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# As Trump Calls Columbus a Hero, Wisconsin Marks Indigenous Peoples' Day for an Eighth Year
- URL: https://foxwatershed.com/indigenous-peoples-day-columbus-hispaniola-wisconsin/
- Published: 2026-10-13T01:20:53.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-13T01:22:47.000Z
- Description: Oneida opened the day with a tobacco ceremony while Trump called Columbus one of history's greatest heroes. The record from Hispaniola, and Wisconsin's own split calendar, explain why the fight never settles.
- Author: Fox Watershed Staff
- Tags: Wisconsin, National, Community, Trump Administration

Oneida Nation members opened Indigenous Peoples' Day Monday with a tobacco-burning ceremony at the Norbert Hill Center, [NBC 26 reported](https://www.nbc26.com/news/local-news/oneida-nation-marks-indigenous-peoples-day-with-ceremony-celebration-and-voter-outreach?ref=foxwatershed.com), and Wisconsin marked the holiday for the [eighth straight year under Gov. Tony Evers](https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/WIGOV/bulletins/42e3752?ref=foxwatershed.com). In Washington, the second Monday in October carries a different name. President Donald Trump's [Columbus Day proclamation](https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/10/columbus-day-2026/?ref=foxwatershed.com), signed Oct. 7, calls Columbus "one of history's greatest heroes" and never mentions Indigenous Peoples' Day. On Friday he hosted a [Columbus celebration in the East Room](https://thenationaldesk.com/top-videos/president-donald-trump-hosts-christopher-columbus-day-celebration-at-white-house-renewing-push-to-honor-italian-explorer-1492-voyage-marble-statue-indigenous-peoples-day-joe-biden?ref=foxwatershed.com), after earlier promising to bring the holiday "back from the ashes."

The argument between the two names keeps coming back to one island. Hispaniola, now shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic, is where Columbus governed Spain's first colony in the Americas, and it's where the paper trail on his rule begins.

[Columbus Day, 2026BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A PROCLAMATION More than five centuries ago, Christopher Columbus embarked westward across uncharted Every child deserves a safe and nurturing home where they can learn, grow, and reach their full potential. Adoption makes that possible by opening the door to stability and belonging for children who need a family. During National Adoption Month, we commend the parents whose love has changed lives and the children whose presence has completed families -- and we recommit to caring for the many children still waiting for the comfort and security of a permanent home.Adoption reflects the deep value our Nation places on family and abundant life. As President, I am committed to empowering families who answer the call to open their hearts and homes to children. Through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, I made the adoption tax credit more accessible and expanded the child tax credit, helping remove financial barriers to adopting and allowing families to save more of their income to care for their children. While adoption creates beautiful new beginnings, too many children in our foster care system still wait for a permanent home. During my first term, I took monumental action to strengthen America's foster care and adoption systems by signing into law the landmark Family First Prevention Services Act -- the most sweeping reform of Federal child welfare policy in decades. This law utilizes proven intervention methods to keep families intact and prevent unnecessary separation. This term, I remain firmly committed to continuing this vital work alongside First Lady Melania Trump. Just last week, I signed an Executive Order on Fostering the Future for American Children and Families, to harness Federal support, technology, and strategic partnerships to provide young Americans in, or transitioning out of, the foster-care system with the tools they need to become successful adults. This effort is strengthened by the leadership of the First Lady whose work continues to uplift and protect the well-being of America's children -- ensuring every child has greater access to a strong foundation for the future. This month, we recognize the profound truth that all children are a gift from God, worthy of love, care, and family. We honor the parents and families who welcome children into their homes and provide the stability and guidance every young person deserves. Above all, we commit to protecting children, supporting those who care for them, and strengthening the pillar of family across our great Nation. NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim November 2025 as National Adoption Month throughout the United States. I encourage all Americans to observe this month by supporting children in need of a safe and loving home, uplifting the families who welcome them, and helping strengthen the bonds of family and community across our Nation. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand thisseventeenth day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fiftieth. DONALD J. TRUMP![](https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/images/apple-touch-icon-152x152.png)The White House![](https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/WH47-Presidential-Actions-Social-Share-Card.jpg)](https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/10/columbus-day-2026/?ref=foxwatershed.com)

## What the Record on Hispaniola Shows

In 2006, Spanish historians publicized a report long believed lost, written by Francisco de Bobadilla, the royal official who arrived in 1500 to investigate Columbus. The [48-page document](https://www.historynewsnetwork.org/article/29344?ref=foxwatershed.com) collects testimony from 23 witnesses, including people who liked Columbus and people who didn't. Among its cases, a man caught stealing corn had his nose and ears cut off and was then sold into slavery. A woman who said Columbus came from humble stock was paraded through the streets, and his brother Bartolomé had her tongue cut out.

Consuelo Varela, a Seville historian who [studied the report, told journalists](https://www.historynewsnetwork.org/article/29344?ref=foxwatershed.com) that Columbus's government was characterized by "a form of tyranny." Critics have pointed out that some of the witnesses were Columbus's enemies with reasons to damage him. Varela said the testimony still described atrocities and a government that ruled without trials, [the Independent reported](https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/28513?ref=foxwatershed.com).

