Since 1937, the second Monday of October has been recognized as Columbus Day, a holiday meant to celebrate Italian heritage and honor Christopher Columbus, the explorer credited with “discovering” the Americas in 1492. Traditionally, the holiday celebrated Columbus's role in initiating European exploration, colonization, and the spread of Christianity across the New World. Yet, this commemoration reinforces a one-sided narrative that is shaped by contradictions, biases, and discrepancies.
In the early 20th century, many history books promoted an older, more pro-European interpretation of Columbus and his “discovery” of the Americas. These accounts caused widespread misconceptions and false narratives about the discovery of the New World, while silencing other perspectives. Historians tended to ignore the perspectives and experiences of those who did not conform to the narrative, downplaying the negative effects of colonization on the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. It was easier to tell a national success story than to confront a history of decline, suffering, and genocide.
The truth is that Columbus was neither the first explorer nor the first person to reach the Americas. Indigenous peoples had inhabited the Americas for tens of thousands of years, long before Europeans arrived. Columbus’s arrival, along with other Europeans, had catastrophic consequences including a loss of life and land, disruption of tradition and religion, and establishment of colonies that continually disrupted Indigenous communities.
Warfare, enslavement of Indigenous peoples, famine, and brutal working conditions led to a massive decline in native populations. While the population decline has historically been blamed on smallpox and other diseases, recent studies highlight that forced labor and abuse had equally devastating impacts. It is estimated that in the first 130 years following the arrival of Columbus and the Europeans, there was a 95 percent decline in the population of Native Americans.
At the same time, the stories of Indigenous Peoples are often erased or misrepresented. This incorrect image is reinforced in the media, with Native Americans often portrayed as either savage enemies of the colonists or tragic, powerless victims. Their story has always been one-dimensional, reducing them to stereotypes instead of depicting them as real, complex human beings with thriving culture, accomplishments, and flaws—just like any other group of people.
A shift in this narrative finally began centuries later, as the perspectives and histories of Native Americans started to gain recognition. In the late 1960s and 70s, social movements of the Vietnam War inspired people to question the historical accounts that had been accepted for so long. Pressures from college students and activists led to the introduction of new classes and prompted scholars and historians to reexamine the past. Eventually, scholars tried to rewrite a history that told both the European and Native American perspective.
In recent years, several states and cities in America have started to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day. This holiday honors the resilience and contributions of Native Americans, allowing more contemporary stories of their communities to be shared. Rather than idolizing a flawed history, this observance encourages the reflection on the complexity of our shared history.