Chapter not been told in order to

February 14, 2019 General Studies

Chapter 2: The True Importance of Christopher Columbus
The second chapter from Lies My Teacher Told Me describes how much importance has been given to Christopher Columbus in American textbooks. Christopher Columbus has been humanized and glorified as a brave man and an ideal hero. But according to Loewen, this justification of Columbus is completely wrong. Loewen has stated that these textbooks are a distortion of information and a combination of half-truths, truths, and omissions.
Loewen states that the other explorers such as Vikings and Africans had traveled to America before Columbus. But all these facts have not been told in order to preserve a glorified view of Europe but deep down of it, racism and prejudice against other nations are hidden. Loewen has stated that Europe came to explore America for certain factors including its military knowledge, social technology, protection to diseases, and having a religious justification for war. The textbooks have omitted the fact that the natives were oppressed, enslaved, and were almost wiped out in the due process. I have been greatly surprised by the disparity and misrepresentation in the textbooks and it has definitely changed the way I used to comprehend the historic events. The content has shown both sides of the exploitation.
Chapter 3: The Truth about the First Thanksgiving
In the third chapter, Loewens has described the false notion that has been conveyed by the American textbooks. Loewen in this chapter has said that America did not settle in 1620, as most think when the English pilgrims landed in North America. The American natives had been living there for thousands of years and Thanksgiving is merely a creation myth. The students, however, are taught how the generous Americans have helped out a minority i.e. the native Indians. But the pilgrims did not introduce the natives to the festivities; in fact, the natives had been celebrating autumn harvest for centuries.
Moreover, the textbook authors have altogether excluded the truth that the Europeans brought diseases to the continent and a large number of native people died because of their contact with those diseases. The decrease in Native Americans population helped the pilgrims to take over the lands of natives without any resistance. Many historians are of the view that the population reduction and the massacres have originated the Thanksgiving celebrations. After reading the content of this chapter, I would say that by omitting these facts from the textbooks, the authors have tried to hide the atrocities and genocide being done in America.

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