Voices of a people's history of the united states pdf

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Voices of a People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove

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 

Voices of a People’s History of the United States

by Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove  

Gayle Olson-Raymer Humboldt State University

With selected chapters written by Humboldt County AP teachers:

Jack Bareilles (McKinleyville High School), Natalia Boettcher (South Fork High School), Mike Benbow (Fortuna High School), Ron Perry (Eureka High School), Robin Pickering, Jennifer Rosebrook (Arcata High School), Colby Smart (Ferndale High School), Robert Standish (South Fork High School), and Chapter 25 written by Humboldt State University history majors: Jeff Coomber, Adam Crug, Nicole Sinclair, Megan Watson

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CIP data on file.

ISBN: ----

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Printed in the U.S.A.

        

To Delores McBroome, Rodney Sievers, and Jack Bareilles—my fellow travelers on the K– journey

and

to the teachers in the Teaching American History programs in Humboldt County—my colleagues who made the journey

worth the effort.

~  ~

Contents

Preface to the Second Edition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Chapter : Columbus and Las Casas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Chapter : The First Slaves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Chapter : Servitude and Rebellion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Chapter : Preparing the Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Chapter : Half a Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Chapter : The Early Women’s Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Chapter : Indian Removal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Chapter : The War on Mexico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Chapter : Slavery and Defiance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Chapter : Civil War and Class Conflict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Chapter : Strikers and Populists in the Gilded Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Chapter : The Expansion of the Empire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Chapter : Socialists and Wobblies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Chapter : Protesting the First World War by Colby Smart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Chapter : From the Jazz Age to the Uprisings of the s . . . . . . . . .

Chapter : World War II and McCarthyism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Chapter : The Black Upsurge Against Racial Segregation by Natalia Boettcher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Chapter : Vietnam and Beyond: The Historic Resistance by Mike Benbow and Robin Pickering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

 ~ 

Chapter : Women, Gays, and Other Voices of Resistance by Jack Bareilles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Chapter : Losing Control in the s by Jennifer Rosebrook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Chapter : The Carter–Reagan–Bush Consensus by Ron Perry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Chapter : Panama, the  Gulf War, and the War at Home by Robert Standish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Chapter : Challenging Bill Clinton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Chapter : Bush II and the “War on Terror” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Chapter : War and Injustice: People Speak Out by Jeff Coomber, Adam Crug, Nicole Sinclair, and Megan Watson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Preface to the Second Edition

Just over a year before the publication of the second edition of Teaching withVoices of a People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove, the world lost one of its most vigorous voices for social justice. For decades, Howard Zinn’s voice loomed large in classrooms across the United States where dedicated teachers committed to teaching for social justice used one or more of his many books and articles to inspire their students.

While Howard’s voice will be sorely missed by teachers and students across the nation, he left a powerful legacy. Howard did not ask that we merely listen to and accept his voice and the voices of forgotten Americans woven throughout his writ- ings. Rather, Howard wanted us to find our own voices; he wanted teachers and stu- dents to empower themselves by learning from the courageous examples of oth- ers. He believed youth yearned for stories of ordinary people like themselves who dared to demand and fight for change. As such, Howard was not a voice of pes- simism, but rather of optimism—of an ordinary man and extraordinary scholar who believed in the goodness of the people, in hope for the future, and in the courage of convictions. As he wrote:

It’s clear that the struggle for justice should never be abandoned because of the apparent overwhelming power of those who have the guns and the money and who seem invincible in their determination to hold on to it. That apparent power has, again and again, proved vulnerable to human qualities less measurable than bombs and dollars: moral fervor, determi- nation, unity, organization, sacrifice, wit, ingenuity, courage, patience . . .

I have tried hard to match my friends in their pessimism about the world, but I keep encountering people who, in spite of all the evidence of terrible things happening everywhere, give me hope. Especially young people in whom the future rests . . . I try to tell each group that it is not

 ~     

alone, and that the very people who are disheartened by the absence of a national movement are themselves proof of the potential for such a move- ment . . . We don’t have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of peo- ple, can transform the world . . .

An optimist isn’t necessarily a blithe, slightly sappy whistler in the dark of our time. To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness . . . If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnif- icently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of send- ing this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future . . . And to live now as we think human beings should live, in defi- ance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.*

Howard Zinn believed in the power and courage of young people. The newest edition of this teaching guide is built upon this very foundation.

* Howard Zinn, “The Optimism of Uncertainty,” .

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Acknowledgments

This guide materialized under the intellectual guidance and exceptional editorial suggestions of Ray Raphael, my friend and fellow historian. Chapters – were greatly improved by the creative touches of Bill Bigelow, my much-respected col- league in the K– world. The spirit of resistance was nurtured by the tutorial assistance of Anthony Arnove, the co-author of Voices.

Without the assistance of my colleagues—the eight Humboldt County high school educators who contributed seven chapters—the guide would lack the wis- dom that can only come from a secondary and post-secondary collaboration. Many thanks to Jack Bareilles, Natalia Boettcher, Mike Benbow, Ron Perry, Robin Pickering, Jennifer Rosebrook, Colby Smart, and Robert Standish.

Four of the outstanding undergraduate history majors at Humboldt State University wrote Chapter : Jeff Coomber, Adam Crug, Nicole Sinclair, and Megan Watson. The contribution of these aspiring young teachers to the second edition was invaluable.

Introduction

If history is to be creative, to anticipate a possible future without denying the past, it should, I believe, emphasize new possibilities by disclosing those hidden episodes of the past, when, even if in brief flashes, people showed their ability to resist, to join together, occasionally to win.

