Sanitizing of History

I read over the "Lies my Teacher Told Me" article on Blackboard. I personally agree with the points made in the document. The first point mentioned in the article was that society's view of Christopher Columbus is distorted through the teaching of the American schooling system. We celebrate Columbus Day every year because we believe that he discovered the New World. In reality the Americas had been occupied by indigenous cultures for hundreds of years. The Vikings had discovered the Western world and these cultures way before Columbus had. The other "fact" we learn about Columbus was that he was the first to envision the world as round. The true fact is that since ancient times people have known the world was round and the way the Columbus view entered society is largely attributed to the 1828 fantasy "The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus" by Washington Irving. The third fact that is failed to be taught to society about Columbus is that he was brutal towards the Natives using slave trading and genocide. If society had been taught the true facts about Columbus, I believe we wouldn't be so quick to celebrate his life and dedicate a holiday to him. The other people mentioned in the article (Woodrow Wilson, Helen Keller, and Alice Paul) all have examples on how history is a chronicle of what the power elite decide to record.