Another year has come and gone without the Massachusetts Legislature passing a bill declaring the second Monday in October Indigenous Peoples Day. Harvard is one of 28 towns or cities in the state that have made the change, and it’s past time for our state to do the same.
Celebrating Indigenous peoples rather than the skilled navigator and explorer who was known in his own time for brutally mistreating them is an action supported by the Massachusetts Center for Native American Awareness, the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, and the Massachusetts Teachers Association. Organizations in opposition include the Massachusetts Italian American Heritage Association and the Knights of Columbus.
House bill 2989 would observe Indigenous Peoples Day instead of Columbus Day, with activities acknowledging the history of genocide and discrimination against Indigenous peoples and highlighting their cultures. The bill was left in committee at the end of the last legislative session, but one of its co-sponsors, state Sen. Jamie Eldridge, said he wants the bill to be refiled and voted on when the Legislature reconvenes in January. “The basis for Columbus Day is just not relevant anymore,” he added.
Declaring the holiday is not enough, however. In addition to “An Act Establishing Indigenous Peoples Day,” House bill 529 aims to improve public schools’ curriculum on Native American history and culture, with a focus on tribes of, or with ties to, Massachusetts.
An informal Press survey of several Harvard schools history and social studies teachers showed that they incorporate Native American history into their teaching, though to varying degrees—and they also teach about Columbus and Columbus Day. Yet additional guidance on what to include in the curriculum for the history and contemporary circumstances of Native Americans would likely enhance educational programs statewide.
Though teachers were neither asked about nor offered opinions on the legislation around Columbus Day, Kathleen Doherty, a longtime teacher of U.S. history at Bromfield, observed:
“If we look at history as our collective memory, then what we choose to remember, celebrate, and acknowledge is particularly noteworthy. And what we choose to remember, celebrate, and acknowledge can—and does—change over time.”