— 

In , when A People’s History of the United States sold its millionth copy, it was clear that Howard Zinn had pioneered a new way of thinking about American History. Americans everywhere gravitated to its message—that history is more bal- anced, relevant, and even empowering when examined from “the bottom up,” rather than from “the top down.” Educators throughout the nation who were dis- illusioned with traditional textbooks that told history solely from the voices of the “important,” “extraordinary” people embraced A People’s History as a long-awaited teaching tool that gave voice to the “unimportant,” “ordinary” people whose coura- geous resistance helped shape modern America.

I was one of those educators. In the years before I adopted the “bottom up” approach, it was painful to watch my students struggling with one-sided textbooks about the great white men of America whose actions and voices did not speak to them. I began asking the questions that form the foundation of Ronald Takaki’s study, A Different Mirror. “What happens when historians leave out many of America’s peoples? What happens, to borrow the words of Adrienne Rich, ‘when someone with the authority of a teacher’ describes our society, and ‘you are not in it’”? These questions led me to A People’s History—the required text that has pro- vided the intellectual forum for analysis, conceptualization, and debate in my American History classes at Humboldt State University for the past ten years.

So, what are the benefits of using A People’s History?What makes it different from other history texts? It forces my students to actually THINK! It evokes visceral

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responses. It forever changes the way they examine the voices of the past. And it forces my students to ask the all-important analytical questions:What perspective is clearly apparent in—or absent from—these pages?Why haven’t we learned about this before now? What speaks to us and why? How much of this information is REAL and actually based upon primary documentation?

This last question is the one so many history teachers are eager to hear. For years, many of us have encouraged our students to read the words and examine the actions of the “ordinary” people who have shaped American history—de Las Casas, Nathaniel Bacon, Sojourner Truth, Black Hawk, Ida B. Wells, Emma Goldman. We have been thrilled when our students compared and contrasted these voices with the secondary analysis of historians who wrote about them. We have learned that when our students observe history through many personal lenses, they make intel- ligent observations about what Americans have done right, about what we have done wrong, and about what we still need to do; they critically examine the progress we have made, the consequences of such progress, and the prospects for even greater andmore egalitarian progress in the future; and they walk away from our classrooms with a sense of optimism that we have indeed “come a long way” and that they can be involved in the next progressive steps forward. In short, the voices of the ordi- nary men and women of America encourage our students to find their own voices.

Today, all educators agree on the importance of using these historical voices— primary sources—in our classrooms. But we also face a daunting problem: it takes precious time and expense to locate and gather primary documents—especially those that deal primarily with resistance and the power of ordinary people to make pos- itive change in society—and to find a way to make them readily available to our students. Voices of a People’s History of the United States has solved this problem. Howard Zinn uses his encyclopedic knowledge of and first-hand involvement in people’s history to bring these much-needed voices together into one easily acces- sible volume. Used in any social science course as a stand-alone textbook, in con- junction with another textbook, or in tandem with A People’s History, Voices is designed to add rich primary source detail to our classes as well as to provide an incentive for students to recognize and utilize their own voices.

There is another critical reason for using Voices in classrooms across the nation—an enormous need that teachers are often afraid to address. As we enter the twenty-first century, it seems that dissent, resistance, and protest have become dirty words. Those who question government policies and actions increasingly are called “unpatriotic.” Yet, as Howard Zinn reminds us, “One of the great mistakes made in discussing patriotism—a very common mistake—is to think that patri-

 ~ 

otismmeans support for your government. And that view of patriotism ignores the founding principles of the country expressed in the Declaration of Independence.”

Indeed, some of the greatest American patriots have been the brave men and women who questioned government by resisting slavery, fighting for equal rights for all, and defying government policies when they violate civil rights. These are the ordinary people whose stories form the basis for Voices of a People’s History. And their voices must be heard in today’s classrooms.

How, then, can we best integrate Voices into our classrooms?Teaching withVoices of a People’s History of the United States suggests varied and exciting ways to com- bine the use of secondary and primary historical materials in high school, college, and university classrooms. As such, it demonstrates how Voices may be used as a stand-alone text as well as in conjunction with A People’s History. By using Voices or both books, our students will learn a more balanced story—a story that will challenge them to think about other viewpoints than those traditionally presented and to weigh such views against their own. Perhaps even more importantly, this story can empower our students as they listen to the words of ordinary people like themselves who used their voices throughout history to challenge the status quo, to ask the hard questions, and to demand and shape change.

Empowerment, then, is one of the primary philosophical forces behind this guide—a force that has not been of my ownmaking, but rather is the result of input from thousands of students at Humboldt State University when leaving their semester-long experience with A People’s History and the primary documents used to supplement its story. But this guide is not just an endorsement of what works in one university professor’s history classroom. It is also a product of the hard work of several secondary educators in Humboldt County who have used all or parts of A People’s History in their classrooms and who intend to begin using Voices of A People’s History upon its publication. The contributions of my colleagues lend great credence to the belief that secondary and post-secondary educators can collaborate by using the same teaching sources and by agreeing that being good history teach- ers requires us to raise the intellectual bar in our classrooms—to ask our students to conceptualize, analyze, discuss, debate, and relate to what they read in either or both books. This guide would not be as useful without the input of these educa- tors, eight of whom contributed chapters: Jack Bareilles, Natalia Boettcher, Mike Benbow, Ron Perry, Robin Pickering, Jennifer Rosebrook, Colby Smart, and Robert Standish.

