Happy Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples Day or Marathon Monday...

Above: Statute of Columbus in Boston North End in 2019, before iconoclasts decapitated the figure. The city subsequently removed the statue and put in storage.

October is Italian Heritage Month in Massachusetts. It’s no coincidence that it’s also when Columbus Day is celebrated – a holiday that grew in part from the largest mass-lynching in US history, when a mob murdered 11 Italian immigrants in New Orleans in 1892.

With that grim impetus, the holiday gained momentum thereafter.

Today, of course, it is a holiday mired in controversy, with many blaming Columbus for all the woes that befell the people of the Western Hemisphere following his initiation of sustained contact between Eurasia and the Americas and the two-way “Columbian Exchange” of diseases, as well as technology and crops that quickly revolutionized agriculture in both hemispheres. Thus, many political entities have simply defenestrated Christopher and substituted Indigenous People’s Day, or something similar, in place of the Genoese explorer’s holiday.

That’s a process of claiming a “usable past” first named by literary critic Van Wyck Brooks prior to the First World War. A recent article in Hedgehog Review summarized his thinking as follows: Brooks, they wrote, saw “American arts, in distinction from those of Europe...lack[ing] of an obvious binding tradition, as well as from the mixing of immigrant cultures.” And, they explained, Brooks believed “it would be necessary to construct a `usable past’...to serve the needs of the present.”

Here in Franklin, people of Italian heritage like their Columbus but are also aware of the baggage the holiday carries and are likewise working on finding a usable past. A recent meeting of a local Sons and Daughters of Italy chapter, was largely consumed with discussing Columbus, everything from his navigational accomplishments to his cruel and venial traits and the complicated legacy that followed in his wake.

Rose Turco, a retired Franklin educator and lifelong resident, summarized her thoughts on her own Italian Heritage.

“My family story is very similar to other Italian/American families not only here in Franklin but across the country.

My mother's family immigrated to the U.S. in the 1890s, settling in Boston, setting up a home in Medford, MA and eventually finding their way to the North End, where my mother was born in 1909 in the brick building diagonally across from the Old North Church.

My father and his family immigrated to the U.S. in 1912, settling in Norfolk, MA and then soon found their way to Franklin, settling first in Hutchinson Village, known as Little Italy.

Both families came to American for the opportunities the country afforded those who were willing to work hard to improve their way of life.

From an early age family, personal character, love of community and country, and education were highly valued within our home.

Many of Franklin's immigrant sons volunteered to serve in the military of their adopted country in World War I. My father being one who volunteered at age 17 and served in France during the three major battles of that war.

Fortunately, he returned home to Franklin, marrying in 1929, and with my mother raised four of us, where we attended the Franklin Public Schools, graduating from FHS, then on to higher education institutions graduating from Boston College, Framingham School of Nursing, State College at Boston, or Emmanuel College. We were encouraged from an early age to apply ourselves so as to take advantage of all that America had to offer.

State Legislation on the Horizon

Meanwhile, events continue apace elsewhere. According to State House News Service, indigenous people and allies planned to rally and march to observe Indigenous Peoples Day in Boston on Saturday and called for a statewide observance of the holiday.

Boston Acting Mayor Janey on Wednesday signed an executive order establishing every second Monday of October as Indigenous Peoples Day in Boston, and a bill before the Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight would have the governor annually proclaim Indigenous Peoples Day, instead of Columbus Day, on that date. Ralliers' other demands include passage of the full Massachusetts Indigenous Legislative Agenda on Beacon Hill, renaming Boston's Christopher Columbus Park and Faneuil Hall, no Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in Massachusetts and “No projects on Indigenous lands without free, prior and informed consent.”

Independent of those controversies, Turco believes the Franklin descendants of the original wave of Italian immigrants to Franklin have contributed over the years to the culture of town in so many ways, in the trades, as community leaders, businesses, in education, religious affiliations, and participation in many community organizations.”

“All of which make Franklin a town which stands out amongst those within our area,” Turco added.