![]() ![]() They first proposed a day to celebrate indigenous people in 1977 during a United Nations conference about discrimination against them, and in 1990, a plan to replace Columbus Day was discussed at the International Conference on Discrimination Against Indigenous Populations, USA Today reported. Indigenous people - furious at seeing Columbus elevated to hero status while representing the brutal European conquering of their ancestors - have long fought back against Columbus Day.ģ Native Americans join others in a ceremony to mark the first Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Why is Columbus Day getting rebranded as Indigenous Peoples’ Day, and how did it happen? “Each October, when Columbus is honored, it further diminishes and erases Native people, their history and their culture.” “For over 500 years, Indigenous people have been fighting for their survival, land and rights,” Les Begay, a Diné Nation member and co-founder of the Indigenous Peoples’ Day Coalition of Illinois, said during a Monday rally, according to USA Today. The day commemorates the long history Native Americans have in the US, well before the arrival of European settlers. Indigenous Peoples’ Day is a holiday that celebrates Native Americans and their culture and history. ![]() 12, congress changed the date in 1971 to the second Monday of October, and it’s been traditionally feted with parades largely organized by Italian American groups ever since. Still, Italian Americans wanted a nationwide holiday and continued to advocate for one until Roosevelt designated it in 1934.ģ A statue of Christopher Columbus in downtown Los Angeles AFP via Getty Images The event, one of the largest mass lynchings in US history, created tension between the US and Italy, which wanted reparations for the murders and led them to cut off diplomatic relations with the US, the outlet reported.Ībout a year later in 1892, President Benjamin Harrison announced a nationwide celebration of “Discovery Day” in honor of Columbus as a means to make up with Italy and acknowledge the role Italian Americans played in the US’s early history. In response, more than a hundred Sicilian Americans were arrested for the crime, and when nine were tried but later acquitted, a mob broke into the city prison and killed at least 11 Italian American inmates, according to National Geographic. The new arrivals weren’t necessarily welcomed with open arms, and anti-Italian American sentiment eventually boiled over in 1890 when David Hennessy, the chief of police in New Orleans who was known for his arrests of Italian Americans, was murdered. Roosevelt made Columbus Day a federal holiday in 1934, it’s likely he had no idea the controversy he would create and in fact, his decision to mark the occasion was an attempt to quell boiling tensions with Italian Americans.Ĭolumbus Day had been loosely celebrated by Catholics and Italian Americans, primarily on the East Coast, since the end of the American Revolution, but the commemorations grew when large amounts of Italian immigrants resettled in the US at the end of the 19th century.ģ Indigenous Enterprise attend the Inaugural Indigenous Peoples’ Day Celebration at Los Angeles Grand Park. The history of Columbus Day as a federal holiday This is how Columbus Day transformed into a celebration of Indigenous people. In 1992, Berkeley, Calif., became the first city to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day - and now, nearly 30 years later, there are more than 130 cities and at least 21 states that observe the occasion their own way. It took Christopher Columbus about nine weeks to reach the New World from Spain - and his critics more than half a century to start convincing US cities to ditch the holiday honoring the moment.Ĭolumbus Day is still widely celebrated across the US but each year, more and more locales are opting to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day instead or at least, commemorate both occasions on the same day or separately. Hochul turns deaf ear to question of helping NYC handle migrant crisis Vandals spray-paint ‘Murderer’ on Central Park Columbus statue Thousands cheer on the 79th annual Columbus Day Parade in NYC: photos ![]()
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