Take on Christopher Columbus Day - Social 10 – Daniel Columbus Day. The celebration of the finding of the continent on which we live, north America. And, that’s exactly what it is, celebrating finding a continent, not celebrating the mass murderer, pillager, and rapist Columbus. At least that’s what it is for me. In this instance, there is a clear-cut line between the two. Yes, his name is completely associated with the finding of such world, but for me when I hear “Columbus Day”, to me it brings mind of celebrating the finding of the giant land mass on where we chose to lay our houses, and our buildings. The very bedrock of our foundations as a people. The problem here is everybody could, and does celebrate it for different reasons. You could celebrate it for the man himself, Columbus, and what he did. You could do it for the idea of finding a new continent. You could be celebrating the idea of exploration when you hear “Columbus Day”, but the main reason most people do cheer for it, it’s the idea of Columbus finding the new world, and colonizing it. …show more content…
He killed, raped, pillaged, destroyed, and burnt to the ground everything the indigenous peoples of North America built for themselves. So, when you celebrate the idea of Columbus, some can argue that is what you’re really celebrating. On the other hand, I don’t think many people know this fact about Columbus. See I feel if they knew this, there would be a completely different story as to the holiday. If we were only more knowledgeable as a people in this area, then would could make a more informed decision about said holiday. However, the idea that people don’t know much about Columbus is an assumption, but I believe a very plausible assumption at
Columbus Day was not always a federal holiday. Traditionally, the holiday was observed on the 12th of October locally. Columbus Day first became a holiday in Colorado in 1906. Through lobbying by Angelo Rose, Generoso Pope, and The Knights of Columbus, Columbus Day became a federal holiday in 1937. It was signed in by Franklin Roosevelt. Since 1970, the holiday has been observed on the second Monday of October. Columbus Day had lobbying against it as well. During the early days before information was not easily available, it was said that the holiday would be used to spread Catholic influence. In later years during the Information Age, arguments such as Columbus 's character or the genocide and slavery of the Indians became widespread arguments against the celebration of the holiday. There are also many arguments as to why the holiday should be kept. Columbus 's voyages led to the colonization of the New World. His expeditions spurred the Age of Exploration, where many European countries continued to invest in exploring for shorter and faster routes to India and the Orient, and new territories to claim. His voyages also led to the Columbian
Christopher Columbus does not deserve to be honored as a hero with his own holiday. Close to 500 years, people have praised Christopher Columbus and also celebrated him as though he was the one who truly founded America. Teachers teach students that he was a great man, also how he found treasures and land known as America. Students are also taught about the names of his three ships he used on his first voyage. However, they did not teach us the truth about Christopher Columbus, and his so called “discovery”.
Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492. He is known for discovering the ‘New World’ or what we now know as America . Although he changed the world, he might not be the hero one would think of. The author of “Sail On!” thinks of him as a ‘brave’ hero who changed the world. However, the author of “Columbus Doesn’t Deserve A Holiday” thinks of him as a ‘great evil’ or even a ‘murderer’. Between these two articles Columbus had the same goal and achieved it, but does Columbus deserve to be honored?
However, people tend to forget the other side of Columbus, the side that lusted after gold and resources that often belonged to the native inhabitants he came across in his exploration. In his insatiable greed, he and his crew committed countless atrocities, such as torture and killing of defenseless natives. Columbus’s discovery of these new lands has profound and negative effects as future colonists arrive. “Zinn estimates that perhaps 3 million people perished in the Caribbean alone from raids, forced labor and disease” (Zinn, 1980). Columbus was seen as a cruel man, who saw the peaceful inhabitants as right for the conquering and lead to the devastation of the native population, yet is celebrated every October.
For more than five centuries Americans have lifted Christopher Columbus to heights of greatness and god-like. We celebrate his life as though he was a man that had done us a great favor. In resent years Christopher Columbus has come under scrutiny, his life and works being questioned more than celebrated. There have be many great men and women that contributed to the building of our great nation but they do not receive anywhere as much recognition as Columbus. When a person begins to study the actual accounts of the "finding of the New World" they begin to wonder if Columbus should adored or hated for his actions. As a child I was taught that Columbus was a great man that had accomplished great things for the sake of humanity, but in reality his agenda was not to better humanity but to better himself. He found the Americas by mere chance and he did not even know of what he found. We give him credit for "finding" the Americas but history tells of the people, that he called Indians, already inhabiting the foreign land. So you decide whether or not Christopher Columbus should be revered a hero.
Have you ever been forced to do something you don’t want to do? Well maybe you have,but have you ever had your hand cut off because you didn’t do the thing that people made you want to do? I’m asking these questions because Christopher Columbus did these things to the Natives of America.That’s why I think we shouldn’t celebrate Columbus Day at all.He enslaved Natives to mine gold and if they didn’t he’d cut there wrists.Columbus also spread disease(such as smallpox) throughout America killing even more Natives. Finally though Columbus had butcher's cut the Native people up,to just feed their own dogs.On that same gruesome note Columbus ordered his men to cut the Natives in half to test the sharpness of their blades.
