Another take on Columbus

Sharla Chittick is used to seeing jaws drop when she lectures her North Idaho College students about the “real” Christopher Columbus.

The history teacher said the talk often ends the same, with students mad at their fifth-grade teachers.

On the federal holiday dedicated to honoring the renowned explorer, Chittick tried to debunk some of the widely held beliefs about Columbus’ role in history. Elementary school lessons often paint Columbus as a great explorer, Chittick said, glossing over hard facts that most history books have ignored.

“Yes, he went to these places,” Chittick said. “He did have three boats. He did convert people to Christianity – or killed them. But you leave out the ‘killed them’ part.”

Chittick told the crowd at Monday’s lecture at NIC about the importance of looking to primary sources for accurate historical information.

“You can’t read what other people are writing,” Chittick said. “You have to read what he wrote, what his son wrote, what the priest that managed one of his colonies wrote.”

Children often hear Columbus characterized as a heroic explorer, Chittick said, a notion that becomes ingrained in their consciousness.

“Then you go to college and it’s like you’re finding out this dark secret,” she said.

Much of the controversy surrounding Columbus emerged around 1992, Chittick said, on the 500th anniversary of his explorations. Historians began looking at information from those “primary sources,” Chittick said, and were “blown away by what they found.”

“They weren’t seeing this grandiose explorer,” she said.

Journals from Columbus, family members and those who sailed with him told of how Columbus was after the natives’ gold and kidnapped some to send back to Spain’s king and queen as slaves.

Modern textbooks have begun to adopt a more balanced approach to teaching about Columbus, said Barney Brewton, elementary services coordinator for the Post Falls School District.

Brewton didn’t attend the NIC lecture, but said in a phone interview that afternoon that some of the journal entries Chittick referred to are included in the textbooks Post Falls fifth-graders use for history. Columbus’ explorations are also part of the lessons in first-grade history and in grades 8 and 11 under Idaho’s education standards.

After Monday’s talk, Chittick passed out fliers advertising a book called “Rethinking Columbus” and other educational “resources for equity and justice.”

One member of the audience asked how to get the Columbus Day holiday “killed.”

Chittick said the effort needs to begin at the local level and education needs to begin with the children. Some states don’t celebrate the holiday, she said.

Local schools were in session on Monday and some local government offices remained open.

Heather Kae, a 42-year-old NIC student, wore a shirt with the words “Columbus Who?” above the picture of a Native American chief.

Kae is a North Dakota Sioux.

“I obviously feel pretty strongly,” Kae said. “I love anti-Columbus sentiment because of how many people were outright killed.”