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How to Use Voices of a People’s History of the United States

The decision to use Voices as a textbook in the classroom requires us to address at least two questions:

• How will I use Voices—as a stand-alone text, in tandem with A People’s History, or together with another secondary source textbook?

• How will Voices supplement and strengthen my U.S. History curriculum?

USING VOICES AS A TEXTBOOK

The need for Voices is so great that there are almost unlimited ways that it can be used as a stand-alone textbook or with textbooks already used in secondary and post- secondary social science courses. As each of the twenty-five chapters in Voices will illustrate, each era of American history is represented through the voices of resist- ance. And because Voices is chronologically organized, it is easy to tailor reading, discussion, and research related to resistance to every important era in U.S. History. Thus, when you are teaching World War I, students can use Chapter , “Protesting the First World War” by:

• Reading the words of those who were opposed to “the war to make the world safe for democracy.”

• Discussing how and why these voices influenced the antiwar movement as well as what their individual and collective messages contributed to the direction of American foreign and domestic policy.

• Researching the various U.S. Supreme Court decisions and Congressional laws that attempted to curb the antiwar movement during the time by drawing on the words from Chapter , as well as other primary and sec- ondary resource documents that further explain governmental goals and accomplishments.

If you use Voices as your single textbook, it will reinforce classroom lectures and individual and group research projects that already form the core of your classes. If you use Voices to supplement an existing textbook, it will provide new perspec- tives about how ordinary people have shaped American history.

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Using Voices together with this teaching guide provides examples of how the pri- mary documentation in each chapter of Voices can be used to reinforce the impor- tant messages in A People’s History. This marriage of primary and secondary resources, as each of the guide chapters illustrates, encourages students to criti- cally compare and contrast what Howard Zinn has written about each era with what people who lived during the eras actually witnessed.

USING VOICES TO SUPPLEMENT AND STRENGTHEN THE U.S. HISTORY CURRICULUM

Voices does something that is different from other primary source compilations— it uses the voices of ordinary Americans to demonstrate how a more democratic understanding of American history can promote a more democratic society. This is the real beauty of Voices—we not only learn to think about the forgotten folks like ourselves who don’t show up in traditional history books—we also enter into a relationship with them. By seeing history through the eyes of common people, by learning about their struggles for a more democratic nation, we refuse to mar- ginalize them. And if students take ordinary people from the past seriously, they can learn to take ordinary people in their own lives just as seriously. This message is one that can easily be infused into any American history curriculum, especially through the use of overall themes.

Teaching thematically has changed the way many educators across the nation introduce history to their students. By identifying five to ten overall themes for each course, educators emphasize the really important, bottom-linemessages that they want their students to remember after they leave their classrooms. Voices is a perfect vehi- cle for thematic teaching.While there are dozens of themes and sub-themes carefully interwoven throughout Voices, five are readily apparent and could easily be adopted as overall themes for an entire semester- or year-long American History class:

. History matters. By studying the historic voices of all the people—the “important” and “unimportant” alike—Americans have a stronger founda- tion for understanding how and why the past tells us a great deal about the present and the future.

. No telling of history is neutral or objective. By recognizing that all history, including that found in Voices, is selective and emphasizes some stories and some events more than others, we learn that history is really about making people think, ask questions, and demand answers.

 ~ 

. History is usually told from the standpoint of the “victors.” By focusing on history only as it is perceived by the “important” people—presidents, gen- eral, and other leaders—we do not learn the stories of the ordinary people— folks like you and I.

. Ordinary people make history. By hearing the voices of “unimportant” peo- ple—workers, women, slaves, American Indians, migrant farm workers— we get a more complete understanding of how history unfolded and the role ordinary people played in its making.

5. Injustices are remedied when ordinary people speak up, organize, and protest. By learning about the actions of those who acted outside the bounds of, or in opposition to, “legitimate” political institutions, we get a better understanding of how they made democracy come alive.

Teachers should feel free to tweak these themes as they wish, but variations of these five messages should be well integrated into the course content. If Voices and A People’s History are being used, the five themes are common to both books. Before students begin reading Voices, teachers should initiate a discussion about the themes. (See suggestions below.) As the course progresses and as the students become immersed in Voices, the themes should continue to provide a skeletal out- line for most classroom discussions.

HOW TO INTRODUCE VOICES INTO THE CLASSROOM

An excellent introductory strategy to introduce students to Voices—whether it is used as the primary text or in conjunction with A People’s History or another text- book—is the following two-pronged approach:

• Introduce the five overall themes from Voices (see above). Read and discuss each. Post them in a prominent place in the room—or put them online on your web site—and tell your students that they will be asked to refer back to themes as they progress through the course. Challenge them to find new themes or to revise these as the year continues.

• Assign the chapter “The Coming Revolt of the Guards” from A People’s History as the first required reading for the class.

I have found that by requiring the last chapter to be read as an introduction to the class, students come to class ready and eager to learn because the story is evoca-

 ~ 

tive; some will love Howard Zinn’s approach and his refreshing perspectives, while others will be skeptical. Regardless of the response, almost every student will be engaged and ready for a passionate discussion. Thus, this introduction through Howard Zinn’s analysis and the voices of those in Chapter  allows the teacher to pose some important questions during the very first days of class:

• Given what you read in A People’s History, what perspectives do you think will be reflected in Voices?

• What is different about reading a book that loudly proclaims its viewpoint, versus a more traditional book that presents the dominant narrative yet claims to be objective?

