input will there be? or to PTAs. Resolutions could include provisions that: Students might even want to testify. - Columbus Day not be celebrated as a holiday that recognizes only the European version of "discovery," and hence, encourages • What is being planned in the community for "Columbus Day?" racism; S tudents could plan an alternative commemoration. In one Cleveland - Funds be made available to school libraries for purchase of school, students wore black arm bands on a recent October 12. alternative materials, for curriculum departments to hire Native They might take a resolution to the teacher's union or school board American consultants to bring in new perspectives, and for work- urging that Columbus Day not be celebrated, but that instead more shops for teachers and librarians; multicultural activities be planned. Should there be a "Genocide - Encourage teachers to offer in their classes alternative, multi- Day," a "500 Years of Resistance Day," a "Native American cultural viewpoints. Culture Day?" (See Columbus Day lesson above.) The school, or - Students be encouraged to ask their teachers and administra- perhaps even a single teacher, could sponsor a writing contest on tions to offer alternative teaching materials. O

RETHINKING COLUMBUS PAGE 95 SUBSCRIBE TO 01+ 3492 What Is It Like to Be Discovered? 1992 CALENDAR «• 1992 CALENDAR <> 1992 CALENDAR

"NACLA's INVENTING AMERICA 1492-1991 Task Order your 1992 Calendar from Monthly Review Is To Press for only $7.95. Purchase additional calendars for just $5.95. Shed Light Adapted from 1492: What Is It Like to Be On Reality" Discovered? by Deborah Small with Maggie Jaffe published by Monthly Review Press Eduardo Galeano, Author of Memory of Fire + This beautiful 9 x 12" wall calendar contains illustrations adapted from sixteenth-century engravings and woodcuts, as well as from contemporary advertising images, Holly- For 25 years NACLA has been your resource on the wood films, and children's books Americas. Subscribe now to Report on the Americas. Mention this ad and receive as a bonus the first of our •f Makes a great gift Quincentenary series, "Inventing America 1492-1992." Please add $2.00 for shipping and handling for first item and 50/t for each additional item. NACLA $22/yr. (5 issues) 475 Riverside Dr., #454, Bulk order discounts New York, NY 10115 Monthly Review Press available (212)870-3146

THE COLUMBUS CONTROVERSY: COLUMBUS: Challenging How History is Written His ENTERPRISE Was Columbus a noble explorer or a brutal conqueror Exploding the Myth who set the stage for genocide against the native peoples of the Americas? This 24-minute video pro- HANS KONING gram, produced exclusively for schools and libraries, invites your students to participate in the nationwide Afterword for Teachers by Bill Bigelow debate about the 1992 quincentennial celebration. "/ think Ljoitr l)ook on Christopher Columbus us important. I'm more grate- ful for that book thnn any oilier book I have read in a couple of years." The program features teacher and writer Bill Bigelow -Kurt Vonnegut and historians John Mohawk and William McNeil. It is "As a corrective to the bland assumptions of biographers like the late accompanied by a teacher's guide and an annotated S-E. Morison. this makes fascinating reading... should be compulsory." bibliography designed especially for school use. —Christopher Hill, New York Review of Books

$89.00 plus 8% shipping and handling ost of us have been taught to think of Christopher Columbus as Ma single-minded courageous visionary whose navigational skills To order use our toll-free phone line: led him to "discover" the Americas. In this beautifully written revision- (800) 843-8855 ist biography, accessible to people of all ages. Hans Koning gives us the true history of Columbus' life and voyages. or our 24-hour fax line: In an afterword for teachers. Bill Bigelow —a high school social studies teacher and the author of several curricula —shows how Columbus: (312) 984-7935. His Enterprise can be imaginatively used in the classroom to teach students to read history skeptically, AMERICAN SCHOOL PUBLISHERS $8.95 • PB8251 paper 155 North Wacker Drive P.O. Box 4520 Monthly Review Press Chicago, IL 60680-4520 122 West 27th Slreot New York. N.Y. 10001 (212) 691 2555 An Urban Educational Journal RETHINKINGSCHOOLS 1001 E. KeefeAve. • Milwaukee, Wl 53212 • 414-964-9646 r ~l "Rethinking Schools is a terrific publication — Subscribe! the only thing I've seen that cuts right through Q $10 (1 yr.) Individual subscription* all the jargon and addresses the real issues." Jonathan Kozol, author of Death at an Early Age Q $18 (2 yr.) Individual subscription* and other books on education Q $25 (1 yr.) Institutional subscription Q $8 (1 yr.) Student, unemployed Q $2 sample copy Subscribe to stay informed about crucial Q Information on bulk orders educational issues. To learn what other * Paid by individual and not by institution. teachers are doing in their classrooms. And to make sure you get each issue in a timely way. Name Phone (day) But there is another reason. Rethinking Phone (evening) Schools survives on small donations and Address subscriptions. Help keep the notion of City/State .Zip rethinking our educational system alive. Send to: Rethinking Schools, 1001 E. Keefe Ave., Milw., Wl 53212 Subscribe today. 414-964-9646 L J

