On October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus made history by setting foot on the New World. 300 years later, the first “Columbus Day” was celebrated by the New York Society of Saint Tammany. On the 400th anniversary, Columbus Day was declared a national holiday. On September 20th, 1977, the United Nations, also known as the UN, recognized a group of Indigenous delegates lobbying that the aforementioned holiday be replaced by an “International Day of Solidarity” acknowledging the mistreatment of Indigenous people across the globe and honoring their cultural heritage. It was the first time that the UN ever recognized native speakers within a conference.
The conflict between Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples’ Day is one brimming with significant history, as well as a plethora of misconceptions and misinformation. The implementation of Columbus Day in 1892 by President Benjamin Harrison was in response to an ethnically charged violent attack on Italian-American immigrants that took place in March of 1891 in the town of New Orleans. After the murder of a local police officer, David Hennessy, suspicion was directed towards the mostly immigrant populated subsection of New Orleans’ French Quarter known as “Little Palermo.” It was theorized by many that first and second generation Sicilians became the natural suspects because of their darker skin and unfamiliar cultural practices. These differences lit a xenophobia-fueled fire that had been being kindled for the past century, ultimately leading to the devastating mass lynching of 11 Italian-Americans. See, this wasn’t the beginning of persecution of this nature, but a result of the tension it had built between communities. In the late 1700s, Italian-American activist groups began to claim Columbus as the mascot for their movement, showing the impact of Italians on American society. The holiday was created with the intention of celebrating Italian culture and immigrant contributions in the new world.
Unfortunately, the story of Christopher Columbus was much less simple than many made it out to be. To the Indigenous people of America, Columbus was seen as an ignoble reprobate who had sent their search for equality back by centuries. Contrary to popular belief, Columbus was not a heroic patriot. In fact, his journey to the new world was one motivated by religious conversion rather than exploration. An interview conducted with author and Yale history professor Alan Mikhail in 2020 highlighted the anti-Muslim sentiment that fueled Columbus’ voyages. Many sources, including the pro-Columbus advocate, Carol Delaney, agree that Columbus was largely driven by a desire to gather resources in a mission to “take Jerusalem back” from the Muslims, and his attempted conversion of the Indigenous peoples fell within this goal. Delaney even goes as far as to claim that Columbus “never had any slaves,” that he was “very patient,” and that he “liked the natives.” While it is easy to interpret the events of yesteryear secondhand, there is no better way than to hear the words from the horse’s mouth, so to speak. Letters and journal entries written by Columbus during his voyages indicate his intentions– to proselytize the Indigenous Americans by any means possible. Personal journal entries discuss the reeducation of the native peoples, speaking of using force to persuade them and even stating that despite their intelligence and mild manners, “they should be good servants.”
The American native’s journey to personal agency is a long one, fraught with struggle, and one that continues even today. The Indian Citizenship Act was passed in 1924 declaring the native peoples of America to be citizens of the United States. Despite this, obstacles continued to be placed in order to prevent the Indigenous from exercising their so-called inalienable rights. These ranged anywhere from literacy tests to absurd rules and qualifications applied to any native citizen or person residing on a reservation. These struggles, although lessened, continued after the passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by alternate means. Many claim that instead of imposing alternate requirements, the strategic placement of polling stations and post offices has occurred, creating situations in which one would need to drive up to 50 miles to cast their vote, a feat specifically challenging due to insufficient transportation available to those living on reservations. This inaccessibility of voting has resulted in America’s native populations becoming one of the lowest voting demographics.
Many have tracked this continuous denial of native rights to historical figures such as Andrew Jackson and Christopher Columbus, both of which strongly contributed to the struggles of the Indigenous folk, and the yearly celebration in Columbus’ name has come to be known as offensive. The majority of the conflict between the Italian-Americans and Indigenous people has come from interpretations of the occasion, many advocates for the holiday believe that Italian Heritage Month draws power from the date, and the celebration acts as a contribution to their collective pride. To the Indigenous, however, the holiday does not honor the immigrants who contributed to the founding of the United States, but is a day celebrating the eradication of their heritage, language, and culture. The first legally recognized Indigenous Peoples’ Day was in 1990, replacing Columbus Day in South Dakota with “Native Americans’ Day.” It was nationally recognized for the first time in 2021. According to Pew Research, as of 2025, 5 states celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day as an independently recognized, paid holiday on the second Monday of October. Maryland is not one of these states.
