Complete Table Of Contents
Rethinking Columbus is divided into eleven main sections. Click on the section heading to jump directly to that section below. Links lead to the full text of selected articles.
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Introduction
- Why Rethink Columbus?
by the editors — 10 - We Have No Reason to Celebrate
by Suzan Shown Harjo — 12 - America to Indians: Stay in the 19th Century!
by Jan Elliott — 14
Beginnings
- Indians Claim Italy — 16
by "Right of Discovery" from The New York Times - Discovering Columbus: Re-reading the Past — 17
by Bill Bigelow - Sugar & Slavery — 22
by Philip Martin - African-American Resistance — 24
by Bill Fletcher - My Country, 'Tis of Thy People You're Dying — 28
by Buffy Sainte-Marie - Historic Tribal Locations Map — 30
Elementary School Issues
- What Not To Teach — 32
by June Sark Heinrich - A Friend of the Indians — 34
by Joseph Bruchac - Columbus & Native Issues in the Elementary Classroom — 35
by Bob Peterson - 1492 (song) — 41
by Nancy Schimmel - The Untold Story — 42
by Tina Thomas - The Sacred Buffalo Rosalie Little Thunder — 44
- Once Upon a Genocide: Columbus in Children's Literature — 47
by Bill Bigelow - George Washington: An American Hero? — 56
by the CIBC - Scalping: Fact & Fantasy — 58
by Philip Martin - Indian Lands for Sale Poster — 60
- A Barbie-Doll Pocahontas — 61
by Cornel Pewewardy - Good Intentions Are Not Enough: Recent Children's Books on the Columbus-Taíno Encounter — 62
by Bill Bigelow - Teaching Ideas — 69
Rethinking Thanksgiving
- The Delight Song of Tsoai-Talee by N. Scott Momaday — 72
- Giving Thanks: The Story of Indian Summer by Joseph Bruchac — 73
- Thanking the Birds by Joseph Bruchac — 74
- Alphabet of the Americas — 75
- Why I'm Not Thankful for Thanksgiving by Michael Dorris — 76
- Plagues & Pilgrims: The Truth about the First Thanksgiving by James W. Loewen — 79
- Teaching Ideas & Suggested Activities — 83
The Trial (The People vs. Columbus, et al.)
- For the Sake of Gold — 86
by Hans Koning - A Class Role Play — 87
by Bill Bigelow - The Trial in the Elementary Classroom — 94
by Bob Peterson - Columbus's Diary: Reading Between the Lines — 95
by Bill Bigelow - The First Few Days: The Journal of Christopher Columbus — 96
- Timeline: Spain, Columbus, and Taínos — 99
- "Open Your Hearts" — 103
adapt. from Bartolomé de las Casas
The Taínos
- The Taínos: "Men of the Good" — 106
by José Barreiro - Imagining the Taínos — 108
by Bill Bigelow - The Gold People — 110
by Anna Hereford - Taíno Resistance: Enrique's Uprising — 111
by Alvin Josephy, Jr. - Rethinking Terms — 112
by Philip Tajitsu Nash and Emilienne Ireland
Secondary School Issues
- Ceremony — 114
by Leslie Marmon Silko - Talking Back to Columbus: Teaching for Justice and Hope — 115
by Bill Bigelow - Columbus Day — 123
by Jimmie Durham - Broken Spears Lie in the Roads — 124
by unknown Aztec Poet - Black Indians & Resistance — 125
by William Loren Katz - Indian Singing in 20th Century America — 128
by Gail Tremblay - Cowboys and Indians: On the Playground — 129
by Ray Gonzalez - Human Beings Are Not Mascots — 131
by Barbara Munson - Looney Tunes and Peter Pan: Unlearning Racist Stereotypes — 133
by Linda Christensen - Bones of Contention — 134
by Tony Hillerman - Three Thousand Dollar Death Song — 135
by Wendy Rose - Canada Apologizes to its Native People — 136
from the Associated Press - What's in an Apology? — 137
by Bob Peterson - Elizabeth Peratrovich Day — 138
- Teaching Ideas — 139
Contemporary Struggles
- Current Struggles around the Hemisphere — 142
- Treaty Rights: An Overview — 144
by Philip Martin - A Modern Hero: Rigoberta Menchú — 146
by Deborah Menkart - Resistance at Oka — 148
by Peter Blue Cloud - The Unity of Native Peoples — 150
by Billy Redwing Tayac - Leonard Peltier: An American Political Prisoner — 151
by Philip Martin - Loo-Wit — 152
by Wendy Rose - The Theft of the Black Hills — 153
by Philip Martin - Shrinking Indian Lands Map Series — 155
- The Earth is a Satellite of the Moon — 156
by Leonel Rugama - Teaching Ideas — 157
Environmental Issues
- To the Women of the World: Our Future, Our Responsibility — 160
by Winona LaDuke - People vs. Nature in 15th-century Europe — 162
by Kirkpatrick Sale - Radioactive Mining: Good Economics or Genocide? — 163
by Ward Churchill - All Pigs on Deck: The Columbus Myth & the Environment — 165
by Bill Bigelow - The Land of the Spotted Eagle — 166
by Luther Standing Bear - The Earth and the American Dream: Selected Quotes from the video — 167
- The Earth and the American Dream: Questions — 169
- Red Ribbons for Emma — 170
by Deb Preusch, et al. - Teaching Ideas — 172
Final Words
- Remember — 174
by Joy Harjo - For Some, a Time of Mourning — 175
by Wendy Rose - The Blue Tiger — 177
by Eduardo Galeano - Colibrí — 179
by Martin Espada
Resources
- Books for young readers and adults, curriculum materials, videos, websites, organizations, and more! — 182