American Literary Canon of Pre-Columbian Era in Elizabeth Chesley Baity’s Americans before Columbus

Abstract

This paper analyzes the American canon of pre-Columbian era in Elizabeth Baity’s Americans before Columbus, a winner of Newbery Honor prize in 1952. As Raymond Williams pinpoints “the selective tradition” as one of the essential characteristics in canonical texts, Baity’s “selective” perspectives towards pre-Columbian Indians have been influential in making stereotypes of Indians. Devon Mihesuah elaborates twenty five stereotypes: “Indians are all alike”; “Indians were conquered because they were inferior”; “Indians have no religion”; “Indians are a vanished race” etc. On one hand, Baity has recorded meticulously the past histories of the Americas in pre-Columbian era with pictures and illustrations. On the other hand, she “selectively” agreed with the discourses in American studies: Crosby’s ecological imperialism; the settlement, not colonization, theory of the Americas; Columbus as a hero rather than bullies; the primitiveness of the Indians vs the civilization of Euro-Americans. The main audiences of Baity’s book are children attending public schools. Once familiar with the stereotypes of Indians in their early age, they will accept without doubt similar images of Indians from such college textbooks as American Roots and A New Introduction to American Studies they read within classrooms. What is missing in Baity’s book is the discourses to bridge the two big paradigms, America before Columbus and America after Columbus, from complementary standards. The addition to the missing part will keep the Newbery Honor book free from the polemics of political correctness.