Suggested Readings:
Over the past year or so, members of our committee have been conducting extensive historical research on wrongdoings of Christopher Columbus, to document specific things that he did that make him unworthy of having a Catholic School, or truly any educational institution, named after him. We suggest that you begin your reading by reading these documents, if you have not already done so. This research was based mainly on primary, contemporaneous documents from the era of Columbus that demonstrate such wrongdoing. In some cases, this information was supplemented by additional background from other reliable historical sources. The products of that research are the three new historical documents linked below. Please read this information, and thoughtfully and prayerfully consider whether our Catholic High School should be named after him.
Actions by Christopher Columbus that Disqualify Him from Having a Catholic School Named After Him – This document lists, point by point, eleven specific actions by Columbus that make him unworthy of having a Catholic School, or indeed any school, named after him, along with sources documenting this information.
Historical Analysis of the Conduct of Christopher Columbus – This is the most detailed of our three documents, presenting extensive historical documentation and analysis of wrongdoing by Columbus. It is the document that was sent to the Archbishop.
No Christian Institution Should be Named After Columbus – This a somewhat less detailed historical analysis, intermediate in length and detail between the two above documents, describing and analyzing Columbus’ behavior and how it makes him unworthy of having any Christian Institution named after him.
Other documents that can be obtained online and in printed form are listed below.
Online Resources:
Lost document reveals Columbus as tyrant of the Caribbean | World news | The Guardian
American Heritage, "Columbus and Genocide"
American Indian Movement Press Statement on Christopher Columbus
Daily Herald-Editorial- “As a Student, here’s what I want to know to best recognize Columbus Day”
Daily Herald- “How Controversy has Changed the Way Columbus’s Story is Taught in Schools”
History Channel, "Christopher Columbus: How The Explorer's Legend Grew -- and Then Drew Fire,"
History Channel, “Why Columbus Day Courts Controversy,”
History News Network, “Columbus exposed as a cruel tyrant who tortured his slaves”
Snopes, “Did Christopher Columbus Seize, Sell, and Export Sex Slaves?”
Vatican ll pronouncement, "Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World,"
Unitarian Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA.org), "Indigenous People's Day"
Wikipedia, "Catholic Church and Slavery," pages 1-33.
Wikipedia, "Christopher Columbus," pages 1-32.
Wikipedia, “List of monuments and memorials removed during George Floyd Protests”
Books:
A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, by Bartolome de las Casas, (Nigel Griffin, translator). Penguin Books (1992).
Four Voyages: Christopher Columbus (collection of letters and documents), Snowball Publishing (2013).
Lies My Teacher Told Me About Christopher Columbus (Second Edition), by James W. Loewen, The New Press (2014).
Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years, edited by Bill Bigelow and Bob Peterson, Rethinking Schools, Ltd. (1998).
“All the real indians died off” and 20 other myths about Native Americans by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and Dina Gilio-Whitaker, 2016. In particular note the chapter on Columbus
Online bibliographies:
43 must-read books about racism for adults and kids, from the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Public Library, Anti-Racist Reading List. (contains 68 books on how to be an anti-racist and to treat all racial groups as equal).