Columbus never reached the mainland yet anchors American origin mythology

Evidence

Christopher Columbus never set foot on the American mainland, but he ruled over our imagination as the “discoverer” of a nation long inhabited by indigenous peoples, and the earliest “pioneer” of a state that built its wealth on the backs of enslaved Africans. This history was made official in the textbooks we read when inducted into the American school system, and drilled even deeper into our heads each year we celebrated Columbus Day. — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 1103

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s ongoing interest in how statues embody ‘invented pasts’ and how official history is drilled through schooling.