Columbus Day Is Being Abandon In Favor Of Indigenous Peoples Day In Some Places
Increasingly, Columbus Day is giving people pause.
More and more towns and cities across the country are electing to celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day as an alternative to – or in addition to – the day intended to honor Columbus’ voyages.
Critics of the change see it as just another example of political correctness run amok – another flash point of the culture wars.
As a scholar of Native American history – and a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina – I know the story is more complex than that.
The growing recognition and celebration of Indigenous Peoples Day actually represents the fruits of a concerted, decades-long effort to recognize the role of indigenous people in the nation’s history.
Why Columbus?
Columbus Day is a relatively new federal holiday.
In 1892, a joint congre...