I did some research into this, and read an article entitled "No reason to celebrate and invasion". My first thoughts were "invasion?". What did he invade and who did he affect? As a nation, we enjoy the holiday off from either work or school, but don't truly realize that we affected the Native Americans in developing this country. We are celebrating an invasion of America. During this time period, many Europeans were out for land. The article describes Columbus as "a man of his times". The article continues to tell us about how the Native Americans are doing today. They have "no reason to celebrate an invasion that caused demise of so many of our people and is still causing destruction today". We don't often look at other perspectives, we instead look at how our lives our looking today and the impact Columbus had on us. As far as the Native American's go, it hurt them.
As the article continues, the Native American's criticize the Christian religions. The christian's had intended for the Native American's to practice their religion, however, that did not happen and eventually led to executions. An interesting point they noted was from 1992, when the catholic church entered a period of grace and healing. The Native American's didn't fully understand how the Catholic's could enter that state of grace and healing as far as killing thousands of their people? It doesn't make much sense.
http://www.regentsprep.org/
I saw this political cartoon in the article, and wanted to share it. I've seen it before, and I think it relates very much to this blog post and reflection on Columbus Day. What this is describing is the man in the suit saying "its time to reclaim America from illegal immigrants" and the Native American, who had this land first, replies with "I'll help you pack". A very valid point of view on this "invasion" of America.
No Reason to Celebrate an Invasion_Aug2011 (1).pdf
Furthermore, I read an article with Elementary School ideas to incorporate to a curriculum about Columbus Day. There were many ideas, but a couple stuck out. One of them asks students to work in groups or pairs. They are asked to think of scenarios where a person "discovered" a place or thing, and can either write them down or act them. Conceptually, I believe this will give them the idea of how Columbus "discovered" America, setting aside the Native American's were already here.
Another assignment could involve the student's looking at a map of Native American tribes. They can either pick a tribe closest to them, or, a tribe of their choice. I personally would use this with 5th graders and above. They can research their tribe and figure out what happened to them post 1492. How were they eliminated? Are there still some in the area? This will give the student's a better understanding of the real affect of the "discovery" of America.
Elementary School Issues_Aug2011.pdf
I like this view on the subject. I can't recall ever thinking of this concept before, but the more I think about, the more question of "why" appears in mind. Why does the United States celebrate a period of time where the downfall of Native American's began? I know though that I would love to incorporate the games above to not only teach the students about Columbus Day, but to also give both sides of what really happened. Yes he found America, but the Native Americans were already here and were wiped out year after year.
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