By Matthew Dunn
The recent decision by the New York
City Department of Education to drop Columbus Day as an official holiday was
met with resentment from members of the Italian-American community. This resentment is expected as many
Italian-Americans, celebrate Columbus Day as not only the anniversary of
Columbus’s landing in the Americas, but also a day of ethnic pride, as Columbus
originally hailed from the north of present day Italy.
The cause
of Columbus Day has generated a great deal of controversy in recent years. Columbus is both hailed as a hero, who
started the process of European colonization, but also as someone who both took
part in and helped begin large scale genocide against the indigenous people of
the Americas. Perhaps when one takes a
closer look at this issue, one can see the problems of armchair nationalism,
and its failure to truly address the actual histories of how people and nations
are formed.
The
Italian-American Legacy of Columbus
The story
of the Italian-Americans and Columbus is a fairly modern one. When Italians began migrating to the United
States in large numbers around the beginning of 20th century, they
faced racial hostility. Italians were a
southern European group, who at the time, were not necessarily classified as
white. Southern Europeans were thought
of as a different race, not fully white, but also not fully black. Different languages and cultural practices
also brought with them a level of discrimination.
In this
environment, Italian-Americans used the legacy of Columbus to assimilate into
the American mainstream. “Italians have
been in America since Columbus”, might have been a popular phrase. After Columbus Day was marked as a national
holiday in the 1930s, it became a day to support Italian heritage. Since then, Italian-Americans have become the
most vocal defenders of Columbus and Columbus Day as a holiday. This idea was explored to humorous results in
the Sopranos episode “Christopher” written by star Michael Imperioli.
The
Trouble with Ethnic Identity
One of
the troubles with identifying Columbus as an Italian hero, is to ask “Was
Columbus really Italian?” According to
records, Columbus was born in the Republic of Genoa, which is in the northern
section of the Italian peninsula. As
Columbus was born in 1451, he would have been considered Genoese not Italian at
the time. Italy was made of independent
kingdoms, who were often at war with each other throughout this period. Italy as a nation-state, would not become
united until 400 years later with the Italian unification.
In
addition to this, it is well known that Columbus explored and conquered for
Spain. He did this because Italian
princes at the time, would have had no interest in his exploration. Italian states like Genoa, Venice, and
Florence, were already succeeding by controlling most of the eastern
trade. They would have had no interest
in financing an expensive sea voyage west.
Columbus eventually secured funding and materials in addition to state
support from the recently united Spanish kingdom. All discoveries he made, and wealth that was
generated out of these explorations would enrich the Spanish crown, not any of
the leaders from Italy.
The
appropriation of Columbus as an Italian hero also denies a good portion of
Italians own sentiment and history amongst themselves. As Columbus was from the northern part of the
peninsula, one might argue, he might not have had positive opinions about most
Italian-Americans whose roots lay mostly in the Southern Italian
provinces.
When
Italian unification proceeded, Italy and the rest of Europe were also in the
midst of large scale industrialization.
The northern half of Italy building on its history as a financial
capital, became full of industrial centers such as Turin. However, the southern half stayed almost
completely agrarian. This led to the
northern half owning much of the wealth and the southern half staying mostly
impoverished. In fact soon after the
Italian peninsula united under one flag, also happens to be when most Southern
Italians began moving to the United States.
As Furio Giunta stated on The Sopranos “I never liked Columbus, he came
from the north. I hate the north, they
always turn their noses up at us, call us peasants.”
In fact,
for many Southern Italians, becoming Italian would in effect force them to
assimilate into the new Italian culture.
Before the ages of nationalism in 1848, many Italians spoke provincial
dialects, such as Sicilian. During the
1800s, the nations of Europe started standardizing their languages, creating
official languages as a means of creating more united nation-states. Those who didn’t learn the new dialects would
be outsiders.
So when
looking at Columbus, it isn’t exactly so simple to say that he was Italian.
The Case
of Napoleon and American History
This
brings us to the case of another Genoese expatriate: Napoleon Bonaparte. Largely considered a catalyst for the
nationalist movements in Europe in the 1800s, Napoleon originally hailed from
Corsica, which France purchased from Genoa just over a year before Napoleon’s
birth. Napoleon was born Napoleone di
Buonaparte, and grew up learning the Corsican and Italian languages. After succeeding in the military academy he
became an officer in the French army, and take advantage of the revolutionary
instability of the 1790s to eventually become emperor of France. He would also go on to dominate continental
Europe until his defeats in Russia in 1812.
Besides
this, Napoleon also had a great deal of impact on American history as
well. Napoleon had grand ambitions
during his early reign of restoring French colonies in North America. However, these dreams were cut short because
of the success of the Haitian Revolution, a successful revolution of formerly
enslaved people. After losing in Haiti,
Napoleon gave up these dreams. In order
to continue financing his wars in Europe, Napoleon sold the Port of New
Orleans, and the Louisiana territory to the United States. After purchasing this huge amount of
property, The United States was well on its way to continental expansion in the
next decades.[1]
Napoleon
is primarily remembered as French because of his accomplishments for France, even
though he could be considered much more Italian at birth. How does Columbus still remain an Italian
even though his accomplishments led to the glory of Spain? If Italians are unhappy with the “woke mob’s”
treatment of Columbus, they should start celebrating August 15th,
Napoleon’s birthday as a new day of ethnic pride.
The
Problems with Nationalism
Modern
day nationalisms rarely offer people anything more than simplistic explanations
of their heritage and why their ethnicity should be celebrated. Columbus’s own life and accomplishments are
very much an attribute to this. In fact
his own life, seems to transcend simple national identity. Born in Genoa, sailed for Spain, explored the
Caribbean and South America, and now celebrated by descendants of mostly
Southern Italian immigrants. If those who canonize Columbus, could understand
his small connections to being Italian, then they might also be able to
understand why descendants of indigenous peoples might not want to celebrate
his legacy. But maybe I’m being a little
too optimistic.
[1]
One should note, that Napoleon only gained control of the Louisiana territory
because he had installed his brother as the King of Spain. Some actually wondered if he had the right to
sell territory which was only marginally his.
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