If We Knew Our History - Zinn Education Project Monthly Column

Presented by the Zinn Education Project
A Collaboration between Rethinking Schools and Teaching for Change

Time to Abolish Columbus Day

By Bill Bigelow

Once again this year many schools will pause to commemorate Christopher Columbus. Given everything we know about who Columbus was and what he launched in the Americas, this needs to stop.

Columbus initiated the trans-Atlantic slave trade, in early February 1494, first sending several dozen enslaved Taínos to Spain. Columbus described those he enslaved as "well made and of very good intelligence," and recommended to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella that taxing slave shipments could help pay for supplies needed in the Indies. A year later, Columbus intensified his efforts to enslave Indigenous people in the Caribbean. Continue reading.

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"Time to Abolish Columbus Day" is the newest article in the

Zinn Education Project series, If We Knew Our History, posted on
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Related Resources
Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years Teaching Guide. Edited by Bill Bigelow and Bob Peterson. Readings and lessons for pre-K to 12 about the impact and legacy of the arrival of Columbus in the Americas. Read more.	The Columbus Controversy: Challenging How History Is Written Film. Written, directed, and produced by Nick Kaufman. Contrasting views and scenes from the classroom on teaching about Columbus. Watch online.

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	The goal of the Zinn Education Project is to introduce students to a more accurate, complex, and engaging understanding of United States history. www.zinnedproject.org