Facing the Truth: Teaching Columbus, History, and Integrity

Every October, classrooms across the country retell the story of Christopher Columbus. For generations, it was a tale of bravery, exploration, and discovery, a man who “sailed the ocean blue in 1492” and opened a new world. But as we’ve grown in knowledge and moral awareness, the fuller truth demands to be told. Columbus’s arrival marked the beginning of colonization, enslavement, and immense suffering for Indigenous peoples who had lived in the Americas for thousands of years.

This truth does not erase the fact that his voyage changed history. It reminds us that honesty and integrity must be the foundation of how we teach it.

The Truth Beyond the Textbook

Columbus’s voyage was funded by Spain in search of riches and trade routes, but what followed was not noble adventure. Instead, it was exploitation. Indigenous communities were enslaved, tortured, and decimated by violence and disease. Even Bartolomé de las Casas, a Spanish priest who witnessed it firsthand, wrote of the horrors inflicted upon the Taíno people.

One of Columbus’s stated goals was to report back to Queen Isabella that the people of the islands “could easily be converted to Christianity.” On the surface, this might sound like a peaceful mission of faith. But in reality, “conversion” often meant forced baptism, cultural erasure, and submission to European rule. Those who resisted were beaten, mutilated, or killed. Entire spiritual traditions were destroyed in the name of salvation, and Christianity was used as both a justification and a weapon of colonization.

To tell this story accurately is not to “cancel” history, it’s to reclaim it. It’s to acknowledge that human progress has often come at a terrible cost. When we only celebrate the conquest and ignore the suffering, we are not honoring history; we are sanitizing it.

Integrity in the Age of Contradictions

We live in an era where honesty feels like rebellion. Some leaders today seem to embrace violence. It is not always with swords or guns, but through rhetoric, policy, and the normalization of cruelty. They rewrite stories to protect power, not truth.

Integrity requires the courage to name both the heroism and the harm. Our children deserve to learn about explorers and the exploited, about discovery and destruction. They deserve to see that morality isn’t determined by victory, and that “greatness” should never come at the expense of humanity.

Teaching Both the Good and the Evil

To teach honestly is not to shame, it’s to illuminate. Children can handle complexity when guided with compassion. We can teach them that curiosity and courage are admirable, while greed and violence are cautionary. That’s the beauty of education rooted in truth. It builds discernment, empathy, and accountability. 

Think of it this way...the Star Wars saga wouldn’t be the same without Darth Vader. If there were no villains, no moments of darkness, there would be no growth, no redemption, no understanding of what light really means. The characters’ journeys mattered because they learned from history: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Our children deserve the same chance to understand the full arc of humanity’s story, not just its highlights.

The same applies to the Catholic Church’s long and complicated role in global history. While it has inspired great acts of charity, art, and education, it has also sanctioned violence. From the Crusades to the Inquisition to the forced conversion of Indigenous peoples across the Americas, people didn't treat each other with respect or dignity. To omit this is to fail our students. To acknowledge it is to give them a fuller picture of human nature and the need for moral growth.

Why This Matters Now

Our society often repeats history because we refuse to confront it. When cruelty is excused as “tradition,” when oppression is rebranded as “strength,” we regress. Teaching the full story of Columbus, colonization, and religious power structures is not just about the past. It’s about shaping the conscience of the future.

Honesty is not divisive. It is healing. It gives our children the wisdom to question authority, the empathy to see others’ pain, and the integrity to stand for what is right even when it is unpopular.

A Call for Courage in the Classroom

If we want to raise a generation that values peace over power and compassion over conquest, we must start by telling the truth. All of it. The good, the evil, the beautiful, and the brutal. Because integrity, once taught through history, becomes character.

And that is how we ensure that the mistakes of Columbus’s world and our own are not repeated, but remembered, understood, and transformed into lessons for a more humane future.

XOXO,

Whimsy Jenny