When Lions have historians will hunters cease to be heroes

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"Only when lions have historians will hunters cease to be heroes” In 1831 Senator William Marcy of New York coined the phrase: “To the victor belong the spoils.” Even though, Marcy was referring to the election of Andrew Jackson and the subsequent upheaval following the inauguration fiasco where nearly ten percent of Federal offices were replaced with cronies of Jackson parallels and epitomizes the African proverb, “Only when lions have historians will hunters cease to be heroes.” Unfortunately, every war fought has a winner and a loser—the winner writes the history books while everything is done to squelch the history and culture of the defeated as the winner compels a new way of life upon the defeated peoples; many times contrary to that of the conquered peoples. Historians are often plagued with the task of unraveling oral histories that have been embellished upon for many centuries should no written history or tales be found. Throughout recorded history first impressions have often misaligned the people first encountered. For example: in the account of Álvar Núñez Cabeza De Vaca wrote in 1542 of his findings of the natives in present day coastal Texas and the deplorable conditions in which they lived. Or the discoveries of Captain John Smith of Jamestown, Virginia fame in the 1600s his first impression of the natives were that they were uneducated savages and heathens; but Chief Powhatan daughter had to rescue the fort from starvation (not so uneducated, yes?). What impression would settlers from another planet was to land near Detroit, Michigan and approached the city from the slum side? Would those daring adventures make the same erroneous report about the rest of the continent of North America? The exploiters of early Af... ... middle of paper ... ... Americas could have repelled the invaders in the years succeeding the discovery by Columbus; just as the Africans could have repelled the Europeans from their continent. Hindsight is always twenty-twenty. After reading many of the adventures written by H. Rider Haggard and his intrepid explorer and hunter, the questionably honorable Allan Quartermain; one gets the skewed vision of the native African while at the same time viewing the ‘pseudo’ superiority of the European exploiter. Quartermain gives the impression that he respects the Africans in his employ while considering them to be naught but children needing guidance; a typical British and American view of anyone different than themselves. In the perusal of the assigned reading for this unit one’s eyes are opened to a wider worldview and understanding of the phrase by Marcy, “To the victor belongs the spoils.”

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