Teacher Says He Won’t Lie To Students, Teaches The Untold History Of Columbus, His Tweets Go Viral
“Knowledge is power.” The original author of this quote is debatable, but the idea itself is nothing but the truth regardless. It is only through knowledge that humans can actually come to make the right decisions.
Nathanael Madden, a teacher at Cold Spring Elementary in Potomac, Maryland, decided to break with tradition and to tell the real history of Columbus and Columbus Day to his 4th-grade class. Madden tweeted about this and posted a handful of responses from his students. It went viral.
Bored Panda got in touch with Nathanael Madden, who was more than happy to elaborate on the matter. Madden is currently a 4th grade teacher with a passion for educational justice and equity, who teaches literacy skills such as reading, writing, and research.
Nathanael Madden, a teacher at Cold Spring Elementary, taught his students the untold history of Columbus
Image credits: Nathanael Madden
Back in 2016, Madden was strongly moved by awful acts of racial injustice and police brutality hailing through the country. This made him question whether he knew enough about this topic and whether it has been taught properly. As a teacher, he felt a duty to know more about the matter of racial inequality.
So, he hit the books. After some eye-opening research came Columbus Day and Madden decided to tell the true history of Columbus as a slave trader, murderer, and colonizer in his class. Following the lesson, he asked the students to reflect upon what they heard: what new information have they learned, how has this affected them, and why is it important to learn?
Image credits: thel0rdbyr0n
Madden posted a handful of the students’ responses on his Twitter account
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Image credits: thel0rdbyr0n
Image credits: thel0rdbyr0n
Image credits: thel0rdbyr0n
Image credits: thel0rdbyr0n
Image credits: thel0rdbyr0n
Image credits: thel0rdbyr0n
Image credits: thel0rdbyr0n
Image credits: thel0rdbyr0n
Image credits: thel0rdbyr0n
Image credits: thel0rdbyr0n
Image credits: thel0rdbyr0n
Image credits: thel0rdbyr0n
Madden concluded his string of tweets by saying how proud he was of his students
Image credits: thel0rdbyr0n
“School is often a very confining and controlling place for kids, and I want to create a space for students to feel liberated by learning,” explained Madden. “I want all students to feel that they are free to be who they are and that they have a place of belonging in my classroom.”
He continued: “This also means that we can’t ignore our world’s current realities, as well as how everything has been impacted by historical realities. Through my teaching, I constantly encourage and challenge my students to be critical questioners and critical thinkers so they can be active and informed participants in our world.”
Columbus Day is a national holiday in much of the Americas as well as Spain, Italy, and ethnically related locations. The celebration honors Christopher Columbus, a 15th century explorer, and his arrival to the Americas in 1492.
However, there is an often untold side of the history of Christopher Columbus. Few mention the slavery and serfdom systems Columbus put together to systematically subjugate the American Natives. Besides that, there was violence towards the American Natives and Spanish colonialists. And, to top it all off, many of the Natives died because of diseases that the expeditions introduced to the newly-found continent.
Students also made posters to commemorate Indigenous Peoples’ Day and to honor Native Americans
Image credits: Nathanael Madden
The class also made posters and plastered them all over the school to honor and to show solidarity with the Natives. Some students even went so far as to write to the school’s administration in hopes of changing the holiday celebrated at the school.
When asked if his colleagues, the parents of students or others in the school reacted in the same way his students did, he said: “The reaction has been almost entirely positive for me and my classroom, but I know this is not the case in much of the country.”
“For so long, particularly in the US, the story of Columbus as a heroic explorer has been the dominant narrative, erasing and ignoring the voices of Indigenous peoples who have known the truth for centuries,” elaborated Madden. “As we grapple with the myths of American exceptionalism and start listening to the voices of different marginalized groups, we can uncover the truths of history.”
Image credits: Nathanael Madden
Maryland is one of almost half of the US that observes Columbus Day and recognizes it as an official holiday. The students decided to flip it around and to instead celebrate Indigenous People’s Day—a holiday that is celebrated by just three states at the moment: New Mexico, Maine, and South Dakota (where it’s called Native American’s Day).
The young educator’s viral tweet serves as an inspiration and a wake up call for all teachers to not shy away from showing the entire picture of things: “I am not the first person to teach this history and I will not be the last. I am following in the footsteps of others, primarily Native educators, scholars, and activists, and I hope others will follow in their footsteps as well.”
Madden concluded our interview with the following: “What it really boils down to is this: will we lie to our youth or will we tell them the truth? What I’m hoping to see as a result of the tweets is that teachers, as well as all other adults, will stop underestimating children. Kids are brilliant and they can think deeply, critically, and creatively. They have a beautiful sense of justice and injustice, and they have the capacity for great empathy. And they can handle a lot more than we give them credit for, including the often hard truths of our history.”
Image credits: Nathanael Madden
I say get rid of Columbus day. There are so many other Italian men and women to celebrate who contributed to the building of America without enslaving people. I have written many, many letters to my city council about getting rid of Columbus Blvd and bringing back the original street name: Delaware Ave. So far, no bites!
I doubt about the importance of Italy here since he started the travel on Spain because a "reyes católicos" mission.
And then there's the fact that Italy didn't exist as a country\nation until 1861, we still have leftovers from fascist propaganda left in our history books.
