The Columbus Day Controversy Have you ever heard of the classroom rhyme that goes like this “ In 1492 Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue?” Well, Christopher Columbus did not actually discover the Americas first, but just so happened to stumble across it on his way to discovering a shortcut to India where spice and luxury goods were found. Fast forward to hundreds of years later in a more technologically advanced society, historians are continuously learning and writing more about Christopher Columbus’ real life. However, there has been a tremendous amount of controversy that surfaced over the justification of whether we should actually honor this explorer as a true hero. The real question is are we honoring him for accidentally finding our country by celebrating a holiday based on his name on the second Monday of every October when he is not actually true hero? I mean the holiday is a good benefit but why the holiday …show more content…
Since Christopher Columbus was an Italian-Spanish explorer many Italians played a major role in advocating for the Columbus day holiday. Italians felt proud of their heritage and felt that everyone else should share in this with them. American History expert Martin Kelly states, “Italian-Americans were key in the creation of Columbus Day. Beginning on October 12, 1866, New York City's Italian population organized a celebration of the “discovery” of America. This yearly celebration spread to other cities and became known as Columbus Day” (Kelly 2014).This essentially was the beginning of how the Columbus day holiday came to be with Spanish/Italians community celebrating their ancestors great achievement yearly. Like numerous
“In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue”, is the rhyme embedded in children’s heads in the first lesson of US history. However, beyond the discovery of the New World, Christopher Columbus receives no other mentions. Especially no one acknowledges that he was the reason Native Americans were mistreated and kept as slaves. Although Christopher Columbus’ actions are not all honorable he should still be celebrated during Columbus Day as a brave explorer who risked his and his crew’s lives to find a new way of travel and land. His efforts bridged a gap between the New and Old World and helped feed Europe, which immensely impacts our society. Because of his dedication and bravery to be an explorer Christopher Columbus Day should be celebrated.
The credit for this change of view can be given to Washington Irving, who wrote a biography based on Columbus in 1828. This biography romanticized him and gave people the idea that he was this courageous hero who despite people’s claims that he’ll never succeed, ended up discovering what lies past the Atlantic. This biography gathered the momentum needed to catapult the collective opinion of Columbus higher in America. As time passed, more biographers wrote about him which resulted in groups forming, particularly the Knights of Columbus. They’re the group that pressed for a nationally recognized Columbus Day, which passed in
Columbus Day was not always a federal holiday. Traditionally, the holiday was observed on the 12th of October locally. Columbus Day first became a holiday in Colorado in 1906. Through lobbying by Angelo Rose, Generoso Pope, and The Knights of Columbus, Columbus Day became a federal holiday in 1937. It was signed in by Franklin Roosevelt. Since 1970, the holiday has been observed on the second Monday of October. Columbus Day had lobbying against it as well. During the early days before information was not easily available, it was said that the holiday would be used to spread Catholic influence. In later years during the Information Age, arguments such as Columbus 's character or the genocide and slavery of the Indians became widespread arguments against the celebration of the holiday. There are also many arguments as to why the holiday should be kept. Columbus 's voyages led to the colonization of the New World. His expeditions spurred the Age of Exploration, where many European countries continued to invest in exploring for shorter and faster routes to India and the Orient, and new territories to claim. His voyages also led to the Columbian
Christopher Columbus does not deserve to be honored as a hero with his own holiday. Close to 500 years, people have praised Christopher Columbus and also celebrated him as though he was the one who truly founded America. Teachers teach students that he was a great man, also how he found treasures and land known as America. Students are also taught about the names of his three ships he used on his first voyage. However, they did not teach us the truth about Christopher Columbus, and his so called “discovery”.
The name of the article is PRO/CON: Should we celebrate Christopher Columbus?It was made By Silvio Laccetti, McClatchy Tribune, and Los Angeles Times Editorial Board adapted Newsela staff. On 10/06/2017. There are monuments and teachers that are being destroyed. Many people died during Columbus time and when people think of Colombes they think of all the people that he killed. There are parks playgrounds and schools that tribute Christopher Columbus. The article says we should the accomplishment he made. The Los Angeles California City Council have joined with other cities to replace Columbus Day with a holiday called Indigenous Peoples Day. because of the controversy of Columbus, a lot of people
The controversy of whether or not Christopher Columbus should continue to be acknowledged by a federal holiday proves that his legacy has not escaped the scrutiny of history. Arguments born of both sides of the controversy stem from issues such as genocide, racism, multiculturalism, geographical land rights, and the superiority of certain cultures over others. In The Christopher Columbus Controversy: Western Civilization vs. Primitivism, Michael Berliner, Ph.D. declares that recognition of Columbus Day is well-deserved, claiming that Western civilization is superior to all other cultures and Columbus personifies this truth. On the contrary, Jack Weatherford's Examining the Reputation of Christopher Columbus equates Columbus' so-called discovery with brutal genocide and the destruction of ancient sophisticated civilizations. These articles demonstrate two extreme points of view in a manner that makes clear each authors' goals, leading the reader to consider issues of author bias, motivation, and information validity.
