Columbus Day was promoted by the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic organization in the 1930s that wanted a Catholic hero. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the day into law as a federal holiday in 1937.
Columbus offered a year's salary reward for the crew member who first cited land. Though a sailor saw the land, Columbus said he saw a dim light the night before and kept the reward for himself.
In 1621, Pilgrims celebrated a feast w/Wampanaog men, but it was not repeated in the years to follow. In 1636, a murdered white man was found in a boat & the Pequot were blamed. In retaliation, settlers burned Pequot villages. 100's died
English Major John Mason rallied his troops to burn Pequot wigwams and attacked and killed hundreds of men, women and children.
They were blamed for a murder they did not commit - and were burned to death.
Hello Twitter family.
Right now I'm sitting at my father's bedside in an emergency room.
He has a fever (not likely COVID) He is elderly and sick. He also has dementia. He is 72.
It gives me a lot of pause and thoughts.
Can you please read and share this #thread about my father.
I think of the 54 years I have known my father. And I realize there is so much more I could have learned from him. So much I don't know about his life, his feelings about things.
There are things that I will never know. Things I never asked him.
What did his room look like as a kid? Did he read comic books? What was his favorite subject in school?
I realize there is so much.
I'm a journalist, I ask people about their lives every day. I ask them questions I have never asked my father.
Dammit ...