How history is taught in our public schools is a serious matter. As a child develops into an adult, the ability to hold rational public discourse using factual references as supporting data becomes an important skill. The ability to sort out truth from disinformation is a powerful asset, but children cannot develop that ability when their public sc...

Like a modern entrepreneur, fifteenth-century explorer, Christopher Columbus, raised capital for an expedition to discover a western passage to Asia. The fall of Constantinople in 1453 placed control of the land routes to the lucrative Asian spice trade in Ottoman-Turk hands. Columbus first proposed the Atlantic Ocean route to Joao II of Portugal i...

In the nation’s capital, there is no Columbus Day. The D.C. Council voted to replace it with Indigenous Peoples’ Day in 2019. And the capital is certainly not alone. D.C. joined an already-growing list of places that no longer observe the day, even though it remains a federal holiday. Columbus Day falls on the second Monday of October, commemoratin...

On Tuesday, Mayor Nick Gradisar expressed his disappointment the two parties involved in mediation over the future of the Christopher Columbus Statue could not reach an agreement. On Saturday morning, the two parties, the Sons of Italy Community Group and the Indigenous Community group, advised the Mayor that they could not reach an agreement over...

A month and a half after the city of Hartford removed a statue of Christopher Columbus near the Capitol, city councilors are looking to rename Columbus Boulevard downtown and take stock of other local monuments dedicated to the disgraced explorer. Residents had a chance to speak at public hearing Monday night on a resolution to rename Columbu...

For 7 years I have been dealing with everything that is Italian American on a daily basis, and by now I have learned to recognize when a name comes back often, involved in many things: that is a leader of the community in which he/she lives and works. This is what happens in the Italian American community in Chicago: if there is music or the celebr...

Marian Pardo, president of Columbus Citizens Foundation (CCF), has formally announced that this year’s Columbus Day Parade will be a virtual event celebrating all things Italian and will air on ABC Channel 7 (12:30 – 2:00 p.m. EDT). Viewers can also stream the special live at abc7ny.com, abc7NY App and abc7NY connected TV apps on Amazon Fire TV, An...

Bloomington city staff will examine converting the Columbus Day holiday to one honoring indigenous people, with a majority of the city council indicating at least some support for researching the question during a Committee of the Whole session Monday night. Council member Jenn Carrillo promoted the idea, using similar language to an earlier propos...

In this week’s episode of the Italian American Podcast, we’re picking up with Part Two of our “Conversations on Columbus” series exploring the life and legacy of Christopher Columbus and we’re starting right from the beginning! As we set out to find truth in the current debates around the famed Genovese navigator, we’re seeking to understand just w...

Some members of Chicago’s Italian-American community say it’s time to return the Christopher Columbus statues that were removed. They held a news conference in Grant Park on Sunday with a message for Mayor Lori Lightfoot. “Put the statues back, because it’s history. It’s part of Chicago,” said Frank Coconate of the group Hands Off Christopher Colum...