The University of Notre Dame on Thursday announced the formation of a committee of 13 individuals who will help advise on the display of the Christopher Columbus mural images that line corridor walls in the Main Building. The Rev. John I. Jenkins, Notre Dame’s president, in January announced he had decided the university will cover the painted mur...

Legislators have put off deciding whether the second Monday in October needs a name change for this session. A bill that would have renamed Christopher Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples’ Day was retained in committee Tuesday, meaning it probably won’t be back this year. Communities across the country have been wrestling with whether to make the sw...

In the mid-1980s, Holly Jaynes asked her mother why she was teaching second graders about Christopher Columbus. “I didn’t know what to do,” Jaynes said. “All I could do was tell her not to teach it.” Since that day more than 30 years ago, Jaynes has found the words to explain why Columbus shouldn’t be celebrated and she is part of a movement to spr...

It’s a bill that’s made its way in front of lawmakers a few times is back again at the state capitol. This time, a Colorado lawmaker wants to see ‘Colorado Day’ recognized as a state holiday instead of ‘Columbus Day’. Earlier this legislative session, Rep. Adrienne Benavidez (D- Adams County) introduced a bill to observe Election Day as a state hol...

This catchy slogan we’ve seen printed on t-shirts sold at Italian American church festivals says an awful lot about our Italian American history in 9 simple words. Let’s take a closer look at the Italians and Italian Americans who discovered it, named it, and built it. We Discovered It. Although some question whether Columbus actually discovered Am...

The University of Notre Dame's decision to cover murals that commemorate the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the New World, can readily be debated as a point of history about an Italian navigator whose genius and grit changed mankind forever…and ultimately for the better.  Instead, let’s look at the murals as art.  Art, it seems, is more sacred...

The Montana House of Representatives gave initial approval to remove Columbus Day from the list of state legal holidays and replace it with Indigenous Peoples Day. The House voted 62-38 to approve the creation of Indigenous Peoples Day, on the second Monday in October. Missoula Democrat Shane Morigeau is carrying House Bill 219. He says Christopher...

Maine lawmakers are set to consider trading the Columbus Day holiday for a tribute to Native Americans. The Legislature’s State and Local Government Committee is set to hold a hearing on the bill Monday. Democratic Rep. Benjamin Collings of Portland sponsored the bill that renames the state holiday celebrated on the second Monday in October to Indi...

According to the latest available data, those of the 2000 census, Ohio is the eighth American state for population of Italian origin. Many of them reside in the northern part of the state, particularly in Cleveland, but not only. In our tour of "Italian America" today we stop right here, and meet Pamela D'Orazio Dean, who deals with the history of...

On his return to Spain, sailing in January and February 526 years ago, Christopher Columbus composed three letters describing his first voyage west and his experiences on the islands he explored. The letters were purportedly sent to Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand; Luis De Sant Angel (Santangel), who helped finance the voyage; and Gabriel Sanchez...