The birth of America's first Columbus Day celebration was marred by violence – a mass lynching of Italian-Americans.
In 1892, President Benjamin Harrison proclaimed the day would mark the 400th anniversary of Italian explorer Christopher Columbus' assumed discovery of North America, but also honor the lives of the 11 Italian-Americans who were murdered the year before at a New Orleans prison following their acquittal or false implication in the murder of the city's police chief, during a time of extreme anti-Italian sentiment.
Conspiracy theorists claimed the Italian mafia paid off the jurors, and a mob of angry, armed men stormed the jail, fatally shooting nine of the victims. Two men were hanged.
The massive bloodshed triggered fury overseas, threatening diplomatic relations between Italy and the U.S., even spurring rumors of war.
For nine months, Harrison failed to comment on the mass killings, until he delivered a message to Congress that December, condemning it as "a most deplorable and discreditable incident" and an "offense against law and humanity," according to the Washington Post.
The following April, Harrison agreed with Italy's demand to compensate the survivors of three victims by paying them a total of $25,000, but hostilities remained for the U.S.'s failure to indict the killers on murder charges.
Furthermore, in an effort to quell boiling tensions, Harrison proposed the one-time Columbus Day celebration to promote patriotism and unity that same year.
"On that day let the people, so far as possible, cease from toil and devote themselves to such exercises as may best express honor to the discoverer and their appreciation of the great achievements of the four completed centuries of American life," Harrison wrote in his proclamation, according to History.com.
It wasn't until 1937 that President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared Columbus Day an annual federal holiday to be celebrated on the second Monday in October.
However, Roosevelt's decision was met with backlash from the Indigenous community, who condemned the holiday that marked the colonization of the Americas and triggered millions of deaths as a result of the diseases European colonists brought with them.
In 2021, President Joe Biden proclaimed Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples' Day.
"We must never forget the centuries-long campaign of violence, displacement, assimilation, and terror wrought upon Native communities and Tribal Nations throughout our country," Biden wrote in his proclamation. "Today, we acknowledge the significant sacrifices made by Native peoples to this country — and recognize their many ongoing contributions to our Nation.
"On Indigenous Peoples' Day, we honor America's first inhabitants and the Tribal Nations that continue to thrive today. I encourage everyone to celebrate and recognize the many Indigenous communities and cultures that make up our great country."
