Native American descendants remember their ancestors on Columbus Day

RICHMOND, Ky. (WTVQ) – On Monday, some people enjoyed a long weekend off for Columbus Day. However, Native American communities see this holiday differently.

Jan Quigg lives in Richmond, but her native-american roots run deep to Casey County where her ancestors settled after they were forced on the Trail of Tears.

Growing up, Quigg says she always knew she was Native-American, but it wasn’t until after doing a genealogy trace, she discovered her ancestor was Cherokee.

“That just broke my heart in a way to think that you could remove a people. From their home and force them with little children to walk for miles to new land,” says Quigg.

Quigg says she could never relate to the Southern Baptist way of life she grew up around in rural Kentucky and says on a religious and spiritual level, she always felt like something was missing. This all changed after going to her first Pow Wow.

“That’s how I found my path was the native spirituality and I can honestly say that I found myself,” explains Quigg.

Most people know the rhyme, “In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue”, but Quigg says what’s damaging is that students don’t often know the full story.

“Don’t sugar coat it, get it out there. Let it be known what this country did to Native – Americans. Yes, Columbus may have discovered some land, but he didn’t discover people who were already here,” says Quigg.

To remember those lost, communities across the country celebrate Indigenous People’s Day instead of Columbus Day. For them, its less of a break from everyday responsibility and instead its a day to remember an entire race of people who were historically mistreated.

“We’re still here, we still remain and we still go on and we will always be in that circle of life,” says Quigg.