Defacing Columbus - Knights' History in New Haven

The Knights of Columbus was one of the first groups to help immigrants. Just over a year ago, statues of Christopher Columbus were defaced before Columbus day. On Wednesday we went to the museum of the Knights of Columbus and interviewed one of their employees on that matter. Interestingly enough, though Columbus was an Italian immigrant, the founding members of the Knights of Columbus were Irish immigrants. They chose the name Knights of Columbus because they were facing discrimination from Americans. They felt that by forming a support organization for Irish immigrants, and naming it after Columbus, a huge hero at the time, they would show their similarity to everyone else.The Knights of Columbus has survived for more than 100 years and has since then evolved into a charity organization. Though it has been revealed that Columbus was not a good person, when we asked a member if they ever intended to change their name he responded with “never”. When it comes to the recent defacing of Columbus statues, he replied that the people of today look at Columbus in a different way than people in the old times did. In the old times the things that Columbus did were normal, and his less morally correct actions were perfectly fine to most people back then. They still considered him a hero. But now that society is starting to evolve in the way we look at things, we are starting to have different opinions on Columbus and that is perfectly normal. However, those statues and Columbus day are both meant to celebrate the good things that Columbus did, not the bad things.

Matthew Li

The Knights of Columbus were established by Irish immigrants in the 1800’s. To be a member of the Knights of Columbus you have to be 18 or older and Catholic. The Knights of Columbus fraternity was founded in 1882 when the Irish immigrated into New Haven because of the potato famine. Since they were established, the Knights have helped immigrants in the area. When they became apart of the community the Knights took them in and helped them settle in. The Knights raised a lot of money to help the community.

Because the Irish were being treated poorly by people already in America, they named it in honor of Christopher Columbus. This was to show that they were as much American as they were Irish. It also showed that they cared about “America’s Founder”. The conditions in Ireland were so horrible at these times that wild dogs were feeding on human corpses and mothers were holding dead infants begging for food. The Irish population nearly halved and a lot of them immigrated to the US. In the present day, the Knights of Columbus help out the community and have a large museum dedicated to their past. They give to local shelters and churches in the New Haven area. Recently the Knights went to the Florida to give assistance to those who got affected by the hurricanes. They gave services such as delivering water and helping move and rebuild ruble. The Knights have also been active internationally, and in the New Haven area, with refugee relief. One of their mottos is “For everybody, everything free”, so they are heavily involved in helping displaced refugees.

The Knights of Columbus museum is free admission so the public can see what they have done. The Knights of Columbus try to help any people in need and often succeed in their mission.

Nate McCleery & Will McGarry