This past Tuesday, we discussed the difference between history as a fact, something that has actually happened, and historicity, something which is said to have happened. I find this particularly interesting because I have never taken into account the fact that each piece if history is just that, a recorded account of how someone saw something happen or heard something happened. We have, over time, taken that and turned it into our 'history' as a nation and go by it as rock solid evidence that it happened that way when in all reality we weren't there, and, to a certain extinct, do not know whether it is opinionated or bias to a particular view point.
     When asked to remember the story of Christopher Columbus, I wrote down the story as I had recalled it from early childhood and the way I would have retold it. Not only was part of my story inaccurate (the name of the king that sent them), but it also was very 'G' rated. This was how we were told the story as children and how many of us picture the finding of America taking place, when in fact, it was much more gruesome and barbaric than this. 'Avengers of the New World' suggests we interpret many acts of the past such as slavery in a similar fashion, not through the eyes of everyone envolved, but through those writing the story and recording it as our 'history'.
     Often times those recording history, were the educated, upper members of society, not the lower, uneducated members, who were often times the women and slaves. Their stories were mostly told, therefore being lost over time and changed through translations. The title 'Silencing the Past' particularly grabs my attention to this through the word 'silencing'. That is exactly what has happened to unrecorded history and, sometimes, historicity... It becomes 'silenced' and often times forgotten.