1Muscogulus
This is certainly the place to post the question, as the most popular candidate for an alternative name is Indigenous Peoples Day. Several municipalities around the U.S. have already made the switch.
In Tupelo, Miss., the holiday was replaced with Piomingo Day, in honor of a Chickasaw leader of the early to mid-1800s.
Christopher Columbus's stock has certainly fallen since its peak ca. 1892. Surveys of Americans now find that the holiday is regarded as one of the least significant in the calendar, and many states don’t observe it at all, while others have replaced it with a holiday honoring indeigenous Americans.
One Navajo writer, Mark Charles, proposes keeping Columbus Day as "a day of national mourning":
In Tupelo, Miss., the holiday was replaced with Piomingo Day, in honor of a Chickasaw leader of the early to mid-1800s.
Christopher Columbus's stock has certainly fallen since its peak ca. 1892. Surveys of Americans now find that the holiday is regarded as one of the least significant in the calendar, and many states don’t observe it at all, while others have replaced it with a holiday honoring indeigenous Americans.
One Navajo writer, Mark Charles, proposes keeping Columbus Day as "a day of national mourning":
2elenchus
I like the idea of each locality (state? region? county?) identifying the specific focus, but all beneath an overarching umbrella. So Indigenous Peoples Day could work, but so could something a little broader: Ethnic Nations Day, or Immigrant / Emigrant Day. And with a broad theme like that, the specifics could adapt to long term trends. Who knows, in 50 years, the U.S. might find itself a net emigrant nation, with fewer and fewer of us able to afford to live here ....
3Muscogulus
Here's a quick survey of changes, including how many states still observe Chris's day: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/10/12/why-columbus-days-days...
4elenchus
Nice summary, and perhaps I'd rename my suggestion from Ethnic Nations Day to National Heritage Day. What better way to focus on the shifting demographics and rich melting pot that is U.S. culture?
5TLCrawford
#4 I have been told by friends in international education that the rich stew of the "melting pot" has been replaced by the "salad" metaphor. Everything keeps its identity but it all works well together.
7LolaWalser
>5 TLCrawford:
Nothing new, Yugoslavia used to be proud, with excellent reason, of its concept of a "mosaic".
>1 Muscogulus:
I never understood the point of Columbus Day. What exactly is being celebrated and by whom? How could such an obviously narrow-interest, self-serving view of European discovery get imposed on the country?
Still I wonder.
Nothing new, Yugoslavia used to be proud, with excellent reason, of its concept of a "mosaic".
>1 Muscogulus:
I never understood the point of Columbus Day. What exactly is being celebrated and by whom? How could such an obviously narrow-interest, self-serving view of European discovery get imposed on the country?
Still I wonder.
8southernbooklady
>7 LolaWalser: I never understood the point of Columbus Day
They needed a national holiday for the month of October.
They needed a national holiday for the month of October.
9TLCrawford
If I recall correctly it was the Catholic contingents of the Grand Army of the Republic that pushed celebrating Christopher Columbus. Catholics were fairly new immigrants at the time of the Civil War and we all know how new immigrants are looked at in this country. They enlisted in the Union Army at a very high rate and were a large presence in the GAR. The GAR was very active in the years leading to the 400th anniversary of Columbus's landing, Columbus and the Queen he sailed for were Catholic. Many of the Catholics in the GAR became members of the growing fraternal religious organization called the Knights of Columbus. Through the GAR and the KoC and the 400th annaversery of his landing Columbus became very popular and eventually states started recognizing the holiday. Much of the original opposition was because of the religious connection, that is the connection to "popery" .
All that is what I remember from a conversation with a history professor as we waited for more students to show up for class during a minor snowstorm a few years ago. It is very likely that some, at least some, of it is wronge.
All that is what I remember from a conversation with a history professor as we waited for more students to show up for class during a minor snowstorm a few years ago. It is very likely that some, at least some, of it is wronge.
