History Final paper
Tony Le-Huynh
Professor Amy Bell
1302 History
Final Essay
History is a very interesting course if you have a great professor like Amy Bell. I usually dislike history because there were so much memorizing that i did not really cared about the topic. We use to learn about a topic and take a quiz or test and move on. This class was different in many ways. There were no test or quizes so I enjoyed coming to class learning about our history and focus on the main points. Watching the videos and talking about the subject gave me a better understanding about our history. I hope many students can take this course in the future and learn about our history is a unique way that is not boring to them and carry that knowledge with them forever.
In elementary-highschool we have been learning about false facts about our history. There is a 75 percent that the things we learned in school is a lie. In the book it stated “...some teachers respond by abandoning the overstuffed textbooks and reinventing their American history courses. All too many teachers grow disheartened and settle for less. At least dimly aware that their students are not requiting their own love of history, these teachers withdraw some of their energy from their courses.” This also makes student not want to learn about our history. Teachers have to passionate about their job inorder for students to learn.
What i found that is really interesting in this course is Christopher Columbus. Growing up I always thought he was a good person but that is not true. I was told that Christopher was the first person to discover America. What we are told or what we read is not always accurate. We were told “Christopher Columbus sailed in from the blue. American history books present Columbus pretty much without precedent, and they portray him as America's first great hero. In so canonizing him, they reflect our national culture.”(Zin 29) That is not true at all. The Native Americans were the first to discover America and was all wiped out by Christopher Columbus crew. I was always taught the Native Americans were the bad people but the truth is Christopher is the evil one. I can not we believe we have a special day for Christopher Columbus. We were told the that “The First Thanksgiving, as our national origin myth, complete with Pilgrim hats made out of construction paper and Indian braves with feathers in their hair. Thanksgiving is the occasion on which we give thanks to God as a nation for the blessings that He [sic] hath bestowed upon us.”(Zin 70) There were about a total of 120 million Native Americans. That is a very large population but now they are gone. Learning about all the real facts I do not support Christopher Columbus at all.
In school I did not visualize what pain the slaves went through. It is a hard topic to talk about because so many people grandparents went through this time period.
“Its population in 1708 included 3,960 free whites, 4,100 African slaves, 1,400 Indian slaves, and 120 indentured servants, presumably white. These numbers do not reflect the magnitude of Native slavery, however, because they omit the export trade.”(Zin 33) Slaves were human being like us but treated like shit. The crazy part is that it is still going on in other countries.(Class Notes) Thousands of slaves were transported on a boat to other countries to be sold. On the boat, many of the slaves we sick and had no choice but to suffer. Many died on the boat and their body was just thrown off into the water so the boat can weigh less. Many companies that were involved in the slave trade were Tiffany and Co, Aetna, Chase, Wells Fargo, and U.S.A. today. There were many more but all these big companies were profiting of the slave trade. Believe it or not you can buy a slave in dallas for $100. The world we live in is scary.
In conclusion, this class taught me new things that I will carry on with my life and share this information with others. I will always remember that most of the facts about our history is a lie and we have to determine what is true. I would recommend others to take this class and it will help you look at history in a different perspective.
Citation
Class notes and discussion board
Loewen, James W. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. New York : New Press, 2008.
Zinn, Howard. A People's History of the United States: 1492-2001. , 2003.