• When looking at the five themes we have identified for this course, which do you see reflected in “The Coming Revolt of the Guards”?

• In explaining his perspective and presenting voices to reinforce such per- spectives, do you think you will examine Howard Zinn more critically as you begin to read Voices? Why or why not?

This discussion can be followed with a challenge—Tell students that they will be required at the end of the course to provide concrete evidence fromVoices of how and where Howard Zinn supports his perspectives and when and where he might need greater support to convince them. Ask them to begin a journal in which they must explain at least one point that provokes their interest from each chapter, describe the way that point reinforces one or more of the overall themes expressed in the book, and discuss what other voices might be included to provide a greater understanding of the chapter’s objectives. Journals will be reviewed periodically and turned in at the end of the course as part of their final exit requirements.

For several years, I have ended my introductory discussion with a quote from Howard Zinn’s book, You Can’t Be Neutral on a MovingTrain. To be hopeful in bad time is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, and kind- ness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The

 ~ 

future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.

We spend a few minutes discussing this quote, our own feelings about “this complex history,” and our own perceptions of what “a marvelous victory” might entail. It’s a perfect introduction to a year of provocative reading, respectful debate, and ultimately, empowerment and optimism.

How to Use Teaching with Voices of a People’s History of the United States

Each chapter in the teacher’s guide utilizes a format that focuses discussion ques- tions, assignments, and evaluations around the major themes in Voices of a People’s History—themes that are also reinforced in A People’s History. Chapters are designed to provide an even flow for classroom use by following a standard organizational style:

. Document-based-questions (DBQs). Document-based questions are included for each of the documents presented in Voices. Questions are ana- lytical in nature, designed to get students to really think about what the author said, why they said it, the implications of the document on society as a whole, and how its contents relate to the major themes found through- out the book.

. Chapter main points. While students are encouraged to find the main points within each chapter of Voices, we have included two lists of main points.

• The first list is for teachers who use Voices as their primary text. Each chapter list illustrates the threads that run through all the voices in the chapter.

• The second list is for teachers using the chapter in both Voices and A People’s History and illustrates the issues common to both chapters.

. Discussion questions for classroom conversations. Two sets of questions are included to help generate class discussions on each chapter:

• The first set of questions focus solely on issues that can be raised after

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reading each chapter in Voices.

• The second set of questions combine issues relevant to each chap- ter for students who are reading both Voices and A People’s History.

. Three types of evaluation tools. In order to address a variety of evaluation methods, three types of evaluation tools have been included: suggested assignments, suggested essay questions, and simulations and other creative approaches.

• Suggested assignments. These assignments can be adapted to meet any classroom need—homework, short- or long-term research proj- ects, and individual or group work.The end product in these assign- ments are designed to be flexible and should depend on teacher and student interest—papers, journals, oral reports, visual aides, etc.

• Suggested essay questions. These can be asked during in-class or take home examinations.

• Simulations and other creative approaches. These creative assign- ments can be used in various classroom settings.

NOTES

 Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States: 1492–Present, updated ed. (New York: HarperCollins/Perennial Classics, ).

 Ronald Takaki, A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America. (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, :).

 Interview with Howard Zinn on July , , “Dissent In Pursuit Of Equality, Life, Liberty And Happiness” at http://www.theexperiment.org/ articles.php?news_id=.

~  ~

CHAPTER ONE

Columbus and Las Casas

The first chapter in Voices provides students with a perspective that many have never encountered. By reading the words of Columbus, de Las Casas, and Galeano, students experience a wide array of emotions. The ensuing discussions may be painful, yet they are also enlightening. These previously unheard perspectives tell them more about the Arawak people and in so doing, encourage students to use their own voices by asking, “Why haven’t I heard these voices before? Why have I only learned half of the story of Columbus and European contact? How could the Spanish have committed such atrocities?”

Some students insist that their previous teachers have “lied” to them. Others believe that their teachers may not have had a complete understanding of the story of Columbus or that they simply never learned the history. In the end, most stu- dents agree that an honest, balanced presentation of a diversity of voices is absolutely essential in classroom discussions at all levels of education—elemen- tary, secondary, and postsecondary.

Document-Based Questions

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS

. What new information did you learn about Columbus from these four diary entries? How does it differ from earlier opinions and images that you had of Columbus?

. What does Columbus think of the native population in terms of its phys- ical and mental conditions, its worth to the king and queen of Spain, and its relationship with the European explorers?

. What is Columbus’s plan for the island of Hispaniola? How does he explain how his plan will affect the native population?What do you think is miss- ing from his plan?

    ~ 

BARTOLOMÉ DE LAS CASAS

. Why do you think Bartolomé de Las Casas wrote these two accounts? To whom do you think he wrote them?

. De Las Casas wrote these accounts fifty and sixty years respectively after Columbus initially arrived in Hispanola. Do you think the intervening years may have influenced his perceptions? How and why? What happens when someone writes down an account after most of the consequences of an event are known?

. How do these two readings change your understanding of the consequences of European contact on the native people of the Western Hemisphere? Does this view make the Spanish explorers any less heroic? How and why?

. Whose opinions do you think were most prominent during the late fif- teenth century—those of Columbus or those of Las Casas? How and why?

. Do you think that Las Casas’s voice was heard at the Royal Council of Spain in ? Who do you think would have opposed him or supported him?

EDUARDO GALEANO

. How did Eduardo Galeano use historical sources to support his re-imag- ining of the native experience after Columbus’s “discovery”?

