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Illustration of armed men in a large mob surrounding Orleans Parish Prison

The First Columbus Day Was Born of Violence — And Political Calculation

President Benjamin Harrison promoted the holiday after a mob killed 11 Italian Americans and set off a diplomatic crisis.
by Ronald G. Shafer via Retropolis on October 10, 2021
Vandalized Christopher Columbus statue
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Columbus Day Had Value for Italian Americans — But It’s Time to Rethink It

It helped erode discrimination but also upheld racial prejudice.
by Danielle Battisti via Made By History on October 12, 2020

The History Behind the Movement to Replace Columbus Day

Though the first Indigenous Peoples’ Day was celebrated in the early 1990s, the idea took shape many years earlier.
by Arica L. Coleman via TIME on October 6, 2017

How Columbus Day Fell Victim to Its Own Success

It's worth remembering that the now-controversial holiday started as a way to empower immigrants and celebrate American diversity.
by Yoni Appelbaum via The Atlantic on October 8, 2012
“The Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers,” an 1885 parody of an 1850 painting by Charles Lucy.

Thankstaking

Was the 'first Thanksgiving' merely a pretext for the bloodshed, enslavement, and displacement that would follow in later decades?
by Jane Kamensky via Commonplace on January 1, 2001

The Troubling History of the Fight to Honor Leif Erikson—Not Columbus—as the Man Who 'Discovered America'

It wasn't simply a matter of getting the history right.
by Olivia B. Waxman via TIME on October 5, 2018

Recontextualizing the Ocean Blue

Italian Americans and the commemoration of Columbus.
by Laura E. Ruberto, Joseph Sciorra via Process: A Blog for American History on October 4, 2017

Columbus Day Is the Most Important Day of Every Year

Acknowledging the truth about colonialism is crucial if we want to comprehend the world around us today.
by Jon Schwarz via The Intercept on October 12, 2015
Columbus and crew landing boat at San Salvador
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1492: Columbus in American Memory

Columbus Day is here again -- along with the controversy over its namesake. How have earlier generations understood him?
via BackStory on October 10, 2014
A statue of Christopher Columbus.

Middle Schoolers Take on Columbus

A lesson on contextualizing history.
by Alex Pinelli via Perspectives on History on October 8, 2020
Students from Ramstein Middle School recite Pledge of Allegiance during a Sep. 11 commemoration ceremony

Why Do We Pledge Allegiance?

Few democracies require children to make a daily declaration of fealty to country.
by Jack David Eller via Boston Review on September 6, 2018
Artist Titus Kaphar says that his 2014 Columbus Day Painting—which greets "Unseen" visitors in the first gallery—was inspired by his young son’s conflicted and confusing study of the putative discoverer of America.

Two Artists in Search of Missing History

A new exhibition makes a powerful statement about the oversights of American history and America’s art history.
by Alicia Ault via Smithsonian on April 4, 2018
"Inspiration of Christopher Columbus" painting, depicting Columbus gazing out at sea.

How Columbus, Of All People, Became a National Symbol

Christopher Columbus was a narcissist.
by William Francis Keegan via The Conversation on October 6, 2017

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