🌎 Columbus Day: Between Celebration and Reflection

Each October, as autumn leaves color the streets, America pauses for a day that has stirred debate, pride, and introspection for generations — Columbus Day. Once a straightforward celebration of discovery and progress, it has now become a mirror reflecting America’s evolving values and its willingness to confront uncomfortable truths.

The Origin of Columbus Day

The story begins in 1492, when Italian explorer Christopher Columbus embarked on a voyage across the Atlantic, believing he had reached Asia — though he had, in fact, arrived in the Americas. His expedition forever altered the course of world history, linking Europe and the “New World.”

The first known Columbus Day celebration in the United States took place in 1792 in New York City, marking the 300th anniversary of the voyage. But the holiday gained deeper national significance centuries later.

In 1892, following a tragic mass lynching of Italian immigrants in New Orleans, President Benjamin Harrison called for a national observance to honor Italian-American heritage and promote unity. It was meant to heal divides — to make immigrants feel seen in a country still learning inclusion.

By 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt made Columbus Day a federal holiday, and in 1971, Congress fixed it to the second Monday of October.

For decades, it symbolized courage, ambition, and discovery — the American ideals of perseverance and adventure.

From Celebration to Controversy

Over time, a more complex truth emerged. The narrative of “discovery” began to clash with Indigenous history — because, of course, the Americas were already home to thriving civilizations long before Columbus arrived.

As historians and Native voices shared more accounts of colonial violence, enslavement, and cultural erasure, the image of Columbus shifted. To many Indigenous people, his arrival marked not the dawn of a new world, but the beginning of profound loss.

Cities and states began to re-examine the holiday. Statues were questioned, parades softened, and schools started to tell fuller stories.

Today, while Columbus Day remains a federal holiday, many states — including Maine, New Mexico, Vermont, and Oregon — now recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day instead. This change doesn’t erase the past; it reframes it. It acknowledges those who lived, thrived, and suffered before European arrival.

Why Columbus Day Still Matters

The holiday’s transformation raises essential questions:

How do we honor history without glorifying its pain?

How do we celebrate heritage while acknowledging harm?

For Italian Americans, Columbus Day continues to represent identity and resilience — a reminder of the discrimination their ancestors overcame. It’s about belonging in a nation built by immigrants.

For Indigenous communities, this time of year is about remembrance and resistance — a moment to honor ancestors, land, and cultural survival.

And for America as a whole, it’s a chance to do something rare: to hold two truths at once — that exploration can inspire, and that its consequences can wound.

Rethinking the Narrative

Instead of choosing sides, many advocates urge re-education. Columbus Day, they argue, can evolve into a dual day of learning — one that celebrates human curiosity while facing the moral costs of conquest.

Schools can teach not just “Columbus discovered America” but also “Indigenous nations already flourished here.”

Communities can host both parades and remembrance ceremonies.

Museums can display both triumph and tragedy — side by side.

This is the power of history when told completely: it stops being a myth and becomes a mirror.

Moving Forward with Understanding

Whether you wave a flag for Columbus Day or light a candle for Indigenous Peoples’ Day, both gestures share something sacred — a longing to be remembered, respected, and understood.

In the end, the holiday’s meaning depends not on politics, but on empathy. The more perspectives we include, the more complete the American story becomes.

As author Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz once wrote, “History is not the past. It is the story we tell about the past.”

And in telling it truthfully, we find not division — but growth.

✨ Final Thought:

This October, may Columbus Day — or Indigenous Peoples’ Day — remind us that acknowledging pain doesn’t diminish pride. It deepens it. Because true patriotism is not blind celebration; it’s courageous reflection.