Persuasive Essay: Exploring Columbus Day

When you think of Columbus what comes to mind? A hero? A villain? Most people think he is a hero, but many do not think of the things he did to people such as slavery, beatings, raping, etc. He is most known for discovering America, but he only got to the Bahamas. Columbus was an Italian explorer that sailed the ocean blue in 1492. Columbus Day should not be celebrated because of the awful things that don’t make up for the discoveries that Christopher Columbus did.

Should we celebrate Columbus Day? Columbus Day is a day off of school and work for most Americans every year in October. We celebrate this national holiday on October 12, but do we know why? Christopher Columbus has been credited for finding America. As the old saying goes, he sailed the ocean blue in 1492.

     The spirit and values of a nation are reflected in the nation’s heroes. Christopher Columbus has been regarded as an American hero since 1792. Every year Columbus Day is held on the second Monday in October to honor the man and his legacy. However, many people debate whether or not Columbus Day should be celebrated. I believe that Columbus Day should be celebrated in the United States because he opened up the New World to Europe, inspired a spirit of exploration and adventure that still lasts today, and he showed the importance of diversity and understanding of different cultures.

Christopher Columbus is commonly known as the “discoverer” of the Americas. From a young age students are taught all the wonderful things he did for our land and how well he interacted with the Natives. Although the truth is disregarded and as students grow, they come to learn that Columbus was not a hero in fact. Columbus came close to causing a genocide of the Native Americans, and basically began the “white power” movement that America is forced to deal with today. The truth of what Christopher Columbus did makes him no better than Hitler, yet America still praises him as an important figure in our history. The actions of Columbus has impacted all Americans lives since the 1400’s when he first landed on American soil. Although it did make America into the super power it is today, the structure within the borders will never be equal because of his abuse of power back then. Christopher Columbus is not the hero American students are taught from a young age and does not deserve any of the praise or recognition that we as American citizens continue to give him on a daily basis.

Some say that Columbus Day shouldn't be a holiday or that the name should be changed, I believe that we should get rid of the holiday. When you are little, you are taught Christopher Columbus discovered America and he's a good person; however, in reality, none of that is true. Columbus didn't discover America, he found some islands in the Caribbean like Haiti and Cuba. In addition, he treated the Natives there with harsh cruelties. Columbus also brought over diseases that lead to the death of many natives because they weren't exposed to measles, influenza, small pox. “Christopher Columbus introduced two phenomena that revolutionized race relations and

In 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean and discovered what we now know as the Americas… or so it’s been taught. In all actuality, there were already Native people who had been living in the continents for thousands of years. Since 1937, the US has used this “discovery” as a holiday known as Columbus Day to celebrate a man who established the beginning of colonization of the New World. While Columbus did begin the colonization of the Americas, he was not the one who discovered them. History tends to be told from the privileged perspective which is why it’s taught that Columbus discovered these lands. The celebration of Columbus Day promotes the idea of colonization and the marginalization of Native Americans; people also believe it

Christopher Columbus is a famous explorer that is celebrated yearly in America, with his national holiday, Columbus day. However, many people do not know all the negative things he did. America should not celebrate Columbus Day because of his negative legacy, his actions, and his lack of accomplishments. Slavery, death, and rape were all part of Columbus’ negative legacy. He had negative actions such as he brought dogs to attack people, caused Native Americans to end their lives, and cut Natives hands off.

Christopher Columbus is a very important person in our country's history. He found the "New World," the one we live in today. He started the society that makes us who we are today, the society that allowed our ancestors to come to America and start the life that we live now. This whole world owes their lives to him. Columbus should always be remembered as a very important and very good person in history.

I hope you are having a great week thus far. I just wanted to let you know we are not having new hires start on Columbus day and will be moving the first day of orientation to May 11th 2016. This will effect Matt.

The United States only honors two men with federal holidays bearing their names, Martin Luther King Jr., and Christopher Columbus. When we celebrate Columbus Day, we are honoring a man who helped spark a holocaust situation of the people of America and the Atlantic slave trade. Furthermore, Columbus never set foot on the land we call the United States, nor was the first explorer to reach the "new world". Columbus's arrival in the new world was proceeded by the explorer Leif Ericson and others. The true discoverers of the land Columbus encountered are the ancestors of the native people who were living there when he arrived. Unfortunately, the public education system of the United States has failed to teach the entire truth about Christopher

In my opinion, we should not celebrate Christopher Columbus Day. This is because Columbus has committed many harsh and cruel crimes against the aboriginal peoples of North America, he didn't actually prove the earth was round, and he wasn't even really the first (white) person to discover it. Firstly, Columbus was in fact a murdered who enslaved other human beings for the purpose of obtaining gold. He mistreated these people horribly often cutting their hands off if they didn't supply him with the gold he desired. He permitted the rape and murder of first nations women and they were often killed as sport. This is absolutely horrible and no man should be celebrated when he has committed

I don't think that we should celebrate Columbus Day. We have been taught since we were young that he is a hero and had done many great things. He is not what he is made out to be.

In fourteen hundred and ninety-two Columbus sailed the ocean blue. I guess the song forgot the sin, that the Spaniards killed 8 of 10. While Columbus’ voyage is the start of America as we know it, it came at a great cost to the Native Americans. They contracted diseases from the Spaniards, were abused, forced into Christianity and had resources stolen from them. So, the question is, due to the fact that the Native Americans were abused and taken advantage of by the Spaniards, how can we justify Columbus Day remaining a federal holiday? We can’t, it should never be acceptable to ruin one society so that another can advance.

Christopher Columbus is not worthy of a holiday because he was very cruel to the Native Americans. In truth it’s very sad what he did. What Columbus did was what some call the American Holocaust. He forced the native peoples to be Christian, murdering and torturing them is they didn’t convert. Columbus pillaged and robbed- eating the food the natives worked hard to get. He forced them to mine, harvest, grow, and plant all of the food and gold. The diseases that were brought killed thousands, wiping out entire groups in a few months. The killing and torture made the relationship between natives and Englishmen worse. Clearly, Christopher Columbus isn’t worthy of a holiday.

Christopher Columbus wanted to sail west. At the time people believed that the world was flat and if you sailed out of the sight of land you would fall of the earth. He also proposed that the world was round this thinking could get him killed or sent to prison for being a heretic. Spain was very desperate to find a trade route to Asia. They could go through the middle east but they would have to pay high prices and hire people for protection.