Day of Indigenous Resistance
Columbus Day is a federal holiday that I will no longer celebrate.
I used to celebrate Columbus Day. It was sort of a mandatory holiday. I grew up in a small town in Iowa called Columbus Junction. Located near the confluence of the Iowa and Cedar Rivers, the residents of Columbus Junction celebrate Columbus Day with a parade and a homecoming football game. In high school I was first chair trombone and would march from the high school parking lot to Main Street. The sound of the snare drums would echo as we passed under the overpass on Main Street. The football game was always cold. Our 1970′s royal blue band uniforms with feathered hats would offer us little protection from Iowa weather in October. Columbus Junction is not a large town. There are less than 2,000 people who live in the “CJ.” I remember that I always looked forward to the parade and the various homecoming events. Columbus Day was a holiday that I happily celebrated.
Where did my exuberance for Columbus Day come from?
I remember being told by my teachers that Columbus “discovered America.” As a kid I would think that it was so neat that I lived in a town named after the guy who “discovered” America. History teachers have so much power. I was never taught that Iowa was named after a Native American tribe with the same name. I was never taught that Iowa used to be home to over 15 Native American tribes.
From hundreds to one
A web search brought me to a site that offers a brief history of Columbus Junction. One paragraph immediately caught my eye:
For it [Columbus Junction] was also, back then [late 1840's], a favorite trading place for the Indians of the area. And in those early days hundreds at a time would gather there.
According to the 2000 U.S. Census, Columbus Junction’s total population was 1,900. The total number of people who self-identified as Native Americans was 1. Here is a question for my history teachers at Cotter Elementary, Columbus Middle School, and Columbus Community High School:
If hundreds of Native Americans used to “gather” in the area near Columbus Junction in the late 1840′s and in 2000 there was only 1 Native American living in Columbus Junction, what happened? What happened to the Native Americans who were indigenous to the region? The answers to my questions are not easy to find. I’m not a history teacher, but it looks like the Native American peoples of Iowa were adversely affected by the influx of white settlers in the 1800′s:
The white man…brought with him disease – primarily smallpox – which ravaged through the native villages.
Successive treaties during the 1800′s surrendered Iowa title of much of their lands to the United States Government. In 1836, the Iowa signed a treaty by which they were moved to a reservation on the Kansas-Nebraska border. Later treaties were to diminish the size of that reservation. In the 1880′s many Iowa began moving into Indian territory in Oklahoma.
The power of mythology in the hands of history teachers
I wonder if I would have celebrated Columbus Day in Columbus Junction if I had been given a more accurate history by my teachers?
- Christopher Columbus did not “discover” America. (How can you discover a place if someone is already there?)
- Native Americans were systematically displaced from Iowa by white people.
According to Jennings:
The first people to inhabit Louisa County [Note that Columbus Junction is located in Louisa County] were the Mound Builders. These pre-historic people left traces of their occupancy which are notable today. The village of Toolesboro contains the largest number of those remaining mounds. Regrettably, many have been obliterated by years of cultivation. These mounds were found along the bluffs of most of the rivers in what is now Louisa County.
These ancient peoples were replaced by the Woodlawn Indians who remained in possession of the land until the coming of the white man. The white men started to settle here even before it had been acquired by the dubious purchase called “The Blackhawk Purchase.”
After the area was acquired by the U.S. Government, white settlers from Europe started to come in large numbers. Two of the predominant groups were the Welch and Germans with a sprinkling of Swedes, English, Irish and native born whites from Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Columbus Day is racist
Hundreds of Native Americans used to gather in Columbus Junction, Iowa in the 1840′s. In 2000, only 1 out of 1,900 “CJ” residents were Native American. Christopher Columbus’ “discovery” of America was the spark that ignited the enslavement, killing, raping, and forceful displacement of Native Americans in the United States. Columbus Day is a holiday that masks history. It covers up the systematic and institutionalized oppression of Native Americans by Euro American White people with a mythological tale of “discovery.” Native Americans lived in what is now Columbus Junction, Iowa. It is unethical to forget that fact. (For a more accurate history, please read Christopher Columbus and the Indians by Howard Zinn)
Day of Indigenous Resistance
I cannot celebrate Columbus Day because I feel that it is a federally sanctioned holiday that celebrates the systematic and intentional campaign of genocide against indigenous peoples throughout the Americas.
On the second Monday in October I will celebrate and promote the Day of Indigenous Resistance. I would love it if Columbus Junction stopped celebrating Columbus Day and instead celebrated the Day of Indigenous Resistance. The parade and the high school homecoming would be part of a celebration of truth and social justice. I would gladly put on the royal blue band uniform and play my trombone in the first annual Columbus Junction Day of Indigenous Resistance Parade.