Many of the people in Bobadilla's report were Spanish colonists. The Taíno, who lived on the island before the Spanish arrived, had it worse. On his second voyage, Columbus ordered every adult to hand over enough gold dust to [fill a small hawk's bell every three months](https://bunkhistory.org/resources/the-lost-mariner?ref=foxwatershed.com), on an island with very little gold. Bartolomé de las Casas, who spent a decade on Hispaniola as a slaveholder before turning against the conquest, wrote that the first mutilation of a Taíno prisoner began what would become "a river of blood."

A Library of Congress country study notes that Columbus tried to curb some of the settlers' worst raids on Taíno villages. Under pressure from those same settlers, he then devised the repartimiento, which could [grant a colonist a large tract of land along with the labor of the Taíno living on it](https://countrystudies.us/dominican-republic/3.htm?ref=foxwatershed.com). The crown replaced it with the encomienda in 1503, and the Native population kept dying off from exhaustion, starvation and disease, the study says.

## The Death Toll Is Still Argued Over

Nobody disputes that the Taíno population collapsed. The size of the collapse is another matter. The same [Library of Congress study](https://countrystudies.us/dominican-republic/3.htm?ref=foxwatershed.com) estimates the island held about 1 million Taíno in 1492 and roughly 500 by 1548\. A 2020 ancient DNA study published in Nature put the population before contact far lower, in the tens of thousands. Florida Museum archaeologist William Keegan [said the smaller number](https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/ancient-dna-retells-story-of-caribbeans-first-people?ref=foxwatershed.com) doesn't make the erasure any less significant.

## How Columbus Got a Holiday

The holiday's own origin is grim in a different way. In 1891, a New Orleans mob lynched 11 Italian Americans. The next year, President Benjamin Harrison proclaimed a one-time national celebration for the 400th anniversary of Columbus's landing, and [Britannica calls the lynching](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Columbus-Day?ref=foxwatershed.com) the direct impetus for the holiday. Franklin Roosevelt later made it an annual federal holiday. Britannica dates that to 1937, while [NPR's Code Switch puts it at 1934](https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/10/14/232120128/?ref=foxwatershed.com). Since 1971 it has fallen on the second Monday in October.

That history is why the day has long [doubled as a celebration of Italian American pride](https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/10/14/232120128/?ref=foxwatershed.com). In 2021, Joe Biden became the first president to [formally recognize Indigenous Peoples' Day](https://www.gpb.org/node/1389026?ref=foxwatershed.com) on the same date. As of last year's count, 17 states and Washington, D.C., used the day to honor Indigenous people.

## Wisconsin's Split Calendar

Wisconsin hasn't fully picked a side. Evers signed [Executive Order #50](https://www.wispolitics.com/2019/gov-evers-signs-executive-order-declaring-indigenous-peoples-day-in-wisconsin/?ref=foxwatershed.com) in 2019 at Indian Community School in Franklin, setting aside the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples' Day. State law hasn't changed to match. Wisconsin's list of [special observance days for schools](https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/118/02?ref=foxwatershed.com) still names Oct. 12 as Christopher Columbus' birthday, and this year the calendar put both on the same Monday.

The governor has used the day for policy since. In 2021 he signed an order [formally apologizing for Wisconsin's role in Indian boarding schools](https://wisconsinexaminer.com/brief/evers-signs-executive-order-on-indigenous-peoples-day-apologizes-for-wisconsins-role-in-indian-boarding-schools/?ref=foxwatershed.com). Thousands of Native children attended at least 10 day and boarding schools in Wisconsin. Last year's Executive Order #277 created a Wild Rice Stewardship Council and focused on treaty rights education, according to [this year's announcement](https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/WIGOV/bulletins/42e3752?ref=foxwatershed.com).

Wisconsin's classrooms carry part of that history. The state's 1989 law known as Act 31 requires public schools to teach the history, culture and sovereignty of the state's 11 federally recognized tribal nations. The state Department of Public Instruction [ties the law to the backlash](https://dpi.wi.gov/node/26694?ref=foxwatershed.com) that followed a 1983 federal appeals ruling upholding Ojibwe rights to hunt, fish and gather, which exposed how little many residents understood about tribal sovereignty.

## In Oneida and Green Bay

Monday's Oneida program included a reading of the nation's resolution, remarks on the boarding school order and a performance by the Oneida Nation School Singers, [according to WBAY](https://www.wbay.com/2026/10/12/local-events-commemorate-indigenous-peoples-day/?ref=foxwatershed.com). Oneida Vice Chair Jameson Wilson said, "We're still able to practice and live our way of life," pointing to generations of pressure to assimilate. The nation followed the ceremony with a "Get Out the Rally Vote" event at the Oneida Hotel featuring actor and comedian Dallas Goldtooth, three weeks before the Nov. 3 election. Lawrence University in Appleton held its own evening celebration with Oneida dancers.

Green Bay signed on to the holiday in 2019, when Mayor Eric Genrich read a proclamation at City Hall alongside leaders of the Oneida, Menominee and Ho-Chunk nations. Then-Oneida Vice Chairman Brandon Stevens [tied the renaming to boarding schools](https://oneida-nsn.gov/blog/2019/10/17/indigenous-peoples-day-celebrated-in-oneida/?ref=foxwatershed.com), removal from traditional land and the trauma that followed the story of "discovery."

Columbus didn't get the last word on his own record either. Bobadilla [sent him back to Spain in irons](https://countrystudies.us/dominican-republic/3.htm?ref=foxwatershed.com) in 1500, and Queen Isabella soon ordered him released. More than five centuries later, Washington and Madison still don't agree on what to call his day.