“Indigenous Peoples’ Day allows us to remember and reflect on our narratives and the stories we tell ourselves about our nation. Columbus Day affirms the narrative of a nation created by Europeans for Europeans. Indigenous Peoples’ Day helps us reflect on native histories and native people in this discussion of what it means to be American.”
UNC-Chapel Hill history Professor Malinda Maynor Lowery, who also serves as director of the University’s Center for the Study of the American South, spoke with UNC News about the history of the holiday.
Question: What are the origins of Columbus Day, and how did it become a holiday?
Lowery: Benjamin Harrison was president between 1889 and 1893, and he first proposed that we as a nation celebrate Christopher Columbus. Some local communities had been creating parades and events to honor Columbus since 1792. The larger purpose was to honor descendants of immigrants who connect to Columbus’s story, or who otherwise benefited from his voyages. The narrative that America is a nation of immigrants was not popular when Harrison was president.