The NYC Department of Education now celebrates Columbus Day as Italian Heritage Day or Indigenous Peoples Day. The US national holiday is still called “Columbus Day” as it takes an act of Congress to change the federal and state law.
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| Drummers during Indigenous Peoples Day - © Elaine Thompson, AP |
The Federal Government still closes for Columbus Day which was first recognized in 1937 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt made it a federal holiday. Lobbying by Italian-American community groups led to its creation. The growing immigrant group preferred recognition as American citizens to being vilified as the latest bunch of outsiders to land here.
Why the US celebrates Columbus
