Tower Blog

History Lesson 101: Columbus Day

October 13, 2008 by Bob

If you work for the US Post Office, or a bank, you know that today is Columbus Day because you probably have the day off from work!  For the rest of us, Columbus Day is a holiday that shows up on our office calendar, but means not a whole lot else.

Today, I’m putting together a little history lesson to help me (and you?) learn about this holiday that dates all the way back to 1792, 300 years after Christopher Columbus landed on the shores of North America.  But did you know that Columbus Day didn’t actually become a federal holiday until 1971?

In Elaine Landau’s book Columbus Day she looks at the history of Christopher Columbus and the “discovery” of the New World, as well as the ways that the holiday is celebrated differently across the country.  Or try reading Columbus in the Americas which uses actual logbooks from the first voyages to the Americas to understand the experiences and perspectives of these explorers.

It should also be noted that Columbus Day is most likely one of the most controversial of our holidays.  In Howard Zinn’s book A People’s History of the United States, Zinn writes about how we must remember that Christopher Columbus and his explorers killed Native Peoples in order to start the “New World” — a part of history that should not be forgotten.  In fact, in South Dakota, the holiday is actually known as “Native American Day.”

Here at Tower.com there are hundreds and hundreds of books on Christopher Columbus and some DVDs too.  Check out A&E’s Biography on Christopher Columbus which provides interesting accounts of this explorer’s life and legacy, and The Great Adventurer’s Series Christopher Columbus and The New World.  Hmmm… it seems to me there is yet to be a major Hollywood picture depicting Christopher Columbus and his exploration.  I can see it now: Colin Farrell playing the role of Columbus…but wait…he already played the role of John Smith in The New World which is the story of the Americas in the 1600s.  Anyone have any ideas on who could play Columbus?  Maybe Jeremy Piven with longer hair — I imagine Columbus would have run his ship a lot like Ari Gold…