Howard Zinn: unmask history

Created by : Meta hittoh Mu’awanah

14121320245

PBI-D / 4th semester

Howard Zinn: unmask history

Introduction

Howard Zinn is historian who has wrote article entitled “Speaking Truth to Power with Books”. From this article, Zinn wanted to give the real fact about Christoper Columbus.  Zinn open mind set people that history not completely true, but his effort got many critism from citizen especially American. It is show that to fix mind set people  surely difficult.  Howard Zinn  wants to open a mask that had been covering up the truth of history.

Summary      

In the fact people know that Columbus is the discovered of the Americas, he is a U.S. hero, a man devout Bible reader, and the spark that the earth is round instead of flat land, but Zinn has a different assessment of the Christopher Columbus. Howard Zinn wrote in his book "A People's History of the United States",  tell that Columbus was a murderer, molester, kidnapper, mutilator Native Americans, and Columbus are hypocrites, he is a man who is looking for and wants gold. Columbus is a perpetrator of genocide (a large-scale massacres were systematically towards one tribe or group with the intention of wiping out the nation).

There are several point that Howard Zinn want to open a mask that had been covering up the truth of history about Christoper Columbus in his article. First, we did not know the reason why Columbus want to sail. Chistoper Columbus was born on 30 Oktober 1451 in Genoa, Itali. When Columbus adult he become captain and great navigator. Before Columbus sail, he got problem with Spanish nobleman that is Columbus raping the daughter of one of the Spanish nobleman who was aged 13 years. Courts can not decide he should be put to death. Occur in 1491 and a priest named Father Perez mediate on behalf of Columbus and pleads with Queen Isabella pleads with which to fund Columbus, if he managed to be able to convert the native Christians, and finally Queen Isabella sent him on a mission to find a new continent (when it was the main purpose is looking for India) and with expectations, Columbus can not go back.

Second , Columbus Journal: When finally Columbus first landed in America Blue Continent, he still thinks this is Indian land. At that time the natives greeted Columbus with joy. However, contrary what Columbus wrote in his journal? "They bring us the parrots, balls of cotton and spears and many other things as a gift. They willingly traded everything they owned ... They do not bear arms, when I showed the sword. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane ... They would easily become slaves we conquered ... With only fifty men, we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want. "Columbus also wrote, "I believe that they would easily become Christians artificial, because it seemed like they had no religion."In his diary, Columbus admitted that when he arrived in the East Indies (when it was still believed he had found India, not America), he tortured the natives, hanging, whip, just after the important information: where there is gold? Furthermore, Helen Ellerbe, in "The Dark Side of Christian History" (pp. 86-88).

Main body (critique)

In Howard Zinn’s article entitled “Speaking Truth to Power with Books”  is not totally right because in the other hand he still has some missing point in his article,  : First, Zinn in his article did not tell who the first discoverer of America. Many article  have shown a lot of historical evidence to confirm the theory that Columbus was not the inventor of the first American continent. Therefore, there is a lot of physical evidence such as inscriptions prove that long before Columbus arrived in the Americas, there has been a character named Cheng Ho or Zheng He who arrived 70 years before Columbus. Even some historians also argue that centuries before Zheng He, the merchants at the same Muslim sailors had set foot on the American continent and make settlements there. Special, they married local residents and has become an integral part of the native tribes in the Americas. This opinion is blatantly written a researcher named Dr.. Yousseef Mroueh in his essay are quite popular, entitled "Precolumbian Muslims in America". This paper presents many physical facts, therefore there is still no objection to it.

Second, Howard Zinn describes only the crime of Columbus, but Columbus also has much goodness as described by Morison in the article. Zinn and Morison are a historian who tell about Christopher Columbus, but in different side. Zinn explains the negative side of a Columbus, in contrast to marison which explains the positive side that Columbus was a hero. If Zinn in his article also explains the positive side of Columbus, then this will be a more balanced .

Third,  Zinn did not write all the references in the article when talking about Columbus and others. For this reason, the reference is the power of each reading, without reference to include the reader will assume that the author lied in his writing. Reference is the most important thing that will convince the reader that the author is writing the facts.

Conclusion

There are two basic points that can be concluded from Zinn’s article : First, history is dynamic, when there is someone who finds new facts are accompanied by a lot of evidence was found. this will change the pre-existing history into the new history that will also change the mindset of many people. for example in the history of Christopher Columbus, before the people think that Columbus was a hero but when Zinn explains about the negative side of Columbus to instantly change the paradigm of many people. Second, history is not completely true,  usually the author will explain from his perspective. We as readers should be more critical to response a history and did not receive it directly but looking for the other information to prove the truth of the history. So, we can open a mask that had been covering up the truth of history.

  

References:

Acsess on :  https://www.facebook.com/notes/-muallaf-/menelusuri-the-real-historypenjelajah-muslim-lebih-dulu-injak-amerika-daripada-c/233131680048715 (Tuesday 25 March at 02.30 am)

Acsess on  :  http://penemu-ilmuwan.blogspot.com/2013/04/penemu-benua-amerika-colombus-dan.html   (Wednesday 26 March at 05.00 pm)