Fabricating Origins - Russell T. McCutcheon
17. Coloring Columbus
Fabricating Origins - Russell T. McCutcheon
Leslie Dorrough Smith [+]
Avila University
Leslie Dorrough Smith is Professor of Religious Studies at Avila University and a member of the Women’s and Gender Studies faculty.
Description
I am the parent of three children, two of whom are elementary school-aged. As such, I have now twice been handed an line-drawn image of Christopher Columbus that they each have dutifully colored, which appears to be a requisite kindergarten activity at our local public school. Because of the historical evidence that details Columbus’s systematic torture and murder of the peoples whose lands he colonized, I have always found this exercise something akin to coloring a picture of Saddam Hussein or some other such figure.