Related posts:
On the other hand, those “native” indians themselves systematically displaced each other from the beginning of time, killing, settling, and killing and settling some more. Most of the tribes were quite literally savages, which puts you into the uncomfortable position of trying to determine precisely which point in history claims the ultimate moral highground.
This peculularly modern attempt to make white man into the bad guy is misguided. As provocative as it sounds to politically correct, mushy ears, the American culture and heritage is morally superior to what came before. The Indians and European settlers who came after can thank their lucky stars.
McCain
9 Oct 06 at 3:51 pm
Columbus the slaver…
In elementary school I won a Columbus Day essay contest sponsored by the Roman Cultural Society of Springfield, Illinois for making the audacious claim (so I was told) that Columbus did not discover America. I have ignored Columbus since then, except a…
Mike Linksvayer
9 Oct 06 at 3:59 pm
@McCain–
With all due respect, trying to equate the wars that were fought among the native peoples with the systematic genocide of an entire indigenous culture is sophistry and flies in the face of common sense. My battle with you, for instance, does not mean that I want to systematically remove your entire family and those who look like you–your phenotype, as it were–from the face of the earth.
Additionally, resorting to terms like “savages” to describe native peoples, frankly, smacks of racism. Just how does one nominate one’s own culture for superiority when it has a history of systematically relocating, removing and slaughtering an entire race at the same time as it enslaved another? Only via a mythology like Manifest Destiny.
Believing that we’re superior doesn’t necessarily make it so. Western culture has, so far, proven victorious–superior in terms of brute force when it comes to dominating North America. However, by most measures that doesn’t equate to moral superiority.
Like most who resort to calling well-reasoned and supported positions “political correctness,” your argument would benefit greatly from an infusion of historical fact and philosophical clarity. I’d recommend a philosophy 101 course at your local community college.
Cheers.
Dennis Bennett
9 Oct 06 at 7:36 pm
Great post, Eric. I wish my kid’s KG teacher could read it.
Padma
Padma
12 Oct 06 at 12:50 pm
Thanks Padma. Maybe we could email this post to your kid’s KG teacher?
Eric Stoller
12 Oct 06 at 1:28 pm
[...] Eric Stoller then takes us on a persynal journey through life, letting us know how one goes from marching down the street, playing the trombone to celebrate Columbus, to end up celebrating the Indigenous Day of Resistance. I wonder if I would have celebrated Columbus Day in Columbus Junction if I had been given a more accurate history by my teachers? 1. Christopher Columbus did not “discover” America. (How can you discover a place if someone is already there?) 2. Native Americans were systematically displaced from Iowa by white people. [...]
Taking Place » Blog Archive » Erase Racism Carnival #6
24 Oct 06 at 10:56 pm
Eric, I grew up across the state from you, in Sioux City. At that time (in the 60s, but probably still going on today) all 4th grade schoolchildren were given an extensive Sioux City history course. To this day I remember the names Theophile Bruglier (French fur trader who supposedly “founded” the city) and War Eagle (Yancton Sioux chief whose daughter married Bruglier and who–according to the history we were taught–gave the land to Bruglier as a wedding present.) The daughter of War Eagle remains nameless, as is the location of her grave, while the First Bride’s Grave (the grave of the first white bride, that is) was (perhaps still is–I haven’t been to my hometown in almost 30 years) prominently displayed.
Of course this was the history taught to us all-white schoolchildren. Further examination, however, reveals that Bruglier illegally claimed most of War Eagle’s land for his own, including War Eagle’s cabins and tipis.
I was a romantically-minded child and always thought the history of the Sioux Indians that I grew up surrounded by would have been much more interesting. Perhaps they teach a more comprehensive, honest history now; I really can’t say.
kactus
28 Oct 06 at 9:51 pm
@ Kactus,
Thanks for sharing your experience.
Eric Stoller
29 Oct 06 at 4:46 pm
Columbus day is an iconic holiday that represents the beginnings of America. It is not a holiday to celebrate the killing of Native Americans(even though they are inextricably linked). The bottom line is that for America to be founded that slaughter had to happen. If one thinks about it logically they find that most Native Americans would not give up the land they were on because it was considered sacred, and that without that land the US would not be anywhere near as prosperous as it is today. Columbus day should be celebrated and it should not be “shoved under the carpet” that many people had to die for what America is today. Those were the ethics of the time period and killing Native Americans was a nessecary evil for the growth of modern day America.
