Christopher Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples’ Day?
Christopher Columbus believed he had reached East Asia when he sighted Cuba in 1492, thinking it was China. When his expedition reached Hispaniola, he believed he had found Japan.
His voyages opened the way for centuries of European exploration, trade, and colonization in the Americas. They also brought devastating consequences for Indigenous peoples, including disease, displacement, warfare, and enslavement.
Columbus’s accomplishment has been celebrated as Columbus Day since the 18th century and became a U.S. federal holiday in 1937.
But Columbus Day—and the man who inspired it—has long been controversial.
Critics argue that European expansion came at the expense of Indigenous peoples, who lost their lands and, in many cases, their freedom and lives. During the 1990s, protests surrounding Columbus Day helped fuel the movement for Indigenous Peoples’ Day, a counter-celebration recognizing Native peoples and the impact of colonization.
In 2021, President Joe Biden issued a proclamation recognizing Indigenous Peoples’ Day on the same date as Columbus Day. Today, states and communities differ in how they observe the second Monday in October. Some recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day, some continue to celebrate Columbus Day, and others observe both or have their own commemorations.
The controversy continues.
Dissenters argue that holidays, statues, and other memorials to Columbus overlook the suffering associated with European colonization and give him credit for “discovering” lands inhabited by Indigenous peoples for thousands of years. Italian Americans, meanwhile, may view Columbus Day primarily as a celebration of their heritage rather than the explorer himself.
Whatever you choose to call the day or if you choose to observe it or not, I will think about the three ships Columbus sailed—the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa María—and remember the little jingle I learned in school:
Christopher Columbus sailed in the ocean blue in 1492.
Turns out, that familiar rhyme came from Winifred Sackville Stoner Jr., who wrote poems, rhymes, and mnemonic jingles to help people remember facts. Her poem, “The History of the U.S.,” was published in Yankee Doodles: A Book of American Verse in 1943.
The poem is quite long and covers American history all the way through World War I. I’m extremely grateful my teachers never made me memorize the whole thing!
