Columbus Day

Native Americans Explain the Significance of Indigenous Peoples' Day

"It is difficult to grapple with the complete accomplishments of individuals and also the costs of what those accomplishments came at," said Mandy Van Heuvelen, the cultural interpreter coordinator at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian.

Columbus Day was a Battle in the 90's History Wars, Too

by Cynthia C. Prescott

"The History Wars of the 1990s can show us that compromise and accommodation can temporarily defuse controversy — but tempt us to postpone the harder work of seeking justice and truth."

Columbus Still Kills: Trump, Colonial Apologetics and Anti-Native Violence

by Thomas Lecaque

As a historian, I see recent attacks on indigenous Americans and intrusions on tribal lands as part of a lengthy tradition of violence. But this year has witnessed a surge in apologetics for colonial violence in history that give support to present-day harm. 

On Columbus Day in 1963, Trump Marched up Fifth Avenue in New York’s Parade

Donald Trump's participation as a military school drill team member shows that his love of spectacle has remained unchanged even as the national dialogue on racism and history has been transformed. 

White House Issues Proclamation on Columbus Day

The White House used the occasion of Columbus Day to attack historical revisionism and the use of "racially divisive concepts" in workplace training. 

The Creation Of Holidays In America Has Always Been Political

by Diana Muir Appelbaum

All holidays are invented, none will last forever and the decision to add a holiday to the federal calendar is always political.

Citations Are a Metaphor for Erasure in American History

by Anne C. Bailey

Last week, the Washington Post failed to cite my book in an article about "The Weeping Time." Here's why such oversights matter. 

Here are the indigenous people Christopher Columbus and his men could not annihilate

This year the District of Columbia joins at least five states and dozens of cities and counties in replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day. It’s part of a decades-long reckoning with the sanitized version of the European colonization of the Americas.

Why more places are abandoning Columbus Day in favor of Indigenous Peoples’ Day

by Malinda Maynor Lowery

The growing recognition and celebration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day actually represents the fruits of a concerted, decadeslong effort to recognize the role of indigenous people in the nation’s history.

Columbus believed he would find ‘blemmyes’ and ‘sciapods’ – not people – in the New World

by Peter C. Mancall

Centuries of conventional wisdom had conditioned him to believe that bizarre beasts and 'monstrous men' would be awaiting him.

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

Leif Erikson Day is a celebration of the Viking explorer credited with reaching the continent around the year 1000, nearly 500 years before Columbus did.

Which Presidents – If Any – Did Right by Native Americans?

by Walter G. Moss

And the disheartening truth about the policies and attitudes of some of our greatest presidents.

Columbus Day

HNN's full coverage of Columbus Day, Indigenous People's Day

How Columbus, of all people, became a national symbol

by William Francis Keegan

Columbus likely would have slipped back into obscurity if not for American hubris.

The Invention of Christopher Columbus, American Hero

by Edward Burmila

How the founding fathers turned Christopher Columbus, a mediocre Italian sailor and mass murderer, into a historical icon.

Trump Praises 'Arrival of Europeans' In Columbus Day Message, Doesn't Mention Native Americans Who Were Slaughtered

In his final Columbus Day proclamation as president, Obama recognized the suffering endured by the Native American people.

The History Behind the Movement to Replace Columbus Day With Indigenous Peoples' Day

by Arica L. Coleman

Though the first Indigenous Peoples’ Day was celebrated in the early 1990s, the idea took shape many years earlier.

As Confederate statues come down, what about Columbus?

While historians caution against lumping in Columbus with Confederates who came three centuries later, they say Columbus’ holiday and monuments remain ripe for reassessment — whether they stay, change or vanish entirely.

LA votes to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day

Los Angeles joins San Francisco and several other cities nationwide in honoring native Americans in lieu of Columbus.

The war against Columbus Day

A growing number of communities are now ditching the traditional Columbus Day holiday in favor of Indigenous People’s Day.