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fandomhigh2014-09-05 12:43 pm
professor-lyman.livejournal.com) wrote in fandomhigh2014-09-05 12:43 pm
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American History: Lies Your Other Teachers Told You [Friday, September 4, 2014, 2nd period]
The teal deer were already gathering outside of Josh's classroom window in anticipation of his second class. So buckle up, kids. Josh likes to talk.
He turned to the wipeboard at the front of the classroom and scrawled, In fourteen hundred and ninety three, Columbus stole all that he could see, then smiled at the class. "A slightly updated version of one you might have heard as kids. There are two years that everyone remembers from US History: 1492 and 1776. You know the names of his ships: the Nina, the Pinta and the Heidy-Ho III."
That last one wasn't right. "And you know the story by heart. Born of humble parents in Genoa, Italy, Columbus became an experienced sailor. His adventures to Iceland and West Africa convinced him that the world was round, and he could get to the riches of the East by sailing West. He took this whackadoodle idea to every monarchy in Europe and none of them took him up on the idea until he reached Ferdinard and Isabella of Spain and they paid for his expedition. He sailed West, landed in the West Indies on October 12th and discovered the New World. He visited three more times, never fully realizing what he'd discovered, and died in obscurity." Josh shrugged. "Unfortunately, all of that stuff is either wrong or unverifiable. It makes for an easy story to feed to kids, though."
He sat back against his desk. "People from other continents had reached the Americas many times before 1492, and Europeans might have been fishing off of Newfoundland in the 1480s. No one with any kind of sense believed the world was flat any more. What made Columbus's voyage unique was how Europe responded this time, and so that means talking about what had shifted in European politics in the late 1400s. Europe wasn't becoming richer, like your other textbooks might have told you--it was actually poorer in the 15th Century than the 13th due to that pesky plague thing. The Turks also weren't cutting off the trade routes to China--they were making money off of it and that narrative is probably there reinforcing an anti-Islamic, pro-Western bent to most history books that also explains why they skip past how African explorers had discovered the Americas hundreds of years earlier but will mention the Irish guy taking a rowboat to Boston theory like it makes sense. The ability of Europe to colonize the Americas--land hundreds and thousands of miles away from countries laying claim--was one of the most significant moments in human history, but most books don't explain why, and that's because why doesn't leave us covered in glory."
Josh held up his fingers. "First thing that mattered: the military arms race, which still reverberates in our world today. European rulers learned how to make big guns and mount them on ships and having the biggest guns still matters. Europe's incessant wars against each other meant that they were really good at killing people when their attention shifted to the Ottoman Empire, China, and eventually, American indigenous populations. Second thing that mattered: the rise of bureaucracy and record-keeping. If you actually have accounts that add up, you can see who's ripping you off faster. If you take notes and have a printing press, more than just the people in Spain will hear about Columbus's exploits. Finally, to quote an '80s movie: greed was good. Amassing vast wealth and dominating other people was considered a mark of God's favor, and the religious proselytizing that rationalized conquest certainly didn't help the folks who were already living on Haiti when Columbus showed up and babbled at them in Spanish, giving them their one chance to convert to Catholicism before taking all of their stuff. Seriously, it was a half-step from an Eddie Izzard sketch.
"My question to you guys: why do you think textbooks tell Columbus's story the way they do? Is it that they're simply being written by European descended white guys? What do you think would change if we dropped the story we've learned and told the truth instead?"
He turned to the wipeboard at the front of the classroom and scrawled, In fourteen hundred and ninety three, Columbus stole all that he could see, then smiled at the class. "A slightly updated version of one you might have heard as kids. There are two years that everyone remembers from US History: 1492 and 1776. You know the names of his ships: the Nina, the Pinta and the Heidy-Ho III."
That last one wasn't right. "And you know the story by heart. Born of humble parents in Genoa, Italy, Columbus became an experienced sailor. His adventures to Iceland and West Africa convinced him that the world was round, and he could get to the riches of the East by sailing West. He took this whackadoodle idea to every monarchy in Europe and none of them took him up on the idea until he reached Ferdinard and Isabella of Spain and they paid for his expedition. He sailed West, landed in the West Indies on October 12th and discovered the New World. He visited three more times, never fully realizing what he'd discovered, and died in obscurity." Josh shrugged. "Unfortunately, all of that stuff is either wrong or unverifiable. It makes for an easy story to feed to kids, though."
He sat back against his desk. "People from other continents had reached the Americas many times before 1492, and Europeans might have been fishing off of Newfoundland in the 1480s. No one with any kind of sense believed the world was flat any more. What made Columbus's voyage unique was how Europe responded this time, and so that means talking about what had shifted in European politics in the late 1400s. Europe wasn't becoming richer, like your other textbooks might have told you--it was actually poorer in the 15th Century than the 13th due to that pesky plague thing. The Turks also weren't cutting off the trade routes to China--they were making money off of it and that narrative is probably there reinforcing an anti-Islamic, pro-Western bent to most history books that also explains why they skip past how African explorers had discovered the Americas hundreds of years earlier but will mention the Irish guy taking a rowboat to Boston theory like it makes sense. The ability of Europe to colonize the Americas--land hundreds and thousands of miles away from countries laying claim--was one of the most significant moments in human history, but most books don't explain why, and that's because why doesn't leave us covered in glory."
Josh held up his fingers. "First thing that mattered: the military arms race, which still reverberates in our world today. European rulers learned how to make big guns and mount them on ships and having the biggest guns still matters. Europe's incessant wars against each other meant that they were really good at killing people when their attention shifted to the Ottoman Empire, China, and eventually, American indigenous populations. Second thing that mattered: the rise of bureaucracy and record-keeping. If you actually have accounts that add up, you can see who's ripping you off faster. If you take notes and have a printing press, more than just the people in Spain will hear about Columbus's exploits. Finally, to quote an '80s movie: greed was good. Amassing vast wealth and dominating other people was considered a mark of God's favor, and the religious proselytizing that rationalized conquest certainly didn't help the folks who were already living on Haiti when Columbus showed up and babbled at them in Spanish, giving them their one chance to convert to Catholicism before taking all of their stuff. Seriously, it was a half-step from an Eddie Izzard sketch.
"My question to you guys: why do you think textbooks tell Columbus's story the way they do? Is it that they're simply being written by European descended white guys? What do you think would change if we dropped the story we've learned and told the truth instead?"
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Listen to the lecture
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Discuss!
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Raven could technically roll her eyes harder, but it'd involve a shift in her facial structure. She'd maybe experienced more than a bit of the "just savages" mindset herself, when she was small.
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"That's why I made sure I have a good publicist."
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Sorry, Johnny.
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"Well, me and a few X-Men do. Depends on how you define 'way back.'"
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Sorry, Charles, looked like you weren't quite that good of an influence on Raven after all.
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No. No way.
"Is that, uh, his first or last name?"
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Unless she asked any questions about Charles in the present tense.
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"I don't really see how telling me what my brother does is going to mess up any time travel things. I'm already in the future, isn't that messed up enough?"
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Talk to Josh
OOC
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