Harry
20 May 07 at 11:24 pm
Dear Eric, I must apologize to you for an e-mail I sent to you that was ment for Harry. I was very mad and got carried away when I read what Harry said about the genoside of the Indian nations and how it had to happen or we wouldn’t be here (US). I have lived with and fought against oppression of the Indigenous people in Central and South America. I love the Indian people in this country and it’s about time this government started treating them as human beings and give them the rights they deserve. My comment to Harry is he should get help, he’s one sick puppy.
Daniel Wolf Mattas
Dan Wolf Mattas
21 May 07 at 10:12 pm
Eric,
I appreciate and agree with the information you offer. I was searching online using the term Columbus Days Resistance. “Day of Indigenous Resistance” will become my new name for Columbus Day. I work in a public school district in Washington State. In fact our district and community name is “Puyallup”, after the local Native Nation community. Our Native Nations history is also very deep in this area, but little known. About two years ago I attended a school district sponsored seminar about the local Native Nations people, and each participant at that meeting received a copy of “Rethinking Columbus; The Next 500 Years”, published by Rethinking Schools of Madison Wisconsin. The book is extensive and informative. Since that time I have been struggling how I can help make a difference. Columbus Day is a federal holiday; I do not think there is any way to ‘eliminate’ it. However, to more accurately and appropriately ‘rename’ it has become a personal goal of mine. Are you or anyone else aware of any formal movements to begin this process?
Best wishes and thanks!
Gordon Unruh
Gordon
1 Sep 07 at 8:40 am
Gordon – I have not seen very much on the web regarding the elimination/renaming of columbus day. The wikipedia article lists a few anti-columbus day events.
One thing you could look into is how Christopher Columbus is portrayed in the history curricula of your school and see if it accurately portrays Columbus and his “discovery.”
Thanks for reading.
Eric Stoller
9 Sep 07 at 3:57 pm
The more I read about the history of America’s native population the more I realize that their not the kindly, pastoral and spiritual people portrayed by the left (junior marxists). Any historian will(should) tell you that from the Aztecs to Comanches and the Hurons violence was no stranger to this part of the world.
Ever wonder why the un-manned Spaniards managed to overthrow the Incas? it wasn’t small pox or better weapons but the assistance of numerous tribes who dispised the Incas for their imperialist behaviors. And, much like the Aztecs the Incas practiced human sacrifice.
Like it or not Columbus discovered the Americas for Europe because he was the first to effectively write about it as well as get the message across to those who wanted to benefit from its riches.
henry
29 Oct 08 at 9:42 am
Like it or not …there is no excuse to ignorance , liars or racism. As an African American I think we need to look at ourselves first. Acknowledege the fact the for to long this country has forgotten about Native Americans. They live on land that can STILL be taken back at the swipt of a pen. In the past as long as the trash wasn’t thrown in (MY YARD) things were ok. Now as seen with the advent of 911 and economic instability were all the same boat (SS>TATANIC) What’s it gonna take to make people see that the only way to a better future is to “GET OFF THE COUCH” and help your neighbor. Be apart to the solution…not the problem. Life is not fair we all have ups and downs but I rather leave this earth knowing it was a little bit better because of my efforts.
Matthew
29 Mar 09 at 7:50 pm
[...] Let’s talk about why Conesville was all white at one time. It’s because the racist residents of the town kept people of color from living there. For example, that part of Iowa used to be home to thousands of Native Americans and now Native folks make up less than 1% of the population. McCormick starts off with a comment on how “they” are all not bad, but then ends with the overarching statement that the “quality of life has went downhill” as a result of Latinos living in Conesville. What’s interesting to know is that Latinos have been living in Conesville for a long time. I find it interesting that Latinos in Iowa are all depicted as migrant laborers and not part of the community. Whiteness is romanticized and people of color are placed in a position of “the other”. Tom Bell: It was the late eighties before we started seeing the Hispanic coming into this. My father hired a few. But my brother and I are the ones that carried it on to the extent that we have today. [...]
Iowa: whiteness romanticized » Eric Stoller’s Blog
9 Aug 09 at 8:38 pm
[...] I guess it should be no surprise that my hometown actively celebrates Columbus Day… especially when you grow up in a whitewashed system that frames Native genocide as “leaving”. [...]
Iowa: the home for immigrants » Eric Stoller’s Blog
9 Aug 09 at 9:33 pm
[...] Day of Indigenous Resistance » Eric Stoller’s Blog ericstoller.com/blog/2006/10/08/day-of-indigenous-resistance – view page – cached Eric Stoller’s Blog: Social Justice, Diversity, Higher Education, Enrollment Management, Student Affairs and Technology. — From the page [...]
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