School officials in Framingham rejected a bid to replace Columbus Day on the school calendar with “Indigenous Peoples Day,” but added indigenous peoples to the commemoration. The Framingham School Committee voted 5-4 Wednesday night to approve the change, with the majority seizing on a compromise offered by the superintendent of schools. The four-member minority included two members who wanted to get rid of Columbus altogether and two members who wanted to keep Columbus without adding indigenous peoples.

Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) made landfall on an island in the Bahamas on October 12, 1492, claiming it for Spain. He was the first European of the modern era known to have reached the Americas, and his exploration initiated European colonization of the New World and mass migrations of people to North America and South America.