Columbus Day 2020: Quotes About America Being 'Discovered'

Columbus Day is marked every year on the second Monday of October to commemorate the date when Christopher Columbus first discovered the Americas. However, there have been various controversies surrounding this holiday as many people propose to change the name to "Indigenous Peoples' Day."

Colorado was the first U.S. state to make Columbus Day an official holiday, after which other states followed suit, thus making it a federal holiday in 1937.

Here are some quotes from famous personalities commenting on Columbus’ so-called discovery.

1. “Perhaps, after all, America never has been discovered. I myself would say that it had merely been detected.” – Oscar Wilde

2. “Christopher Columbus, as everyone knows, is honored by posterity because he was the last to discover America.” – James Joyce

3. “Every ship that comes to America got its chart from Columbus.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

4. “If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn’t turn out well for the Native Americans.” – Stephen Hawking

5. “When asked by an anthropologist what the Indians called America before the white man came, an Indian said simply, ‘Ours.’” – Vine Deloria Jr.

6. “If Columbus had an advisory committee, he would probably still be at the dock.” – Arthur Goldberg

7. “America’s one of the finest countries anyone ever stole.” – Bobcat Goldthwait

8. “It’s like, how did Columbus discover America when the Indians were already here? What kind of s--- is that, but white people’s s---?” – Miles Davis, “Miles: The Autobiography”