As James W. Loewen pointed out, there is a great deal wrong with the way that American history textbooks have traditionally presented history (332). Loewen also makes the case that many teachers of American history have failed to incorporate multiple perspectives on major events and issues thereby cheating their students of opportunities to gain an in-depth understanding of the forces, people, and situations that have impacted upon their world (352).
Building on this concept, this essay looks specifically at the case of Christopher Columbus, certainly one of the most widely known and largely misunderstood figures involved in the post-Conquest of the Americas. Drawing upon two scholarly studies focused on Columbus, his accomplishments, and his significance in terms of American history and the way it has been taught, this essay will expand the conversation about history and education begun earlier in this series of reports. The thesis to be discussed herein is that the case of Columbus as a subject for historical scholarship reveals a longstanding tradition of interpreting Columbus and his actions from a Eurocentric perspective only - a perspective that is now being challenged by many scholars.
John P. Larner is one scholar who has studied the aggrandizement of Columbus in American history texts and scholarship. Larner takes the position that what has been constructed over time is a "dramatic image" of Columbus that incorporates "hero worship, myth, its interaction with historiography, its role in civic patriotism" (46). In essence, Larner argues that the circumstances of Columbus' voyages were well documented (52). What is less well documented in the scholarly literature revolving around Columbus and his activities in the New World is the recognition that he was not necessarily heroic and that he encountered a world and people who were brutalized, exploited, demeaned, and diminished as part of an effort to aggrand...