Difference between revisions of "HIST 131--Week 2 Questions/Comments"
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I know this question was addressed in class but im still a little curious. If we only celebrate two people in national holidays, isn't it a little ironic that one is a man who preached for the ending of slavery, and the other is a man who was one of the main reasons it started in the first place? If it is common knowledge now who the real Columbus was, and that he wasn't the discoverer of America, nor was he the kind of man most Americans would enjoy celebrating, then why exactly do we still have a holiday to think about how great he was? Aren't there other more important people that could take his place? - Jessie Bright | I know this question was addressed in class but im still a little curious. If we only celebrate two people in national holidays, isn't it a little ironic that one is a man who preached for the ending of slavery, and the other is a man who was one of the main reasons it started in the first place? If it is common knowledge now who the real Columbus was, and that he wasn't the discoverer of America, nor was he the kind of man most Americans would enjoy celebrating, then why exactly do we still have a holiday to think about how great he was? Aren't there other more important people that could take his place? - Jessie Bright | ||
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| + | In response to Jessie Bright's question about why we still celebrate Columbus Day: | ||
| + | As confusing as it may sound, I do not believe that the term "Columbus Day" is meant to be taken as literally as most people perceive it to be. I think the broader meaning of Columbus Day is meant to commemorate more so the many positive effects and aftermath of Columbus' great voyage to the West; which would encompass mainly the fact that Columbus' expedition prompted the European’s interest in the “New World.” An effective understanding of this European interest would then lead us to ponder about the significance it had on their culture from there on out and thus how it ultimately affected us Americans today. Therefore, we are not celebrating the man Columbus himself, but rather his famous quest to the West that consequently lead to a new historical age. | ||
| + | ~Megan Tisdelle~ | ||
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== Bernal Diaz del Castillo == | == Bernal Diaz del Castillo == | ||
