How did Columbus Day become a National Holiday? I know how it became the day for Italian Americans. An Italo/American named Joe Columbo, one who may have had organized crime connections, didn’t like hearing bad things being said about his ancestry, so, in 1970, he started the Italian American Civil Rights League and held a rally in Columbus Circle.
Me, I don’t celebrate the day. Columbus worked for Queen Isabella. She instituted the Spanish Inquisition, expelling all Jews, and, by the way, Muslims, who didn’t convert to Catholicism. She also sponsored Christopher Columbus voyage. His poor planning led to the deaths of many on his ships. After discovering whatever he discovered, he returned to Spain with native people he had captured and turned into slaves, replacing those who died on the trip over. Isabella allegedly freed them.
Love to read such things, they always interest me and usually I have a question: why?