I agree, but it is normal and acceptable to attach historical figures to their heritage/culture rather than the institutions that backed them up administratively/financially. Several scientists and artists lived or worked mainly outside their birth land, but we still consider, say, Oscar Wilde Irish (even though he lived and worked a lot abroad), Voltaire French (even though he mostly lived/worked in Switzerland), Einstein German (even though he worked mostly in Switzerland and later in America), and so on.
What most people don't know is that people knew the earth was round then. Several countries refused to back him because their experts said his calculations were wrong and that it would take longer for him to reach the other side of the world than he projected. Even Spain denied him the first time. If he didn't bump into the Americas, he probably would have died at sea from low supplies.
It was the Italian-Americans who pushed for this holiday. But you're right he worked for Spain.
In California the places that do recognize that holiday call it Indigenous Peoples Day. A lot of schools and businesses just don’t acknowledge it as a holiday at all though.
I mean any explorer probably would of done what he did unfortunately. It was kind of just what countries did back then. Enslave capture and murder. Whoever took over America was gunna shaft the Indians. It’s not right and it’s not something to celebrate or to hide. It’s just what it is.
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jamie believes we should change the name of many things to suit his tastes....thank God nobody really cares what jamie thinks. Columbus Day is a great day for America. Carry on.
So you enjoy celebrating a racist pedophile? Good for you, you delusional fucktard....oh and go ahead and downvote me with your 5 or 6 aliases, ya fat ass incel loser.
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Maybe you should learn why he's celebrated and not personal life.
Teaching the Howard Zinn version is not "telling the true story". If anything, it is a less nuanced and accurate version than the traditional story. Teaching kids that historical figures are either cartoon heroes or cartoon villains does them a disservice. We should teach kids the actual facts of history, not just versions edited to promote a particular political view.
So you have citations to the less cartoony and more actual factual version of the story? From what I can tell what you call cartoon villainy is more 'You cannot make this shit up', comma, 'Fact is unbelievable because fiction has to be believable' villainy.
following a lynching in New Orleans where a mob had murdered 11 Italian immigrants, President Benjamin Harrison declared Columbus Day as a one-time national celebration. The proclamation was part of a wider effort after the lynching incident to placate Italian Americans and ease diplomatic tensions with Italy.
Really? That’s interesting.
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A product of the era's ignorance and denial about his horrific acts.
you are also a product of ignorance
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Yeah like usual the reason something started is never about what people end up arguing about. Both sides too extreme when it doesn’t have to do with either thing.
I say get rid of Columbus day. There are so many other Italian men and women to celebrate who contributed to the building of America without enslaving people. I have written many, many letters to my city council about getting rid of Columbus Blvd and bringing back the original street name: Delaware Ave. So far, no bites!
I doubt about the importance of Italy here since he started the travel on Spain because a "reyes católicos" mission.
And then there's the fact that Italy didn't exist as a country\nation until 1861, we still have leftovers from fascist propaganda left in our history books.
I agree, but it is normal and acceptable to attach historical figures to their heritage/culture rather than the institutions that backed them up administratively/financially. Several scientists and artists lived or worked mainly outside their birth land, but we still consider, say, Oscar Wilde Irish (even though he lived and worked a lot abroad), Voltaire French (even though he mostly lived/worked in Switzerland), Einstein German (even though he worked mostly in Switzerland and later in America), and so on.
What most people don't know is that people knew the earth was round then. Several countries refused to back him because their experts said his calculations were wrong and that it would take longer for him to reach the other side of the world than he projected. Even Spain denied him the first time. If he didn't bump into the Americas, he probably would have died at sea from low supplies.
It was the Italian-Americans who pushed for this holiday. But you're right he worked for Spain.
In California the places that do recognize that holiday call it Indigenous Peoples Day. A lot of schools and businesses just don’t acknowledge it as a holiday at all though.
I mean any explorer probably would of done what he did unfortunately. It was kind of just what countries did back then. Enslave capture and murder. Whoever took over America was gunna shaft the Indians. It’s not right and it’s not something to celebrate or to hide. It’s just what it is.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
jamie believes we should change the name of many things to suit his tastes....thank God nobody really cares what jamie thinks. Columbus Day is a great day for America. Carry on.
So you enjoy celebrating a racist pedophile? Good for you, you delusional fucktard....oh and go ahead and downvote me with your 5 or 6 aliases, ya fat ass incel loser.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Maybe you should learn why he's celebrated and not personal life.
Teaching the Howard Zinn version is not "telling the true story". If anything, it is a less nuanced and accurate version than the traditional story. Teaching kids that historical figures are either cartoon heroes or cartoon villains does them a disservice. We should teach kids the actual facts of history, not just versions edited to promote a particular political view.
So you have citations to the less cartoony and more actual factual version of the story? From what I can tell what you call cartoon villainy is more 'You cannot make this shit up', comma, 'Fact is unbelievable because fiction has to be believable' villainy.
following a lynching in New Orleans where a mob had murdered 11 Italian immigrants, President Benjamin Harrison declared Columbus Day as a one-time national celebration. The proclamation was part of a wider effort after the lynching incident to placate Italian Americans and ease diplomatic tensions with Italy.
Really? That’s interesting.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
A product of the era's ignorance and denial about his horrific acts.
you are also a product of ignorance
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Yeah like usual the reason something started is never about what people end up arguing about. Both sides too extreme when it doesn’t have to do with either thing.