Monday is becoming increasingly known as Indigenous Peoples’ Day, a commemoration of Native American history and culture.
While the second Monday in October has historically been celebrated as Columbus Day and is still federally recognized as such, many have pushed for moving away from the holiday to acknowledge the atrocities Columbus committed against people living in the Americas long before his arrival.
Indigenous Peoples’ Day has been federally recognized through proclamation for the past three years. In 2023, President Joe Biden proclaimed the day to “honor perseverance and courage of Indigenous peoples.”
While not everywhere in the U.S. recognizes Indigenous Peoples’ Day, advocates say it’s important to denounce Columbus’ violent history and recognize Native American communities today.
Here is what to know:
More:The pilgrims didn’t invite Native Americans to a feast. Why the Thanksgiving myth matters.
Is Indigenous Peoples’ Day an official holiday?
It depends on where you live, but Columbus Day is still a federal holiday.
Approximately 29 states and Washington, D.C. do not celebrate Columbus Day. About 216 cities have renamed it or replaced it with Indigenous Peoples’ Day, according to renamecolumbusday.org. Some states recognize Indigenous Peoples Day via proclamation, while others treat it as an official holiday.
At the federal level, Indigenous Peoples’ Day has received presidential proclamations from the Biden administration for the last three years.
“Indigenous peoples are a beacon of resilience, strength, and perseverance as well as a source of incredible contributions. Indigenous peoples and Tribal Nations continue to practice their cultures, remember their heritages, and pass down their histories from generation to generation,” Biden wrote in the 2023 proclamation on the holiday.
Why are some states abandoning Columbus Day?
The grade school lesson about the explorer Christopher Columbus sailing the “ocean blue” is incomplete.
Indigenous communities lived in the Western Hemisphere for tens of thousands of years before Columbus arrived, and contact with European colonies led to devastating loss of life, tradition and land for American Indians, according to the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.
Critics of the current federal holiday point out that Columbus committed several crimes against humanity when he reached the Western Hemisphere. Here are some examples of those atrocities, as compiled by Philadelphia Magazine:
- Columbus cut off the hands of approximately 10,000 natives in Haiti and the Dominican Republic because they failed to provide gold every three months.
- Columbus cut off the legs of native children who tried to run from them.
- He aided in sex trafficking nine and ten-year-old girls.
Moving away from Columbus Day and celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day helps to recognize Indigenous perspectives for a more complete look at history, the museum states.
By celebrating Indigenous People’s Day, the museum says we can also recognize the Native Americans who are still here and fighting for recognition and environmental rights.