Teaching About Central America Rethinking (Dolumbus The Network of Educators Essays and resources for teaching about the on Central America provides 500th anniversary ofCc)lumbus's arrival resources, seminars and tours. in the Amei-icas. Ideal for elementary and second- Rethinking Schools is proud to ary Social Studies, ESL, Bilingual, One copy $4.00+$2 postage present a special edition of its Spanish and Language Arts. 10 -49 copies 1.25 each* newspaper to help teachers, Resources students, and parents provide a 50-199 75* each* 200-999 50« each * ^ Children of the World: Guatemala ($13), El critical, pro-Native perspective on the Columbus quincentenary. 1000+ 35« each* Salvador ($13),Nicaragua ($13). Story about a child from * Shipping costs add $8 for 10 - Published in collaboration with the 100, and $5 per 100 thereafter. each respective country, photos, and background. Elementary. Network of Educators on Central Orders may be pre-paid, on America, Rethinking Columbus School Purchase Order, or billed. ^ Caribbean Connections: Jamaica ($12), Puerto Bulk orders are not to be resold Rico ($12), and Regional History ($16). Stories, offers 96 pages of resources and for profit. Book stores and teaching ideas for kindergarten distributors please contact us for interviews, songs, oral histories and lesson plans. Secondary. through college. pricing information. ^ Of Secret Wars and Roses ($12). Bilingual story by a Salvadoran refugee high school student about life in the U.S. and Name School/Ora. memories of home. Secondary and adult. Address ^ Central America in the Classroom ($15/yr). City Quarterly collection of resources on themes such as the environ- State Zip Code ment, legends, women, and refugees. Elementary and Secondary. Phone (days) (evenings) ^ And more... Q Enclosed is $ for copies of the Rethinkina Programs Columbus Special Edition. (Include costs of postage & handling.) ^ Summer lnstitutes:History/Literature of CA (3 Credits) Q Please send me copies of the Rethinking Columbus Special Edition. Q I will use a school purchase order Q bill me. ^ Educators' Tours to Central America Q Please send me information about Rethinking Schools and the Network of Educators on Central America. Send check/purchase order (add $3 postage) or inquiries to NECA, 1118 22nd St, NW, Washington, DC 20037 Mail to Rethinking Schools 202-429-0137, Fax: 202-429-9766. 1001 E. Keefe Ave., Milw., Wl 53212 (414)964-9646 i RETHINKING COLUMBUS

"In an era when discussion of the 'new world order' is so prevalent, this book forces us to rethink the very foundations of that new world order which was built on colonialism and slavery." Bill Fletcher, Jr. Labor organizer

"Contrary to popular belief, there is more than one way of looking at history. Rethinking Columbus provides a wonderful balance for these books that see things through only one eye." Joseph Bruchac Poet, storyteller, editor of the Greenfield Review

"It's moving, thrilling! Rethinking Columbus is an essential resource for any teacher in 1992." Harriet Rohmer Director, Children's Book Press

"Until we realize that history is comprised of the good, the bad and the ugly, we will never be truly free. This book is an important step in unifying our common destiny." Maria Garza Lubeck Children's Defense Fund

"This book will be a proper antidote to the overdose of historical lies that is daily forced upon the minds of young people." Kassahun Checole Publisher, Africa World Press