. How does Galeano’s description of the landing of Columbus compare and contrast with the descriptions given by Columbus and de Las Casas?

. What does Galeano’s account tell you about the fate of the enslaved Arawak/Tainos whom Columbus took to Spain?

. How does Galeano describe the Pope? What, in his eyes, is the Pope’s inter- est and complicity in both the goals and consequences of Columbus’s voy- ages?

. What does Galeano mean when he writes in his entry of  on Santa Cruz Island that Columbus “has again planted the cross and gallows”? Do you agree or disagree? How and why?

 ~  

Main Points in Voices, Chapter 1, “Columbus and Las Casas”

After reading Chapter  in Voices, students should be encouraged to identify what they believe to be the main points therein. Following are six possible main points.

. Columbus’s arrival in the Caribbean was an invasion of a very old world, not the discovery of a “NewWorld.”

. Despite Euro-American claims to the contrary, Indian peoples were highly civilized before, during, and after contact.

. Although the colonists believed they were helping native peoples progress from savagery to civilization, the end result was genocide.

. The Americas were first explored and then colonized by the Europeans for economic gain and political conquest.

. While the vast majority of Europeans supported the exploration, invasion, and colonization of the Americas, voices of dissent did exist.

. The quest toward progress must be examined from different perspectives. Actions noted as “progress” by the conquering Europeans were believed to be destructive by the native populations.

Main Points in Voices, Chapter 1, “Columbus and Las Casas,” and in A People’s History,

Chapter 1, “Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress”

If your students are also reading A People’s History, they should be encouraged to identify what they believe to be the main points in Chapter  in both books. Following are four additional points to be stressed when Voices and A People’s History are used together.

. To portray Columbus as a hero and his successors as discoverers and the rightful leaders of “civilized” peoples not only de-emphasizes their role in genocide but also justifies their actions and motives.

    ~ 

. From the early days of colonization, Europeans used divide-and-conquer techniques to turn the Indians against one another.

. Columbus planted the ideological seeds that came to characterize the European colonization of North America: the quest for wealth and power was noble and courageous; white domination of the nonwhite races was nat- ural and inevitable; and Christians were superior to non-Christians.

. Columbus introduced two tactics that influenced race relations in the Americas: taking land, wealth, and labor from indigenous peoples by force, and advancing the transatlantic slave trade.

General-Discussion Questions for Voices

While the following questions are designed for classroom discussion about all the voices read in Chapter , they can also be rewritten to be included as evaluation tools.

. How would you contrast the viewpoints of Columbus and de Las Casas in regard to the “native people called Indians”? Do you think Columbus and de Las Casas agree or disagree about the goals of the Spanish explorers? How and why?

. What does the fictional account of Galeano add to or subtract from your understanding of the Arawak/Taino people? How useful is historical fiction to your understanding of history in general?

. Some historians have referred to the actions of Columbus and those who followed him as “genocidal.” What is genocide? Using specific citations from at least two voices in this chapter, support or refute this accusation of genocide.

. What do you think are the qualifications that are required before a nation can be considered “civilized”? Do you think the definition of “civilized” has changed in the last  years? If so, how? In reading the description of the Arawak/Taino in de Las Casas and Galeano, do you find any indication that these people were uncivilized? How and why do you think that Euro- American colonists thought that they were uncivilized?

 ~  

. Given the voices you have read in this chapter, how do you think we should commemorate Columbus Day?

. What European cultural, political, economic, and spiritual values are exposed in these voices? How do you think they compared and contrasted with the values of the Arawak/Taino people?

. How did the voices in this chapter reinforce any of the six themes listed in “Main Points in Voices”?

. Which of the voices in this chapter did you find most powerful? Least pow- erful? How and why?

General-Discussion Questions for Voices and A People’s History

These general-discussion questions are additional questions for students who have read the first chapter in both books. For all questions, discussionmust focus on how thematerials in both chapters help students to formulate and articulate their answers.

. Of the voices in Chapter  in both books, who represents the one percent of the elite discussed in “The Coming Revolt of the Guards” in Chapter  of A People’s History? Whose are the “unimportant” voices? Can you find quotes to support your positions?

. In many traditional history books, the years between  andWorldWar I are known as “The Age of Imperialism.” How would you define imperi- alism? Given what you have read in both first chapters in A People’s History and in Voices, do you think imperialism first arrived in the Americas in the late nineteenth century? Why do you think textbooks refer to late nine- teenth-century imperialism as a new type of foreign policy?

. How do the voices in Chapter  of Voices reinforce the major points made in Chapter  of A People’s History?

. Given what you have learned about the cultural and economic values of the Arawak/Taino and the Spanish explorers, do you think there could have been a relationship different from that of victims and conquerors? Or do you think that such interaction was inevitable? How and why?

    ~ 

. There is relatively little disagreement among historians about what hap- pened to theTainos.Why do you think this story is not more widely taught in school?

. Given what you have learned in these chapters, why do you think Columbus Day is an official holiday for federal employees in the United States?

. How did the colonists justify taking Indian land? How are their justifica- tions similar and dissimilar to the justifications Columbus makes for his actions in Hispaniola?

. What is “that special powerful drive born in civilizations based on private property” (p. ) that Howard Zinn describes in “Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress”? How will the issue of private property shape the ongoing battle between the Euro-Americans and the indigeneous peoples of North America?

. Do you think it is “inevitable” that the writing of history take sides? Explain.

