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
Common Dreams and Huffington Post
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Related Resources
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.

Film. Written, directed, and produced by Nick Kaufman. Contrasting views and scenes from the classroom on teaching about Columbus. Watch online .

See You at NCSS in New Orleans
The Zinn Education Project will be attending the National Council for the Social Studies Conference , Nov. 13-14, 2015, in New Orleans. Our booth is always abuzz with inspiring conversations as educators meet to share teaching people's history success stories, challenges, and resource ideas. Learn more.
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©  2015 The Zinn Education Project, a collaboration of Rethinking Schools and Teaching for Change .  
Zinn Education Project
The goal of the Zinn Education Project is to introduce students to a more accurate, complex, and engaging understanding of United States history.
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