Christopher Columbus is a mythical hero or in other words, not a true hero. The story of Christopher Columbus is part of the many myths of Western civilization. Also the story of Christopher Columbus represents the power of those that are privileged and in most cases white European men that have written this mythical history. Zinn (2009 exposes the truth about Columbus through eyes of the people who were there when he had arrived which were the Native Indians (p.481). Columbus had kept a personal journal for his voyage to describe the people and the journey. What was evident throughout his journal was the Native Americans were very nice, gentle and kind hearted people (Zinn, 2009, 481). As Zinn suggests Columbus spoke of the Native Americans as” they are the best people in the world and
Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492. He is known for discovering the ‘New World’ or what we now know as America . Although he changed the world, he might not be the hero one would think of. The author of “Sail On!” thinks of him as a ‘brave’ hero who changed the world. However, the author of “Columbus Doesn’t Deserve A Holiday” thinks of him as a ‘great evil’ or even a ‘murderer’. Between these two articles Columbus had the same goal and achieved it, but does Columbus deserve to be honored?
For more than five centuries Americans have lifted Christopher Columbus to heights of greatness and god-like. We celebrate his life as though he was a man that had done us a great favor. In resent years Christopher Columbus has come under scrutiny, his life and works being questioned more than celebrated. There have be many great men and women that contributed to the building of our great nation but they do not receive anywhere as much recognition as Columbus. When a person begins to study the actual accounts of the "finding of the New World" they begin to wonder if Columbus should adored or hated for his actions. As a child I was taught that Columbus was a great man that had accomplished great things for the sake of humanity, but in reality his agenda was not to better humanity but to better himself. He found the Americas by mere chance and he did not even know of what he found. We give him credit for "finding" the Americas but history tells of the people, that he called Indians, already inhabiting the foreign land. So you decide whether or not Christopher Columbus should be revered a hero.
In our personal lives we consider our past forgotten, however in our history everyone affects how they see themselves. "history repeats itself " is gradually long time we know manipulated and deceived us the wrong information, books, learning in school, the "biased" report before the newspaper, radio and television. Let us move on and we just solemn pray for that will prosper in our country. I noticed that there have been distortions in our history. It’s sad because it seems like we have forgotten the sacrifices of those who died during the time of dictatorship. This tragedy cannot continue. We should stand up for someone’s rights today. Times have changed. More sooner than later, they will take power into their hands by all and whatever
[2] Columbus is a mainstay of American patriotism. He is the patron saint who planted the seeds of our nation. Our culture has been lulled into his heroic myth for hundreds of years and has celebrated this man with much pomp and circumstance. Columbus’ worthiness has been the subject of much controversy and is now being linked to such un-heroic terms as mass murder, holocaust, and genocide.
Columbus should not be considered a hero because he did it for greed, he was lost, and he caused mass genocide. The people should not have special days for him anymore than they do for King George of England. This man was king when Americans revolted, and no one views him as a hero.
Over the years, the same question about our country’s creation has arised, “Should Columbus Day be abolished as a national holiday?” We now know that Christopher Columbus is not the true discoverer of our country. However, does this make it right to take away a holiday for one of the most important explorers in all of history? The United States should not abolish Christopher Columbus Day because he accomplished many great things for the time period, the day represents many people other than Christopher Columbus, and Christopher Columbus discovered America and influenced the development of the Western Hemisphere.
Lets take a look at the history of the day itself to come to a conclusion on this topic. Columbus Day was first declared a federal holiday in 1968 by President Lyndon Johnson preceding that date in the year 1937 President Franklin Roosevelt declared that every October 12 thereafter would be named Columbus Day. Now why have we as a society decided to form Columbus into the hero persona that we have today? I believe the answer has roots in the late 18th and early 19th century. After The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution and after the revolutionary war there was an America that hosted a society of people trying to find a heritage, a history that did not just blatantly state that they were british colonists. They wanted to claim their own story and there own history that is why Columbus is celebrated as a hero today. These people in search for their own history found a figure and to them a figure that represented leaving behind the old world, a figure that represented leaving the old world in search of something better. These people in search for a history decided that Columbus was a hero for the new world. Little did they know, Columbus stumbled onto the Americas by accident, simply in search of a quicker trade route to the
Some Americans argue that Columbus days honors Christopher Columbus, a 14th century Italian sailor and explorer, who sailed under the Spanish Crown who landed on the island of Hispaniola. Others argue that Columbus day does not honor the sailor, rather it recognizes the first contact between Europeans and Natives. While some Americans wish the holiday to be abolished altogether due to Columbus’s controversial actions in Hispaniola. Columbus Day should be renamed to acknowledge what followed Columbus’s encounter with the indigenous natives of hispaniola, accompanied by the fact that Columbus did not discover the new world. A day should still should be recognized, but should be given a title such as “Discovery Day” or “Exploration Day” to more