In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue....
We've all heard, and maybe memorized, the poem. In 1934, Congress made October 12 a federal holiday, largely because of the lobbying efforts of the Knights of Columbus organization, a Catholic fraternal organization. In 1970, Congress moved the celebration to the second Monday in October. How did that happen? Columbus never set foot in North or South America proper. He died believing that he had only landed on a few Asian islands, denying that he had "discovered" new continents. And even in the early 20th century, there were lots of theories about people "discovering" the Americas before Columbus: Vikings, Chinese, Africans, Welsh, Jews, Egyptians, Polynesians, etc. Of course, Native Americans knew the whole debate was ridiculous from the start.
Columbus Day happened because of the huge surge of Italian immigrants in the late 1800s. In America, they were met with discrimination, racism, and violence. Italian-American leaders were desperate to establish their "American-ness," their rights to the American dream. They latched onto Columbus, who had been mythologized in the early 1800s by mythmakers like Washington Irving, and made him an even bigger American hero. The first Columbus Day was celebrated in 1892, along with the opening of the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, to mark the 400th anniversary of the first voyage.
Colorado was the first state to make Columbus Day a state holiday in 1906. Within five years,14 other states had done the same. At the same time, there was a push to commemorate Leif Erickson Day, but that movement lacked the traction that Columbus Day had. Then the 20th century happened. Historians started tearing down the heroic Columbus, and he went from being America's biggest hero to being America's biggest villain, as evidence of the death and destruction that his voyages wrought amongst indigenous people came to light.
By the end of the 20th century, a new movement began. In 1989, South Dakota replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day. Soon, other cities, states, and countries followed suit, replacing celebrations of Columbus with recognition of indigenous peoples. Just before I wrote this, Mexico City's government announced that its statue of Columbus would be replaced by a statue dedicated to indigenous women.
Was Columbus a hero or a villain? We know he was not the first "discoverer" of America. We know that he only really discovered a small portion of the Americas, and we know that he was followed by lots of Europeans eager to follow up on his "discovery." We also know that he enslaved Native Americans from his first voyage, writing in his journal that the natives were “very well built with very handsome bodies and very good faces. They do not carry arms or know them … They should be good servants.” He, and/or his men, enforced subjugation of the Taino people with floggings, rape, amputations, and public executions. Unknowingly, they introduced diseases into the indigenous population. Ultimately, it is estimated that 50% - 90% of the indigenous population of the Americas died of diseases brought by Europeans and for which the indigenous population had no natural immunity.
The truth is that history is never, ever black and white. Christopher Columbus was an important figure in world history, but I think it's difficult to call him a hero. Was he the greatest villain in history? Maybe not, but it's difficult to justify according him heroic honors.
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