The Columbus Day Conundrum

Indigenous People’s Day should certainly be celebrated, but not in lieu of Columbus Day.

Posthumous painting of Christopher Columbus by Italian painter Sebastiano del Piombo, 1519

There was a time where Christopher Columbus, the Italian explorer who, in 1492, sailed the ocean blue, was celebrated as a hero, a brave explorer, the man who finally proved that the Earth was round, and who, most significantly, discovered America. Today we know that Earth's roundness was already proven much earlier, perhaps even as early as the 6th century BCE. We also know that Columbus never set foot in what is now the United States of America. More importantly, however, we now acknowledge that behind the awe-inspiring story of Christopher Columbus, lies a dark and disturbing truth.

Yesterday was Columbus Day in the United States, and while it is a day of celebration of an intrepid explorer for some, it is, for others, a day which glorifies a mass murderer who suppressed and abused the native populations of the Americas.

The narrative around Christopher Columbus really began to shift when I was a kid. Although the movement had been around for a few decades before, the idea of Indigenous People’s Day, in lieu of Columbus Day, became more mainstream in my lifetime. Columbus has morphed from an undisputed hero into a villain who stole from and slaughtered native populations. And along with that shift came the notion that Columbus Day should no longer be on the calendar. This narrative accelerated as the lens of systemic racism in the United States expanded its focus from the African American population to the broader BIPOC population (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color). As the country came to understand systemic racism more generally, more people realized that the one-sided story of Christopher Columbus that we had been taught for over a century was not totally accurate.

In the lobby of Blaustein, there is a large banner, as well as another poster, with the words, “You are on Pequot and Mohegan homeland,” in acknowledgement of Indigenous Peoples’ Day — the alternative name given to Columbus Day. Especially on college campuses, we have been quick to completely move away from the “Eurocentric” idea of Columbus and instead look at the perspective of the Native Americans.

And there is no doubt that the Native Americans were egregiously wronged by the European expeditioners, and their stories should and must be taught. And thankfully, they are now taught in a way that they never were even a half generation ago. But must that be at the exclusion of Columbus Day? Surely we celebrate Christopher Columbus for a reason, right? 

Between 1870 and 1924, more than four million Italians immigrated to the United States, where they faced discrimination not only in the workforce, but in American society generally. The Italians immigrants who came to America were greeted with hostility. The vast majority of Italian immigrants were Catholic, and at the time of their arrival here, anti-Catholic discrimination was prevalent in the predominantly Protestant country. Driving much of the hostility was the fact that at the time, Italians were not viewed as “full-blooded Caucasians”. In 1891, anti-Italian hate reached its highest levels with the lynching of 11 Italians in New Orleans. The discrimination they suffered continued on a systemic scale until the 1950s. 

For Italians, the legacy of Christopher Columbus was a way to show their new host nation that they could indeed be a part of American culture. After all, it was Columbus who discovered this great land that they all now called home. Christopher Columbus, the Italian explorer, was the hero that Italian immigrants needed. 

The Irish saw commonality in the experience of the Italians. Groups like Knights of Columbus embraced the new Italian immigrants as their own, seeing them as fellow Catholics with whom to ally for protection against anti-Catholic discrimination. Irish Catholic groups, acting in solidarity with the oppressed Italian population, joined the Italian Americans at the forefront of promoting the successes and legacy of Christopher Columbus.

The creation of Columbus Day in 1892, the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ expedition, helped Italians of that era assimilate into American society, and it was a direct response to the discrimination they faced. It was the result of a political movement by two immigrant groups seeking to move in from the margins of society.

The legacy of Christopher Columbus, like everything in history, is neither clear cut nor easily understood in a binary manner. It is instead quite nuanced. While Columbus was brutal to the indigenous populations of the lands he discovered, his discovery of uncharted lands was undeniably crucial in the development of the early modern world, and the story behind his day of recognition — as imperfect a symbol as it may be — is one of the history of a critical ethnic group of our nation, not just of one man.  

Columbus Day is a day of honoring Italian-American heritage more than anything. It is a celebration of Italian-American culture, as well as of the melting pot of the United States. Columbus Day serves as a reminder that we are a nation of immigrants, and that our ancestors came here looking for a better life and new opportunities — and found a home. And that is something we should all celebrate.