Indigenous Peoples’ Day

Indigenous Peoples’ Day, holiday in the United States that takes place on the second Monday of October. The day honors the Indigenous peoples of the United States—Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians, most of whom were violently uprooted and exploited beginning with the arrival of Europeans in the Americas. It celebrates the diversity of Indigenous peoples and their contributions to American history and culture. It is also a day to reflect on the historical mistreatment of Indigenous peoples and to recognize their rights and sovereignty.

Indigenous Peoples’ Day arose as a response to Columbus Day, a holiday that commemorates the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas in 1492. Historically, that holiday has celebrated the explorer for opening the New World to European settlement. In recent decades, however, a growing number of Indigenous activists and their supporters have protested the holiday for ignoring the point of view of Indigenous Americans. They have called attention to the violence that Columbus and his crew carried out against the Indigenous peoples they met, including kidnapping and enslavement. They have also noted the long-lasting impact of European colonization, which began with Columbus’s voyages. Colonization led to devastating losses of life and land for Indigenous Americans.

The idea of replacing Columbus Day with a holiday honoring Indigenous peoples was proposed in 1977 at the United Nations International NGO (nongovernmental organization) Conference on Discrimination Against Indigenous Populations in the Americas. More than a decade later South Dakota became the first state to replace Columbus Day, celebrating Native Americans’ Day in 1990. Berkeley, California, was the first city to make a change, adopting Indigenous Peoples’ Day in 1992. In Puerto Rico the day is observed as Día de la Raza (“Day of the Race” or “Day of the People”), a celebration of Hispanic heritage and the Indigenous peoples of Latin America.

In the 21st century many more states and cities have begun to observe Indigenous Peoples’ Day on the second Monday in October, either in place of or in addition to Columbus Day. In 2021 Joe Biden became the first U.S. president to officially recognize the holiday.