Related story: New Orleans Mayor Apologizes for 1891 Mass Lynching of Italians
With a looming presidential election and a deepening diplomatic crisis, President Harrison urged communities across the nation to celebrate Columbus and show their patriotism. It was a major success, as more than one million people gathered in New York City on Oct. 12, 1892, to honor Columbus Day and cheer on the 40,000-strong parade (the larger-than-life NYC celebration took place exactly 400 years after the navigator first landed in what was deemed the New World; the national parade also jumpstarted the mass dissemination of the freshly scripted Pledge of Allegiance).
The next day, on Oct. 13, 1892, the towering Columbus Circle statue was unveiled in front of thousands of people. And just like that, the deep cultural connection between Columbus and Italian Americans was cemented. Harrison had successfully quelled the boiling diplomatic tensions, but he would ultimately lose the presidency to Grover Cleveland.
Despite the outpouring of support, Italian Americans would go on to experience crushing suppression across the U.S. At least 40 more lynchings of Italians took place on U.S. soil, and during WWII, 600,000 Italian immigrants and Italian Americans were deemed enemy aliens by order of the U.S. government — despite the fact that more than one million Italian American soldiers were fighting and dying in Europe and the South Pacific to protect America’s freedoms. Related story: Italian PM Visits NYC Columbus Statue as Its Fate Hangs in the Balance ? Notice from the Department of Justice declaring that all enemy aliens must register at their nearest post offices for a certificate of identification. (Credit: National Archives)
Many of these “enemy aliens” were surveilled, stripped of their livelihoods and native language, and were forced to leave their homes; and some were even sent to internment camps. Infamously, Joe DiMaggio’s father, a fisherman in California, was forced to hand over his boat to the U.S. government.
Columbus statues and monuments were installed in Italian communities across the U.S. to fuel assimilation and combat discrimination during this decades-long period of widespread racism and sedition. They were paid for, in large part, by poor Italian Americans who spent years rounding up funds to pay for the statues.
Columbus Day became a permanent national holiday in 1934 when Congress, after lobbying by the Knights of Columbus, authorized President Franklin D. Roosevelt to declare Oct. 12 as the designated date. In 1971, Columbus Day was made a federal holiday on the second Monday in October.
Despite this history, Columbus statues have been reinterpreted as symbols of hate, enslavement and colonialism by reformists who simply don’t know the full story.
This is why Italian Americans are fighting to preserve Columbus statues, holidays and parades.
The Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations — led by Italian Sons and Daughters of America President Basil M. Russo — worked directly with the White House in crafting the 2022 federal Columbus Day proclamation, which examines and clarifies this grossly overlooked history. A similar proclamation is expected this year.
The Conference of Presidents is also working closely with theNew Jersey Italian Heritage Commission (NJIHC) on the national rollout of an equitable, diverse and inclusive curriculum model that uses heritage as a guide to better educate U.S. students in both public and private schools on all sides of this issue. It is titled: An Italian’s Dream. Please share this story; it needs to be told.
