three ships Columbus sailed Archives - View from the Front Porch

13 10, 2025

Why Christopher Columbus Day?

By judythemorgan|2025-10-05T15:08:50-05:00October 13th, 2025|Holidays, Make Me Think Monday|0 Comments

Fall has officially arrived, bringing a stretch of major holidays. The first being Columbus Day, celebrated on October 13 this year.

Columbus Day is a federal holiday in the United States, celebrated on the second Monday in October, to commemorate Christopher Columbus’s landing in the Americas on October 12, 1492.

Made a U.S. federal holiday in 1937, interestingly, thirteen states—Alaska, Hawaii, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington, and

Wisconsin—don’t recognize the holiday.

Many Italian Americans celebrate their heritage, highlighting their contributions to U.S. history.

Fire Department trucks move along Fifth Avenue in the 75th Annual Columbus Day Parade, Manhattan. the largest celebration of Italian-American heritage and culture in the US — Photo by Sam Aronov

So, who is Christopher Columbus, and why is the holiday contested?

On this day in 1492, one of the sailors on the Pinta sighted land, an island in the Bahamas, after 10 weeks of sailing from Palos, Spain, with the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa María.

The Italian explorer Christopher Columbus believed he’d reached East Asia. He’d sighted Cuba and thought it was China. When the expedition landed on Hispaniola, he thought he’d found Japan.

His discovery introduced Europeans to the New World, which led to cultural exchange, commerce, and exploration, and eventually to the discovery of the real westward route to the Indies.

But Columbus Day and the man who inspired it also generate controversy. Many argue that Europeans got land, slaves, and gold, while the aboriginals were dispossessed, enslaved, and infected.

Protests of Columbus Day celebrations resulted in the creation of Indigenous Peoples’ Day in the 1990s to coincide with Columbus Day. Many honor the day and not Columbus.

Columbus Day reminds me of the jingle I had to learn for school:

Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492.

I learned it’s only the first line of a 493-word poem by Winifred Sackville Stoner, Jr. Check out “The History of the U.S.” by Winifred Sackville Stoner if you want to review your US history.

Which will you celebrate today, Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples’ Day, or both?

I’ll be celebrating both, but most of all being thankful that my teacher never made me recite Stoner’s entire poem!

9 10, 2023

Columbus Day – Indigenous People’s Day

By judythemorgan|2023-10-07T08:26:40-05:00October 9th, 2023|Holidays|0 Comments

Which day do you celebrate?

The Italian explorer Christopher Columbus believed he’d reached East Asia when he sighted Cuba and thought it was China. When the expedition landed on Hispaniola, he thought he’d found Japan.

Columbus’s discovery introduced Europeans to the New World, which led to cultural exchange, commerce, and exploration, and eventually to the discovery of the real westward route to the Indies.

His 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 also generated controversy.

Many argue that Europeans got land, slaves, and gold, while the natives were dispossessed, enslaved, and infected the indigenous people in the lands they claimed.

Protests of Columbus Day celebrations resulted in the creation of Indigenous People’s Day in the 1990s, but that did not solve the controversy. Only twenty states have adopted the new Indigenous People’s Day as a holiday. The other states ignore the designation and have various other celebrations on the day.

Italian Americans honor their heritage, not Christopher Columbus. Various Oklahoma tribal governments designate the day as Native American Day, naming it after their tribe.

Whatever you choose to call the day or celebrate, I will always think about the three ships Columbus sailed, the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa María, and remember the jingle I learned in school.

Christopher Columbus sailed in the ocean blue in 1492.

Turns out the jingle comes from a poem by Winifred Sackville Stoner, who was known for poems, rhymes, and mnemonic jingles to aid in the recollection of information.

The poem “The History of The U.S.” is found in Yankee Doodles: A Book of American Verse, edited by Ted Malone and published in 1943 by Whittlesey House (NY and London). You can read the entire poem here. It’s quite long and covers American history through WWI.

Today, I’m celebrating that my teachers never made me recite Stoner’s entire poem.