Evaluation Tools

SUGGESTED ASSIGNMENTS

These assignments can be adapted to meet any classroom need—homework, short- or long-term research projects, individual or group work. The end product should be flexible, depending on teacher interest and student abilities—papers, journals, oral reports, visual aides, and the like.

. Using a search engine of choice, find a website that includes primary doc- uments about early Spanish exploration in the Americas. Find at least one other primary document that provides more information about Spanish contact with American Indians. What new information did you acquire about early relationships between the Spanish and American Indians?

. Using a search engine of choice, discover what you can about the descen- dants of the Arawak/Taino people.What new historical and contemporary information did you acquire about the people and their nation?

 ~  

. Justify the role of “progress” from the Spanish perspective, using specific phrases and explanations from any of the primary documents in Chapter . Then reverse your position and refute your justifications by using the phrases and words of those who suffered at the hands of such “progress.”

. Watch any feature-length movie that deals with the topics discussed in Chapter  in both Voices and A People’s History. How did the movie(s) rein- force or refute the voices that you learned about in these chapters? What parts of the movie do you feel were historically accurate? Inaccurate? Why do you think the movie was made? Who do you think was its intended audience?

. Recent scholarship has emphasized the role of the European explorers and settlers in the environmental degradation and destruction of the Caribbean and North America. In The Conquest of Paradise: Christopher Columbus and the Columbian Legacy by Kirkpatrick Sale (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, ), the author describes a “Columbian legacy” of environmental destructiveness. The Arawak/Taino people are characterized as living in perfect harmony with the environment, while Europeans are depicted as a people who are at war with nature. Find out more about this discussion of environmental degradation, especially in terms of its historical accuracy.

. Much speculation exists about Columbus the man—his origins, religious beliefs, and goals—and what Columbus really hoped for from his voyages. Using this extensive website devoted to Columbus—www.win.tue.nl/ cs/fm/engels/discovery/columbus.html—pick a few key sites to learn more about what Columbus hoped to gain from his voyages. Compare this infor- mation with what you have read in Chapters  in both Voices and A People’s History.

. Using excerpts from Columbus’s journal and from José Barreiro’s, “A Note on Tainos: Whither Progress?” (http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/ /.html), write a diary entry from the point of view of a Taino during the first few days or weeks of their encounter with the Spaniards.

. Read and critique together Jane Yolen’s children’s book Encounter. Discussion questions to ponder include: How does this story more or less accurately explain the first European/Taino encounter as told from aTaino boy’s perspective? How does this story differ from traditional stories of con- tact? Is it important for young children to gain a more balanced perspec-

    ~ 

tive of the Columbus story that includes mention of genocide and vio- lence, or is this story better left to the secondary schools to tell?

. The Pledge of Allegiance was written in  by Francis Bellamy to com- memorate the th anniversary of Columbus’s first voyage to the Americas. PresidentWilliamHenry Harrison proclaimedOctober , , as the original Columbus Day—a national holiday—and designated schools to be the main sites of celebration. Research the original motiva- tions behind creating the Pledge, as well as its original wording. Why was its creation tied directly to Columbus? What subsequent role did the Knights of Columbus have in making further changes to the Pledge?Who are the Knights of Columbus and what role do they play in keeping the legacy of Columbus alive in the United States today?

. Read Howard Zinn’s article, “Unsung Heroes” (www.theexperiment.org/ articles.php?news_id=). Who are some of his “unsung heroes”? Why does he feel that we should not be teaching about Columbus as a hero? Do you agree or disagree? Explain. Why does Zinn feel that it is important for students to learn about the unsung heroes in their classrooms? Do you think his advice is sound? How and why?

SUGGESTED ESSAY QUESTIONS

. On page  in Voices, Howard Zinn writes, “Profit was the driving force behind Columbus’s expedition and behind his actions after he landed.” In the voices you read about in Chapter , what evidence can you find to sup- port this statement? Do you agree or disagree? Why?

. Do you think the actions of Columbus and other Spanish explorers referred to in these primary documents can be defined as acts of genocide? How and why?

. Who do you think are the heroes in the primary documents you have read? If you were alive in the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries, do you think your answers would be any different? How and why?

. Explain the ways in which Chapter  in Voices reinforces any of the overall themes we discussed in “Main Points in Voices.”

. How would you define progress? Do you believe that it was inevitable that

 ~  

Euro-American progress be achieved at the expense of the Indian people of North America? How and why? In the twenty-first century, can you iden- tify any group of people who may be achieving, or trying to achieve, progress at the expense of another group of people?

. How has reading the voices in Chapter  broadened your understanding about early relationships between the Spanish explorers and the American Indians?

. What voices in the first chapter in both Voices and A People’s History were of most interest to you? How and why? Which did you find most com- pelling and why? Least compelling?

SIMULATIONS AND OTHER CREATIVE APPROACHES

. Write a letter to one of the people you met in Chapter —Columbus, de Las Casas, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, Pope Alexander VI, and so forth. Tell your correspondent how you responded to his or her role in the “discovery” of the Americas by Columbus. Explain how you think he or she might have altered that role.

. Imagine that de Las Casas has sent his observations about the effect of Columbus’s expedition on the Arawak/Taino people to the Pope. Write a letter from the Pope to de Las Casas that represents not only the Pope’s reaction to this information but also the Catholic Church’s position on exploration and discovery in a “NewWorld” populated by non-Christians.

. Rewrite the portion of a traditional children’s book to more accurately tell the story of the encounter between Columbus and the Arawak/Taino people.

