possibility that our founding father
was a black man.
—SAMUEL D. MARBLE^2History is the polemics of the victor.
—WILLIAM F. BUCKLEYJR.What we committed in the Indies
stands out among the most
unpardonable offenses ever
committed against God and mankind
and this trade [in American Indian
slaves] as one of the most unjust,
evil, and cruel among them.
—BARTOLOMÉ DE LAS CASAS^3In fourteen hundred and ninety-three,
Columbus stole all he could see.
—TRADITIONAL VERSE, UPDATEDIN FOURTEEN HUNDRED AND NINETY-TWO, Christopher Columbus
sailed in from the blue. American history books present Columbus pretty much
without precedent, and they portray him as America’s first great hero. In so
canonizing him, they reflect our national culture. Indeed, now that Presidents’
Day has combined Washington’s and Lincoln’s birthdays, Columbus is one of
only two people the United States honors by name in a national holiday. The
one date that every schoolchild remembers is 1492, and sure enough, every
textbook I surveyed includes it. But most of them leave out virtually everything
that is important to know about Columbus and the European exploration of the