At Plimoth Plantation this Columbus Day, the living history museum instead focused its attention on recognizing Indigenous Peoples' Day.
“Christopher Columbus didn’t discover America because people were here. It’s really hard to discover an area that people are living in,” said Timothy Turner, guest experience manager of Plimoth Plantation's Wampanoag Homesite and a member of the Cherokee Nation.
It was Turner’s idea for the change this year, and he said it’s about educating people about the entire history of America – including the thousands of years before European colonization.
“We all have the story in our head about crossing the ocean in 1492," he said. "There’s a lot more history there that we need to teach, and it’s not always good history.”
Part of the lesson here at Plimoth Plantation now includes immigration booths showing guests how the Pilgrims would have been treated if they were subject to Customs like today’s immigrants.
“There’s so many questions,” said 7-year-old Madeline McCauley of Harwich.
A lot of questions, and a start to a conversation about the full history of Native Americans, the Pilgrims and Christopher Columbus.
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“They were only trying to steal things from the Native Americans’ land when they found it," Madeline said.
“I think that it was a fabulous experience for everybody to participate in, I wish that they had Customs back then," said Madeline's mother, Becky McCauley.
Plimoth Plantation is now encouraging the state and the nation to adopt Indigenous Peoples' Day too.
But in a tweet this afternoon, President Donald Trump made a point to proclaim Monday as Columbus Day.