. Stage a trial of Christopher Columbus. Create a defense that bases its case on the traditional interpretations of Columbus and his goals for explo- ration and a prosecution that bases its case on the violation of human rights.

NOTE

 Some debate continues about the use of the appellation Arawak or Taino for the people with whom Columbus initially came into contact. The dis-

    ~ 

tinction between the two is that Arawak refers to a linguistic group that spreads into South America, while the Taino are a cultural subset of the Arawak that include people living in what is now Puerto Rico, Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. In A People’s History of the United States, Howard Zinn uses Arawak—the term that was widely used in the s and early s. Today, Taino is the preferred usage for the people whom Columbus encountered.

~  ~

CHAPTER TWO

The First Slaves

One of the problems with telling the history of slavery from the standpoint of the victors is that the stories often paint a benign picture of the “peculiar institution” of slavery. While most of our students are quick to condemn such an interpreta- tion, very few know much about the way enslaved African Americans felt about bondage. Likewise, while most of our students know something about resistance to enslavement, they know little about the full extent of such resistance or the actual involvement in and commitment to resistance by the enslaved. They often know about the voices and actions of famous white abolitionists—John Brown, William Lloyd Garrison, Harriet Beecher Stowe—and a few important black abo- litionists—Frederick Douglass andHarrietTubman—but they are largely unfamil- iar with the voices of ordinary African Americans—enslaved or free.

The documents in this chapter provide ample evidence that many of the ordi- nary men, women, and children who were enslaved drew upon vast resources of conviction, courage, and cunning to plan their escape, stage revolts, file petitions with colonial governors, and plead with the men in power to grant them their freedom.Most of the enslaved were neither passive nor pleased with their enslave- ment, neither cheerful about nor complacent with their living and working con- ditions. And when they did love their masters and the families they served, their affection was tinged with mistrust, uncertainty, and fear.

Document-Based Questions

THREE DOCUMENTS ON SLAVE REVOLTS

. White men who discovered plans for rebellion wrote two of these documents, and an enslaved African American wrote the third document. Although they are written from different perspectives, enough similarities exist to provide information about the goals and grievances that motivated such

plans.What are they? Do the white authors appear to have any understand- ing of these grievances? How? Why, or why not?

. What role does religion play in these documents? What does this tell you about the roles of religion in Euro-American colonial societies? In slave societies? How do you think the roles of religion in both societies were sim- ilar and dissimilar?

. How do the authors of the first two documents describe the enslaved African Americans involved in the planned revolts? Do the contents of the third documents support these descriptions? How and why?

FOUR PETITIONS AGAINST SLAVERY

. What similarities do these four petitions share in terms of their grievances, goals, and actual requests? How are they dissimilar?

. Which of these petitions do you find most persuasive? How and why? Least persuasive? How and why?

. What do these petitions tell you about their enslaved authors? About their conditions of servitude? About their family relationships?

. How is the fourth petition, which was written after the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the beginning of the RevolutionaryWar, different from the other three in terms of its tone, goals, and grievances?

BENJAMIN BANNEKER’S LETTER

. What are Benjamin Banneker’s goals for writing this letter? What are the particular strengths of Banneker’s letter to Jefferson? What are its weak- nesses?

. How do you think Jefferson responded to this letter? Why?

. To what was Banneker referring when he wrote that at one time, Jefferson “publicly held forth” the “injustice of a State of Slavery”? (p. ) Do you think Jefferson truly believed that “all men are created equal”?Why, or why not?

   ~ 

Main Points in Voices, Chapter 2, “The First Slaves”

After reading Chapter  in Voices, students should be encouraged to identify what they believe to be the main points therein. Following are four possible main points.

. Enslaved African Americans persistently and courageously resisted slavery from the time it was institutionalized into colonial laws until it was abol- ished.

. Enslaved African Americans clearly articulated their grievances; they were particularly eloquent in their arguments that slavery was antithetical to the goals of a “free and Christian people.”

. The fear of rebellion by the enslaved shaped the lives of white Americans in all the colonies.

. In their petitions for freedom, ordinary enslaved African Americans were respectful and deferential to the “men of great Note and Influence” who con- trolled the political, economic, and social system of colonial America.

Main Points in Voices, Chapter 2, “The First Slaves,” and in A People’s History, Chapter 2, “Drawing the Color Line”

If your students are also reading A People’s History, they should be encouraged to identify what they believe to be the main points in Chapter , “Drawing the Color Line.” Following are five additional points to be stressed when Voices and A People’s History are used together.

. Within forty years after Africans arrived in British North America, slavery had become a legal, socially accepted institution.

. Slavery was not simply a regional problem confined to the southern colonies; rather, it was a national problem that shaped the lives of all who lived in North America.

. Most whites and black who shared common problems, common work, and common enemies treated each other as equals.

. Despite the efforts of the slave system to destroy families, family ties and

 ~  

hopes for reunification remained strong within the communities of enslaved African Americans.

. The two greatest fears the colonial white establishment faced were the fear of black rebellion and the fear that discontented blacks and whites might unite to destroy the existing political, economic, and social order.

General-Discussion Questions for Voices

While the following questions are designed for classroom discussion about all the voices read in Chapter , they can also be rewritten and included as evaluation tools.

. As slavery became more intimately embedded in American society, most southern colonies passed laws prohibiting anyone from teaching enslaved African Americans to read and write. How, then, can we account for such articulate and eloquent written pleas for freedom from the enslaved?

. A contemporary political debate revolves around the issue of reparations for slavery. What are reparations?What specific arguments could be extracted from these documents to support reparations? What are the current argu- ments for and against reparations?