10Muscogulus
>7 LolaWalser:
>9 TLCrawford:
The primary motive behind Columbus Day was to celebrate the heritage of Italian-Americans. Like Germans and Irish who had come before them, they initially faced discrimination and suspicion, and they were blamed for being supposed carriers of urban blight and social ills such as alcoholism, domestic violence, and political radicalism. These prejudices persisted through the Progressive Era and into the 20th century, but by 1892 (the 400th anniversary of Columbus' first voyage) Italian-American activists succeeded in adopting Columbus as a countryman. Americans had admired a generic European stereotype of Columbus ever since independence — some wanted the country to be called the U.S. of Columbia — so giving him an Italian identity was a coup for Catholics in general, but for Italian-Americans in particular.
The conservative Catholic men's club, the Knights of Columbus, was founded ten years before the quadricentenary in New Haven, Conn. The KOC is all about the Catholic angle, not the Italian. Their version of Columbus as the heroic messenger of Christ to the American heathen is passé now, but was all the rage ca. 1892.
In other words, Columbus Day was never about the indigenous people as people. They were props, with no more agency than the land Columbus claimed.
FDR made Columbus Day a national holiday in the 1930s.
Here's a good page about how Columbus has been represented in the U.S. Capitol — one of the most frequently depicted subjects from the 1820s to ca. 1940.
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~CAP/COLUMBUS/col4.html
Edited to add the omitted link…
>9 TLCrawford:
The primary motive behind Columbus Day was to celebrate the heritage of Italian-Americans. Like Germans and Irish who had come before them, they initially faced discrimination and suspicion, and they were blamed for being supposed carriers of urban blight and social ills such as alcoholism, domestic violence, and political radicalism. These prejudices persisted through the Progressive Era and into the 20th century, but by 1892 (the 400th anniversary of Columbus' first voyage) Italian-American activists succeeded in adopting Columbus as a countryman. Americans had admired a generic European stereotype of Columbus ever since independence — some wanted the country to be called the U.S. of Columbia — so giving him an Italian identity was a coup for Catholics in general, but for Italian-Americans in particular.
The conservative Catholic men's club, the Knights of Columbus, was founded ten years before the quadricentenary in New Haven, Conn. The KOC is all about the Catholic angle, not the Italian. Their version of Columbus as the heroic messenger of Christ to the American heathen is passé now, but was all the rage ca. 1892.
In other words, Columbus Day was never about the indigenous people as people. They were props, with no more agency than the land Columbus claimed.
FDR made Columbus Day a national holiday in the 1930s.
Here's a good page about how Columbus has been represented in the U.S. Capitol — one of the most frequently depicted subjects from the 1820s to ca. 1940.
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~CAP/COLUMBUS/col4.html
Edited to add the omitted link…
11TLCrawford
I have to confess that the first time I considered what the First Nations, to use Canada's term, thought about Columbus Day was after watching an episode of "Northern Exposure".
12Muscogulus
He sure did matter to the land speculators who scarfed up Indian land in the Southeast. My state of Alabama is hemmed in by towns named Columbus.
On the western border there's Columbus, Miss., founded 1821 on Choctaw land.
And on the east there's Columbus, Ga., founded 1828 on Creek land, and the main staging area for the land frauds of the 1830s and the pre-removal Creek War of 1836.
On the western border there's Columbus, Miss., founded 1821 on Choctaw land.
And on the east there's Columbus, Ga., founded 1828 on Creek land, and the main staging area for the land frauds of the 1830s and the pre-removal Creek War of 1836.
13LolaWalser
Inch by inch, state by state...
"Maine has replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day, joining an increasing number of states and localities that have made the change."
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/28/us/columbus-day-indigenous-peoples.html
"Maine has replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day, joining an increasing number of states and localities that have made the change."
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/28/us/columbus-day-indigenous-peoples.html
14Muscogulus
This is a trend. Texas and Oregon are the latest states to come on board.
The Wikipedia article Indigenous Peoples' Day has a detailed chronology of the holiday's adoption. Oklahoma is still resisting, although several tribal governments there have switched. South Dakota was the very first, in 1989, but choosing the name "Native American Day" to replace Columbus.
The Wikipedia article Indigenous Peoples' Day has a detailed chronology of the holiday's adoption. Oklahoma is still resisting, although several tribal governments there have switched. South Dakota was the very first, in 1989, but choosing the name "Native American Day" to replace Columbus.
