The first settlers of the U.S.
If I were to ask who discovered America, the common answer people would say is Christopher Columbus. The truth, which is commonly absent in textbooks, is the original settlers are Native Americans. Columbus didn’t discover America as history claims he did, Native Americans discovered Columbus as he was lost at sea. This narrative is continuously being taught in schools and is even celebrated as a federal holiday.
In 1492, Columbus set sail to find a new route between India, China, and the Spice Islands, but instead, he arrived on a small island in the Bahamas by accident. He had no idea where he was, assumed he was in India and labeled the people on the island as “Indians.” Since then, he ordered Native Americans to be captured, forced slavery among the people, and sent thousands to be sold in Spain, where many of them didn’t survive the trip. They brought disease, war, and captured Natives, which resulted in the death of almost 55 million people. Every year Thanksgiving is celebrated by millions of families across the United States. Families sit down and have dinner together, while corporations profit millions of dollars off the glorification of colonialism and slavery of Native Americans.
Columbus influenced many other tragedies that affected Native Americans. Our ancestors had to continue their fight to remain on their land, with the Navajo Long Walk, Gnadenhutten Massacre, the Creek War, Mankato Executions, and many more. For centuries after, many Indigenous leaders fought for this land and had to protect what was left. For example, in June of 1812, when President James Madison declared war between the British, French, and Native Americans over independence and territory expansion. A group of Apache's raided white Americans in October 1860 to accuse military falsification of the Native American leader of the Chiricahua Apache tribe. The raiding continued for decades after.
There were many attempts to “ethnic cleanse” Native Americans throughout history. Native Americans were forced to speak only English; their Native names were taken away and they were given English names instead, they were forbidden to wear their own traditional clothing, and they couldn’t practice their cultural teachings. Indigenous children were taken away from their families and forced to attend boarding schools off the reservation, and that resulted in thousands of missing Indigenous children. Many Native Americans refuse to celebrate or acknowledge Thanksgiving and Christopher Columbus Day because of the suffrage and oppression that our ancestors endured. The celebration of these holidays is a reminder of his actions that caused suffrage that continues to affect us today. It is believed that between 38 and 63 percent of the tribal residents live below the poverty level. The poverty rate among Native Americans is three times higher than the average poverty rate in the United States, which is 11.4 percent (U.S. Poverty Rate by Demographics and State (thebalancemoney.com). Tribal communities have a high rate of unemployment, school dropouts, suicide rate, alcoholism, and substance abuse. Many Native Americans continue this generational cycle due to the lack of resources and opportunities to improve our way of life, and because it’s all they’ve known.
Billions of acres of land were stolen from Native Americans, resulting in the death of millions of lives. Colonizers were eager to take land to grow cotton and corn, control tribes, and forced migration. Currently, there are 326 land areas in the U.S that are administered as federal Indian reservations. Since each reservation is self-governing, some state laws do not no apply to them. We also have our restrictions on specific things on many Native American reservations, such as respecting burial grounds and sacred sites which are the locations of ancient civilizational battles. We value various flowering plants and herbs for medicine and ointment, including sage, Navajo tea, and many more. There are only forty-four million acres of land that are currently owned by Native Americans, with the Navajo (dine) being the largest. They occupy 27,413 sq miles of Navajo reservation, which stretches 4 states: New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, and Colorado.
As society is becoming more open and aware of issues we’ve been blinded to, we are slowly acknowledging the truth about Christopher Columbus. We now recognize Indigenous Peoples Day on the second Monday of October to acknowledge and remember the hardships and struggles our ancestors endured. We are advocating for justice for tribal communities by reaching out to political leaders to fix the injustices and neglect that have been going on for decades. Indigenous people are using our voices to correct history by having people acknowledge that Native Americans were the first settlers to America. Kisha James explained, “Many indigenous people fast from sundown the night before to sundown the day off to remember the hardship and genocide their ancestors faced.” For Native peoples, Thanksgiving isn’t a celebration. It’s a National Day of Mourning | Here & Now (wbur.org).
Many schools off the reservation don’t teach the truth about Christopher Columbus, and although correcting history about him seems irrelevant. It’s one step closer to acknowledging the truth and sufferings that came after and bringing awareness to the dark history that’s been forgotten while people celebrate Thanksgiving. Native Americans have lived centuries without a voice and have been forgotten by society and our government. Fixing history helps close past wounds that caused pain to Native Americans and gives respect to all the innocent lives lost.
The stages progressed from capturability, colonization, and eventually revolt. The teaching of Columbus’s discovery of America should be replaced with the recognition of Native Americans. Although many individuals may think otherwise, Columbus didn’t actually make any discoveries; instead, he simply became disoriented upon his arrival on reaching the Caribbean Island. Unfortunately, despite all the battles that Native Americans have fought over the years, there are still many of them today. We continue to work to spread awareness of the true history of the Americas notwithstanding Columbus’ influence over Native Americans. Present day there are 574 Native American tribes federally recognized and we remain committed to regaining the authority that Columbus once held.