. In colonial America, deterrence was believed to be the best way to prevent the colonists from committing crimes.What is deterrence?What methods of deterring the enslaved from rebelling are discussed in these documents? Which do you believe were most successful and why? Least successful?

. Until the early s, most history textbooks described slavery at its worst as a benign institution and at its best as a socially acceptable way to “civi- lize” an “uncivilized” race and to keep blacks happy and productive. What evidence to the contrary do you find in these documents? Why do you believe the horrors of slavery were not exposed or discussed in our schools prior to the s? What changed in the s?

. What specific types of resistance by the enslaved are described in these doc- uments? What other types of resistance do you know about? What others would you like to learn about?

   ~ 

. How did the voices in this chapter reinforce any of the five themes listed in “Main Points in Voices”?

. Several of these documents focus on the fact that many of the enslaved African Americans were “freeborn Pepel” (p. ) and they were “unjustly dragged” (p. ) from freedom into servitude. Is this an effective argument for emancipation? How do you think slave owners were able to counter these arguments? Do you think that arguments for freedom for those born in Africa changed after  when the slave trade was prohibited and the vast majority of the enslaved were no longer freeborn, but rather, born into slavery? How and why?

. Which of the voices in this chapter did you find most powerful? Least pow- erful? How and why?

General-Discussion Questions for Voices and A People’s History

These general-discussion questions are additional questions for students who have read Chapter  in both books. For all questions, discussion must focus on ways the materials in both chapters help students formulate and articulate their answers.

. Why do you think slavery is so often referred to as the “peculiar institution”?

. What is the “color line”? How does Howard Zinn describe the way this color line was drawn in early America? Do you think the drawing of this line was intentional or unintentional?

. What “clues” are provided in the documents of Chapter  in Voices and the narration in A People’s History to the question Howard Zinn asks, “Is it pos- sible for whites and blacks to live together without hatred” (p. , People’s History)? Do you think living together was possible in colonial America? How and why? In contemporary America? How and why?

. What new information did you acquire about African societies in this chap- ter? How does this new information shape your understanding of slavery and the way it developed in North and South America?

. How does Howard Zinn describe the differences between slavery as it

 ~  

existed in Africa versus its existence in America? Do you believe that these differences are significant? How and why?

. Howmuch did you know about resistance and rebellion of enslaved African Americans before reading these two chapters? Why do you think these “unimportant” voices are usually missing from our textbooks?

. Despite the courageous efforts of thousands of the enslaved who resisted, rebelled, and tried to overthrow slavery, the “peculiar institution” thrived for over  years.What factors do you think were most responsible for its longevity? What factors do you think motivated the enslaved to resist, despite the terrible consequences of getting caught?

. What are some specific examples from both chapters that illustrate the “complex web of historical threads” used to “ensnare blacks for slavery in America” (p. )?

. Throughout the chapters, evidence exists of various divide-and-conquer strategies that whites used to create disunity among enslaved African Americans. Why was this so important to the empowered? Provide some examples of these divide-and-conquer strategies. What are some contem- porary efforts of those in power to divide-and-conquer certain groups of Americans? How are their purposes for using these strategies similar to and dissimilar from those of those in positions of power in colonial America?

. In A People’s History, Howard Zinn indicates that Africans became victims of the largest forced migration in world history, not because they were uncivilized or weak, but because their white adversaries were so strong. What evidence of this white strength do you find reinforced in the docu- ments in Chapter  of Voices?

Evaluation Tools

SUGGESTED ASSIGNMENTS

These assignments can be adapted to meet any classroom need—homework, short- or long-term research projects, individual or group work. The end product should be flexible, depending on teacher interest and student abilities—papers, journals, oral reports, visual aides, and the like.

   ~ 

. Some of the voices of the enslaved you read were written by or about those who were enslaved in the northern colonies. However, we are often led to believe that slavery was restricted to the southern colonies. What evidence can you find in the reading to indicate that slavery was an issue for all the colonies, not just those in the south?Why do you think the belief that slavery and all its problems was confined to the southern colonies and later to the southern states continues to have credence in contemporary society?

. Learn more about family relationships under the system of slavery. What do you believe are the short- and long-term repercussions of the deliberate steps that were taken to destroy the family structure of enslaved African Americans?

. In , a lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court in New York that claimed descendants of the enslaved had the right to seek repa- rations because such companies as the Lehman Brothers brokerage firm, Aetna Insurance, and R.J. ReynoldsTobacco made money off slavery. Learn as much about this case as possible—about the arguments made in court for and against reparations and the most recent disposition of the case. Compare the goals of this case for reparations with other attempts to gain reparations. Which do you feel are most viable, and why?

. Peter Bestes’s Petition (p. ) mentions support for the return to Africa movement. What was this movement? Who supported it and why? Was it successful? How and why?

. Beginning in the s, many African Americans demanded that the fed- eral government apologize for its support of and involvement in the system of slavery. Learn more about the arguments for and against such an action. What is your position? Do you feel an apology could “right the wrongs” of slavery? How and why?

. During the NewDeal, employees of the FederalWriters’ Project conducted over , interviews with those who had been enslaved prior to and dur- ing the Civil War. Read a summary of these slave narratives and search through some of the actual narratives at this site: www.newdeal.feri.org/asn/. What questions the interviewers asked were of most interest to you? What additional questions might you have asked if you had been an interviewer? Which of these narratives added to your understanding of slavery? How and