One of the City’s founders, Silas McBee, suggested Columbus as the name for the place back around 1891. There are twenty-two other United States cities that have the same name. Around the world, nations, including the United States, recognize Columbus Day as a holiday to celebrate the anniversary of the arrival of explorer Christopher Columbus to the Americas.
Columbus Day celebrations happen the second Monday in October, on the 11th this year. But not this year in Mississippi’s Columbus. The Columbus City Council voted unanimously to replace the Columbus Day holiday with the June holiday of Juneteenth.
Because of things few want to talk about and what the explorer Columbus represents to some, Columbus Day has long been controversial. Some apply an evolved 21st century perspective to 15th century times. No doubt, Columbus did horrible things. Pillaging, raping, and murdering are not things to celebrate. Spreading diseases, such as smallpox and measles, that decimated populations have become part of Columbus’ controversial legacy. What he did to the native populations is unconscionable.
So why did people start celebrating Columbus’ arrival? In 1792, many Italian and Catholic communities started having parades in Columbus’ honor celebrating his roots and faith. He symbolized an immigrant success story for many Catholics. For Father Sorin, founder of the Catholic University of Notre Dame, Columbus represented a creator of ethnic identity and a proud man of faith. At the school, Father Sorin, commissioned a mural honoring Columbus that now is covered because of Columbus’ controversy.
It’s hard for most modern Americans to relate to, but it used to be that Catholics were discriminated against and many people refused to celebrate the holiday because of anti-immigrant groups association with Catholicism. President John F. Kennedy was the first Catholic elected to the presidency and some may consider that election the turning point to Catholic “acceptance” for many. Today, the United States has another Catholic President and voters did not consider his religion a “negative” or something he needed to “overcome with voters.”
To Protestant Americans, celebrating Columbus Day was celebrating patriotism, acquiring land, and separating from Europe. In 1790 our nation’s capital was moved to the District of Columbia, named after Columbus. On the 400th Anniversary of Columbus’ arrival, President Harrison encouraged Americans to celebrate “the great achievements of American life.” In 1937, President Franklin Roosevelt declared Columbus Day a national holiday, originally celebrated on October 12 but changed in the 1970’s to the second Monday in October. Not everyone thinks President Roosevelt made Columbus Day a federal holiday to celebrate exploration and discovery, but “bowed” to pressure from the Knights of Columbus, a powerful Catholic organization.
Some think it’s not correct to celebrate Columbus “discovering” something that already existed. But that was not what the official holiday was ever about. At the time, Columbus symbolized great exploration, curiosity, and determination—the “American spirit.”
Christopher Columbus was a deeply flawed man. But Christopher Columbus did change the world.
How about in Mississippi’s Columbus, a city named after an explorer, we embrace the debate and discuss his legacy? Or how about we take time to celebrate curiosity and great achievements–and figure out a way our City can get more of both?
More About Christopher Columbus, who brought us chocolate and tomatoes, and other non-controversial things you may not know:
Christopher Columbus, a daring Italian trailblazing explorer and devote Catholic, ignited the Age of Exploration. Some falsely believe he set out to prove the world was not flat, but philosophers had already done that and most of educated society in Columbus’ time knew the world was round. Columbus wanted to find a more efficient sailing route to India from Europe, as opposed to traveling around the horn of Africa. He hypothesized (wrongly) that by going west it would be shorter, as he believed the world was not so big.
Columbus’ journey linked the Old World with the New World resulting in globalization. It was an explosion of greatness and catastrophe. A massive movement of foods, animal, people, ideas, and even disease. The Old World to was introduced to spices thereby creating their first spicy foods. The world got chocolate. Tomatoes. Old World wheat became an American staple. African coffee and Asian sugar made their way across Oceans. European diets were introduced to American foods. Columbus’ introduction of the potato boosted cold-weather regions populations, while cassava provided Africa with a drought tolerant crop that provided dense nutrition.
