Indigenous Peoples’ Day

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Overview

Indigenous Peoples' Day is a celebratory holiday to honor indigenous peoples of North America. Typically celebrated as a replacement or an alternative to Columbus Day on the second Monday of October, Indigenous Peoples' Day celebrates the history and culture of Indigenous Americans.

Background

In 1977, participants of the United Nations International Conference on Discrimination Against Indigenous Populations in the Americas proposed replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples' Day. The proposal is one of the earliest known mentions of the holiday, coming only five years after President Richard Nixon made Columbus Day a national holiday in 1972 and criticisms of "colonial takeovers of the Americas, starting with Columbus, [which] led to the deaths of millions of Native people and the forced assimilation of survivors."^[1]

Development

Over a decade later, in 1990, various states, including South Dakota and Hawaii began renaming Columbus Day in lieu of holidays that do not come into criticisms of colonialism.

In 1992, Berkeley, California became the first city to officially rename Columbus Day "Indigenous Peoples' Day."

As of 2018, more than 90 cities around the United States celebrate the holiday.^[2] Additionally four states, Minnesota, Vermont, Alaska and South Dakota, officially observe the holiday.

On October 9th, 2017, Time magazine released a video explaining the holiday. The post received more than 5,400 views in one year.