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Silvio Laccetti, a retired professor of social sciences from Stevens Institute of Technology, spoke at the Hunterdon County Italian Legacy Society, where he discussed Christopher Columbus to disprove a number of controversies about the explorer, which are often found in today's school curriculum. In the various topics of discussion and writing abou...

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The National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) supports Christopher Columbus Day and opposes public campaigns that advocate for its elimination as a federal holiday. As an organization devoted to the promotion and preservation of Italian American heritage, we support unequivocally keeping Columbus Day as a federal holiday. We believe that Columbus...

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In recent years I have been in the East Boston Columbus Day parade. This year I was in the military contingent riding in a WWII Jeep in the back with my very large cowboy hat on. Many people thought I was the new Rex Trailer but not true. I was pretending to be Hollywood actor Robert Duval when he was in Apocalypse Now. I guess the movie must be to...

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Someone defaced the statue of Christopher Columbus at the City of Newburgh’s waterfront, painting the bronze figure’s hands bright red sometime after last week’s celebration of Columbus Day. Karen Monti, the president of the Newburgh chapter of UNICO, said the city police were notified after the vandalism was discovered within the last few days. Co...

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Sometimes, (virtually) wandering around the United States getting to now Italian American leaders, I end up meeting somebody who really is committed to promote and celebrate the Italian culture, our language, our values. I live in Italy, and for me it is always incredibly inspiring to see how much love there is for my country, outside of it. Today...

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For all of his accolades in the 13th Century, Christopher Columbus has had rough seas here in the 21st Century, as indigenous groups and many in the general public have begun to call for a change to the holiday that tends to skew towards highlighting the Italian culture more than the explorer himself. Add Mayor Carlo DeMaria to the list of defender...

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I grew up with family stories.  My maternal great-grandfather, a hard-working immigrant from Abruzzo,  reacted to some now forgotten blow to his honor by hanging himself with his youngest daughter's jump rope in their West Philadelphia basement.  His wife, Philomena, was left to raise eight children, alone.  She suffered another devastating loss wh...

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On Oct. 12, 1934, an estimated 40,000 people filled the streets of downtown Syracuse for a Columbus Day parade, followed by the dedication of the city’s Columbus monument. The “abounding panorama of pageantry and joy” featured a mile-long line of marchers, a 500-voice children’s choir and speeches by community leaders, according to the Syracuse Her...

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Los Angeles celebrated its inaugural Indigenous Peoples Day on Monday with a panoply of events, native dancing, panel discussions, and of course, a lot of food trucks in and around Grand Park in downtown. But there was one persona non grata. At the other end of Grand Park, a statue of the Italian explorer – the focus of a wave of revision on his le...

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Big Dave, the clown, woke up early on Sunday to put on his makeup. He colored his long, bushy beard with spray paint in stripes of neon green, pink and purple. His Mickey Mouse T-shirt had been ready since the previous night. He finished the look with a giant yellow bowtie, decorated with red dots, and picked up a colorful flower patterned hat on t...

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