Should we Celebrate Columbus Day?

By Terry Orr

G Rebecca Dobbs in 1997 wrote “Why We Should Abolish Columbus Day” – an excellent account of Columbus and celebrating this date is simply wrong. 

The following is from her paper:

We should cease to celebrate Columbus Day, first because it is ludicrous to say a place already inhabited can be "discovered"; second because Columbus failed to add anything new to the pool of European knowledge; and finally because the celebration of Columbus sends a message of hostility to the very peoples who have paid most dearly to establish the great nation of which we are a part.

Whatever the mystery and controversy may surround the story of Columbus, there can be no doubt about the results of his voyage for both the indigenous inhabitants of the Americas and for the peoples of Africa, and these constitute the most pressing arguments for ending Columbus Day.

What is important here is not so much to blame Columbus, but to understand what we are doing when we celebrate such a man. The message being sent to Native Americans and to African-Americans by Columbus Day is not merely one of irrelevance, but one of active, overt hostility. Celebrating the father of genocide and slavery in the Americas tells the groups who were victims of those crimes that we as a nation think those things were good and that as a nation we neither respect nor value the peoples so victimized.

Should be continue to celebrate Columbus Day?

References and Links:

http://www.unc.edu/~grdobbs/nocolumb.html

Native Americans Day - Indians

Native Americans Day

In A Nutshell (from shmoop.com)

In 1783, the United States was a new nation of about 3 million people living, for the most part, along the Atlantic seaboard. Native Americans, perhaps numbering around 600,000, controlled most lands west of the Appalachian Mountains. By 1890, a bit more than a century later, the United States stretched from coast to coast and was home to some 66 million people. Only 250,000 Indians remained, most of them living on reservations holding just a fraction of the land they once controlled.

Why Should I Care? (from shmoop.com)

Native Americans were here first, but those Americans who arrived later have never gotten their story quite right. From the moment Columbus stepped off his boat in the Bahamas and called the people he met there "Indios"—meaning people of India—Native Americans have been misrepresented, stereotyped, and simplified. Puritans assumed they were consorting with the devil in the forest. White expansionists branded them ruthless warriors. Even their nineteenth-century defenders often described them as "noble savages."

Indian Tribes:

Abenaki; Algonquian ;Apache ;Arapaho; Blackfeet; Caddo; Cherokee; Cheyenne ;Chickasaw; Chinook; Chippewa ;Choctaw; Comanche; Cree; Creek ;Crow; Dakota ;Delaware ;Fox ;Hopi ;Huron ;Illinois ;Iowa; Iroquois ;Kansa ;Kickapoo; Kiowa; Menominee; Miami; Missouri; Modoc; Mohawk; Mohegan; Munsee; Natchez; Navajo; Nez Percé; Omaha; Onondaga; Osage; Oto; Ottawa; Paiute; Pawnee; Pottawatomie; Sauk; Seminole; Seneca; Shawnee; Siouan; Sioux; Stockbridge; Tuscarora; Winnebago; Zuni.   This is only a few of the 532 recognize Indian Tribes.

I have spent some time reviewing a few tribes: Pawnee (they were important part of my genealogy research of the Johnston’s and Irwin’s); Osage (Missouri linkage); the Crow, Cherokee, Apache, Kansa, Missouri, Shawnee, were all part of history surrounding my ancestors many years ago.

From time to time, I read or hear folks discussing their woes and injustice – for the most part – they may have some merit – but nothing like the American Indians. We are still trying to understand the Inca’s and Maya’s – along with other American Indians (North, Central and South).

If you are interested in knowing more about Native Americans, I strongly recommend following this link http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/ to Access Genealogy Native American – Indian Genealogy.

Links:

http://www.teachervision.fen.com/native-american-heritage-month/teacher-resources/6648.html

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/

http://www.shmoop.com/native-american-history/

NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURE

http://www.greatdreams.com/native.htm

First Nations Histories

http://americanhistory.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=americanhistory&cdn=education&tm=120&f=20&tt=14&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.dickshovel.com/Compacts.html

So on this day of recognition of the Native Americans Day and in preparation of the Native American Heritage Month in November – please take some time and do a little research and get a better understanding of these great people.  Thank you!