Other than what was taught in primary education I knew little of Christopher Columbus. I certainly did not know the truth. Educators and school board officials provided a faulty historical account of Christopher Columbus growing up. Most youth raised in America grew up with nursery rhymes and bedtime stories fictionalizing the heroic efforts and swash-buckling adventures of Columbus’ and men alike making their thievery and lack of concern for human life acceptable. All Americans including the Native and African Americans who were indirectly affected by Christopher Columbus via the slave trade and destruction of their people, observe Christopher Columbus Day. If this is so, why don’t we have a Hail Hitler Day? Hitler, though many see him as a terrible man, was simply doing what power hungry individuals have done for centuries. He simply took a page out of Christopher Columbus’ book destroying the weak and enslaving those left standing. In the case of Christopher Columbus quest for gold, he went to extreme measures to ensure he would get every last golden flake that glittered in Hai...
Many Americans honor Christopher Columbus Day as a holiday that celebrates his discovery of the New World on October 12, 1492. Some make the argument that Columbus is not to be considered a hero because of his actions. However, this day celebrates his discovery but not his mistakes after. His findings brought new knowledge to the Old World, profited many countries, and improved life conditions of many people. Before his voyage some thought if sailing West all one would find is India, however Columbus’ expedition found
I think he accomplished many great things even though some of the things he hoped to discover didn’t go exactly the way he’d planned but that doesn’t mean he’s a failure. Even though he didn’t get to the places he wanted, he was courageous by actually going out to sea and wanting to go explore the rest of the world. Not many people would take such a risk but he was confident and adventurous about the things he was wishing to accomplish. Although I think Christopher Columbus was successful in a lot of things he did, I don’t think all of the things he did were good. Despite the fact that I think he was a successful man, I don’t think Columbus should be celebrated. I believe he should be condemned because the things he did weren’t that important to the United States of America. First, he didn’t actually discover America; there were other natives living there way before him. Secondly, some of the things he did to the natives were cruel and unacceptable. And thirdly, there were a lot more important people than Columbus that did greater things and they aren’t celebrated. I don’t think Columbus should have his own special day that we
The second Monday in October is celebrated across America as Columbus Day. It is a celebration of the man who discovered America. In school, children are taught that Christopher Columbus was a national hero. In actuality, the man was a murderer. It is true that he found a land that was unknown to the "civilized" world, yet in this discovery, he erased the natives inhabiting the land. With slavery, warfare, and inhumane acts, Christopher Columbus and the men who accompanied him completely destroyed a people, a culture, and a land. These are not actions that should be heralded as heroic.
Christopher was and always will be a controversial figure on what he did and discovered. He did discover new land, but he did not get where he wanted to go. He always loved to and had a passion to sail. Starting from his first voyage he took his ownership and power way too far. I do not believe that Columbus Day should be celebrated because it honors slavery.
[2] Columbus is a mainstay of American patriotism. He is the patron saint who planted the seeds of our nation. Our culture has been lulled into his heroic myth for hundreds of years and has celebrated this man with much pomp and circumstance. Columbus’ worthiness has been the subject of much controversy and is now being linked to such un-heroic terms as mass murder, holocaust, and genocide.
What Christopher Columbus did was not only tragic but unfair towards the Indians. He brutally murdered natives that lived on the land he had discovered and claimed the land for Spain. To celebrate the actions Christopher Columbus performed to gain this land is absurd and outright wrong. Action to be immediately taken to tell the real story of Columbus and the Native people of the new world.
The spirit and values of a nation are reflected in the nation’s heroes. Christopher Columbus has been regarded as an American hero since 1792. Every year Columbus Day is held on the second Monday in October to honor the man and his legacy. However, many people debate whether or not Columbus Day should be celebrated. I believe that Columbus Day should be celebrated in the United States because he opened up the New World to Europe, inspired a spirit of exploration and adventure that still lasts today, and he showed the importance of diversity and understanding of different cultures.
Columbus killed and enslaved many native americans. What he did was evil and selfish, and the native americans did not do anything wrong to have deserved those harmful things."By celebrating it, we're silently saying that this is ok and it's not. This is not someone that we should be looking up to, that we should be teaching our children he's a hero" (Franklin). Christopher Columbus shouldn’t be someone people can look up too. He isn’t worthy of being honored, even all the good that he did will never make up for the injustices that he created. Our school’s shouldn’t be teaching children that he was a “hero”, instead we should talk about other people who have impacted the world in a good way. “To me, the bottom line is this is public education. And if people find it offensive — even if the people who use it don’t think it is or don’t mean it to be — the public is paying for public education, and no one should be put in an uncomfortable position. My kids were uncomfortable”(Franklin). Nobody deserves to feel uncomfortable by a subject like this, which is why I find that Columbus shouldn’t be talked about, or at least teach people what he really did. We have the opportunity to reveal historical truths about the genocide and oppression of Indigenous peoples in the americas, and make society a bit