Please take a look at this writing assignment. All of the instructions are included in the assignment sheet, but if you have questions, please feel free to email me over the weekend. Ultimately, I wan

The most important lesson I have learned from this class is that history, at least the history taught in

classrooms, is not an accurate, unbiased account of the past. In reality, history presented by highly

regulated textbooks has been twisted in such a way that students are not given a clear picture of past

events, individuals, and conflicts. Various interest groups and demographics have essentially dictated

which information can rightfully be published, and which information is too threatening to rea ch the

pages. According to author Alexander Stille, “American history taught in schools has been rewritten and

transformed in recent decades by a handful of large publishers who are more concerned to meet the

demands of both the multicultural left and the conservative religious right” (The Betrayal of History). In

essence, textbooks have reworked history in such a way that it has become falsified and flavorless. Facts

are presented without controversy, and important historical figures are portrayed without blemish. As

historian James Loewen writes, “authors selectively omit blemishes to make certain historical figures

sympathetic to as many people as possible” (Loewen, 26). This quotation declares that authors withhold

relevant historical information from te xtbooks, which further supports the idea that history has been

continually distorted in today’s classrooms.

In regards to Christopher Columbus, I learned that he was not the “American hero” that textbooks

portray him as being. As we all know, he was credit ed for “discovering America,” yet he was not the first

non -Native to reach the Americas. 2“People from other continents had reached the Americas many

times before 1492. Europeans may already have been fishing off Newfoundland in the 1480s” (Loewen,

33). Al so, I was previously unaware that Columbus was involved in the murder and persecution of many

Native Americans. In fact, he initiated a punishing policy that “resulted in complete genocide” of the

Natives (Zinn, 7). Finally, I learned the shocking statisti c that there were as many as 120 million Native

Americans by 1492 (Discussion 2). Upon learning this number, I was completely stunned, as I had

severely underestimated the size of their population.

As little kids, we are all told the story of the pious, fr eedom -seeking Pilgrims who landed in Plymouth.

Additionally, we all learned about the “First Thanksgiving” where the Native Americans and Pilgrims

peacefully united for a wonderful, bountiful feast. This story, however, is historically inaccurate. In

reali ty, the Pilgrims were not seeking religious freedom at all, because they had already found that in

the Netherlands (Discussion 3). Furthermore, the Pilgrims were very economically driven. In fact, “profit

was the primary reason most Mayflower colonists mad e the trip” (Loewen, 87). Nevertheless, American

society perpetuates the story of the brave Pilgrims because it advances the “American psyche,” which

characterizes Americans as the immaculate, indelible race (Loewen, 70).

Before this course, I did not have an accurate picture of the realities of the American slave trade. In all

honesty, I had no idea that the slave trade was so large and widespread. Yet, as I soon learned, slavery

absolutely dominated the economy of the South. 3For instance, “in 1790, a tho usand tons of cotton

were being produced every year in the South. By 1860, it was a million tons. 4In the same period,

500,000 slaves grew to 4 million” (Zinn, 171). This excerpt from A People’s History of the United States demonstrates that slavery was a major force in American society. Fast -forwarding to the present, I was

completely oblivious to the fact that slavery still exists today, even here in the United States (Discussion

7). Also, I was upset to discover that “everything we touch today -from the b ricks that make up the

exterior of our homes, to the rug on the floors - has been touched by the hand of a slave” (Discussion 7).

As a testament to my ignorance, I was under the impression that slavery, for the most part, had become

nonexistent in today’s m odern world.

One week ago, I did not even know what the Gilded Age was. Now, I understand it as a time where a

handful of extremely wealthy individuals, such as Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller, owned most

of the country’s wealth (Discussion 9). 1La borers, however, received “wages that barely kept their

families alive” (Zinn, 257). Worker compensation, unfortunately, was only the tip of the iceberg.

Additionally, factory conditions during this time were extremely hazardous. “In the year 1904, 27,000

workers were killed on the job, in manufacturing, transport, and agriculture. 3In one year, 50,000

accidents took place in New York factories alone” (Zinn, 327). The conditions described above ultimately

sparked the emergence of the Progressive movement, w hich fought to ameliorate these circumstances.

1In general, the Progressives strove to “stabilize the capitalist system by repairing its worst defects. and

restore some measure of class peace in a time of increasingly bitter clashes between capital and lab or”

(Zinn 354).

I found imperialism to be one of the most fascinating topics this semester. In essence, imperialism was a

mechanism that allowed Americans “to find foreign purchasers for [their] goods. and provide the means

of making access to foreign mark ets easy, economical, and safe” (Zinn, 306). In my opinion, imperialism

is an example of American greed, which led to the abuse of its power.

Regarding World War II, I want to spend a little bit of time discussing the Holocaust. Previously, I

thought that the Jews were the only people targeted by the Nazis. However, I learned that Africans,

Asians, the physically and mentally disabled, homosexuals, and gypsies were all persecuted by the Third

Reich (Discussion 13). Also, I had never really seen what the con centration camps truly looked like.

Needless to say, I was absolutely shocked to see thousands of dead bodies just piled up, as if they were

not even there at all. Even more disgusting was the way the Nazis just threw the bodies into pits, with

absolutely no respect whatsoever (Memory of the Camps). After the Holocaust, the United States vowed

to never let anything of this nature happen again. However, recently hundreds of thousands have died

in Darfur (Discussion 13). It is upsetting to me that the United States has not done more to help stop this

genocide.

Throughout this class, I have learned that we, as U.S. citizens, are not completely aware of the actions of

our government. For instance, I discovered that the government has “orchestrated the oustings o f

political leaders,” and that “we had a hand in assassinating many foreign leaders” (Discussion 14). This

demonstrates that the United States believes that it should intervene in foreign affairs, as long as this

intervention promotes our own interests. As in the Vietnam War, the United States got unnecessarily

involved and ended up being embarrassed by a much less powerful army. While the anti -war sentiment

in America was high, possibly the highest of all time, the government still felt the need to deploy troops

to Vietnam. 5In my opinion, the U.S. government should make more of an effort to heed public opinion. To conclude, I want to discuss my general opinions of textbooks and publishing companies. The general

trend throughout history is that the most wea lthy, powerful, and privileged have had the greatest

influence on events and outcomes of the past. In textbook publishing, “members of the upper class have

had a hand in it” (Loewen, 306). This has to change, so that future students are given an unbiased,

impartial layout of past events. If textbooks continue to cater to the needs of particular groups, then

history will never be a worthwhile class to take. Considering the “day -to-day resistance” that students

display towards classes, teachers and textbooks should do a better job telling the exciting, historically

accurate story of the past in order to spark students’ interest (Loewen, 341). Overall, I am glad to have

taken a class that focuses on the real story, rather than the sugar -coated, bland version of history that

so many students must endure each year.