‘Instructor’s Name’
Columbus and the Color Line
A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn is an account of the American history in a common man perspective. It was first published in the year 1980, and it contains many stories particularly of the natives, which were mostly ignored earlier. It describes in vivid detail the spirited fight put on by various individuals such as Frederick Douglass, César Chávez and others, against slavery and oppression. The aim of this essay is to single out three events or issues that was discussed in the opening two chapters of the book, which was hitherto unknown to me, and my reactions to those issues.
We all knew Christopher Columbus was the one to discover the great American continent. But it was a real surprise to know that the one who actually first sighted this island is a person called Rodrigo, who was a sailor in the Santa Maria. All the history books credit Columbus of the discovery, but we never found any significant mention of the other members of his crew. This bit about Columbus actually claiming the credit of the first sighting for earning the 10,000 maravedis reward is a quite appalling revelation. A person, who had first laid eyes on such an important landmark in human history, should have got more fame and notoriety, but except Columbus all the other persons in the crew are universally unknown. This sadly highlights to us, how history is twisted and rewritten by the mightier, and how many such deeds are virtually unknown to the larger world.
There were many new things about native Indian civilization which was highlighted in the book. It is a known fact that they were warriors, waged battle with other tribes from time to time and were nonchalant about their nakedness. But it is really heartening to know that they were generous to the core and they treated women with equality and respect, which is a rarity in any ancient civilization. Both Columbus and Las Casas, the young priest who travelled with him, have written about this quality of the natives.
While Columbus writes, “They willingly traded everything they owned”, Las Casas says, “They are extremely generous with their possessions and by the same token covet the possessions of their friends” (Zinn, 1980)
We see that the women were free to choose their mates and leave them when they prefer. We also learnt how they were physically fit, and were able to swim long distances and worked till the day before childbirth. They were aware of herbal medicines and there is no hint in any these writings that they were treated secondary to the men of their community.
The second chapter reveals that even the Catholic Church considered Slavery as a normal trade and not a crime. This was a shocking disclosure, as we have always believed that the Church upheld humanitarian values. There is a mention in the second chapter of the book about a letter wrote by one Luis Brandaon, to a concerned priest named Father Sandoval, who had misgivings about the treatment of slaves in the American continent. The letter wrote in March 12, 1610, clearly implies that there is nothing wrong in slave trade, and it is like any other commercial activity and the priest should not be worried about it. Thus, we see that slavery was more a way of life in the yester centuries and even the most elite among the European civilization did not do enough to, if not abolish, at least better the conditions in which the slave trade was practiced.
Works Cited
Howard Zinn. (1980) A People's History of the United States. Retrieved from http://www.historyisaweapon.com/zinnapeopleshistory.html. Accessed on September 15, 2013.
