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New Haven has a large Italian-American community, and Yale released this the day before Columbus day. Even if the local Italian-American community had a nuanced
by rconti 8y ago
New Haven has a large Italian-American community, and Yale released this the day before Columbus day. Even if the local Italian-American community had a nuanced view of Columbus by the 1960s (and they probably didn't), it would have been considered a cultural/historical holiday. It seems like releasing the map the day before the local community's heritage day was not done as a coincidence, and today we might call 'trolling'.
- Eyes 8y agoSince when is Columbus day an Italian-American cultural holiday? He even sailed for Spain for goodness sake.
- burkaman 8y agoYeah it doesn't totally make sense, but it's a real thing. For example: https://observer.com/2017/08/italian-christopher-columbus-statue-nyc-removal/ https://observer.com/2017/08/italian-christopher-columbus-st... And https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/09/opinion/christopher-columbus-day-statue.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/09/opinion/christopher-colum...
- poulsbohemian 8y agoIt might seem illogical, and yet less than a mile from where I sit there is a statute of Christopher Columbus, donated by the local Sons of Italy chapter. Generally they get together on this day each year and hold some speeches too. So while it is historically odd, he has become a symbol for many Italian-American groups.
- rossdavidh 8y agoI am told that the Knights of Columbus was founded in part because the Freemasons and the Catholic Church didn't get along, and thus Italian Americans could not generally join the Freemasons. Columbus was picked as an Italian who was important in America's history, to make it seem both Italian and American. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_of_Columbus#Early_years https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_of_Columbus#Early_year...