“Destroyed on July 4, 2020. Resurrected in 2022. (…) Reconsecrated by President Donald J. Trump on October 13, 2025,” is inscribed on the base of a statue of Christopher Columbus, installed last Sunday on the grounds of the White House.
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In the wake of the movement triggered by the murder of African-American George Floyd at the hands of white police officers in Minneapolis, demonstrators dismantled this monument to Christopher Columbus in Baltimore.
They wanted to denounce the brutal treatment of indigenous populations by the Italian explorer and his appropriation of the land, in particular.
Donald Trump, for his part, celebrated him as the “original American hero” – even if Christopher Columbus never set foot on the territory of the present-day United States during his voyages, from 1492 to 1504, and did not really “discover” America.
“Rebuilding this statue and moving it from a somewhat obscure corner of Little Italy in Baltimore to installing it directly on the grounds of the White House is a form of provocation against the Black Lives Matter protesters or anyone who sees Columbus that way,” said Matthew Restall, professor at Penn State University.
Different versions
The specialist of the period is the author of a book on the myths surrounding the historical figure, The Nine Lives of Christopher Columbus. It recalls the many popularized versions of Christopher Columbus. Myths not necessarily consistent with the reality of man, a “complex human being”, “neither saint nor devil”, he says.
THE Columbus Dayfor example, celebrated on the second Monday of October in the United States, was proclaimed as an official celebration by President Benjamin Harrison in 1892. A way of recognizing the Italian-American community, then the victim of racism: the previous year, 11 immigrants of Italian origin had been lynched in New Orleans.
For Italian-Americans, Columbus is a heroic figure, someone who came from Italy, crossed the ocean, a world of uncertainties. They transformed Columbus into a sort of symbol of the modern migrant who triumphs over discrimination.
Matthew Restall, professor at Penn State University
Even if this has little to do with the navigator, who was trying to find a route to Asia for its riches, before ending up on the island of Hispaniola.
A coalition of Italian-American organizations, which owns the statue newly installed on the White House site, welcomed this initiative.
American myth
But this is not the Christopher Columbus that Trump celebrates. It seems rather attached to another version popularized in the 19the century in the United States, then a young country under construction. Columbus as a figure linked to the Old Continent, but not to the adversaries of the time. Columbus and unfailing ambition.
Columbus and his promise to bring “civilization” to peoples considered inferior.
“In this period of the early United States, he was the one who not only brought civilization, but also Christianity,” says Kirk Savage, professor of art history and architecture at the University of Pittsburgh.
The art historian was interested in different American monuments and their symbolism. The design of the newly installed statue in Washington has nothing to do with a monument in front of the Capitol removed in 1958, after disputes over its offensive nature – the statue depicted Columbus triumphant above a naked indigenous woman, he recalls.
Dispossession of First Nations
But no matter how sober the statue is, Columbus will remain a controversial figure.
“For a First Nations person, Columbus will never be acceptable, no matter the form; he does not deserve to be elevated to the rank of hero in a public space, because he took the land, without consent, marking the beginning of a long history of indigenous dispossession,” says Mr. Kirk, who would like to see new monuments to tell the story of marginalized populations.
The debate is part of a cultural war fracturing the United States. States like Maine, Vermont and New Mexico have replaced the Columbus Day by a First Nations day. Joe Biden became the first president to celebrate it.
Trump, for his part, rejects everything that is perceived as a legacy of his predecessor, and everything that emanates from the liberal movement. He defends an idealized version of American history, ignoring the dark sides. His administration has also requested the removal of monuments representing slavery.
A history professor at Hillsdale College in Michigan, Brad Birzer deplores the right-left dichotomy surrounding the Columbus issue. “On the one hand, I think he’s great,” he emphasizes. But on the other hand, he’s horrible. And I wouldn’t want to tell just one side of him. »
A self-described conservative, he believes there are “enough good things” in Christopher Columbus to warrant a place in history. “Whether that means I think he should be in the White House or not, I don’t know,” he said. But history should be taught with all its nuances, he adds, without mythologizing its characters.
If Christopher Columbus is less celebrated in Canada than in the United States, his commemoration is contested here too. A petition circulated in 2023 to change the name of the Montreal avenue of the same name.
