What is Indigenous Peoples Day? A day of celebration, protest and reclaiming history
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Indigenous people celebrate their centuries-long history of resilience with ceremonies, dances and speeches.
Former President Joe Biden officially commemorated Indigenous Peoples Day in 2021. An increasing number of states and cities have also recognized it — pivoting from a day long rooted in the celebration of explorer Christopher Columbus to one focused on the people whose lives and culture were forever changed by colonialism.
Here is a look at why it’s called Indigenous Peoples Day and how people celebrate.
Why is it called Indigenous Peoples Day?
Indigenous Peoples Day has been recognized for decades in different forms and under a variety of names to celebrate their history and culture and to recognize the challenges they continue to face.
Biden had said in a statement that the day is meant to “honor America’s first inhabitants and the Tribal Nations that continue to thrive today.”
It is typically observed on the second Monday in October, the same day as Columbus Day, a federal holiday established in response to discrimination against Italian Americans to recognize Columbus’ sighting in 1492 of what came to be known as the Americas.
In recent years the day has been marked by protests against memorials to Columbus, for environmental justice, for the return of Indigenous lands and to raise awareness about missing and murdered Indigenous women.
President Donald Trump has said he won’t recognize Indigenous Peoples Day alongside Columbus Day in October.
Is Indigenous Peoples Day a federal holiday?
Although it is not a federal holiday, some states, as well as Washington, D.C., have holidays honoring Indigenous people, some of which are on the second Monday in October. Indigenous Peoples Day is typically paired with Columbus Day or replaces the federal holiday altogether. A number of cities and school systems observe Indigenous Peoples Day as well.
Indigenous people have campaigned for years for recognition
“For generations, federal policies systematically sought to assimilate and displace Native people and eradicate Native cultures,” Biden wrote in the Indigenous Peoples’ Day proclamation.
“Today, we recognize Indigenous peoples’ resilience and strength as well as the immeasurable positive impact that they have made on every aspect of American society.”
In a separate proclamation on Columbus Day, Biden praised the role of Italian Americans in U.S. society, but also referenced the violence and harm Columbus and other explorers of the age brought to the Americas.
Landing in what is now the Bahamas on Oct. 12, 1492, Columbus, an Italian, was the first of a wave of European explorers in the Americas pursuing quests for gold and other wealth, including people to enslave. In the course of that quest, Native populations were decimated.
“Today, we also acknowledge the painful history of wrongs and atrocities that many European explorers inflicted on Tribal Nations and Indigenous communities,” Biden wrote. “It is a measure of our greatness as a Nation that we do not seek to bury these shameful episodes of our past — that we face them honestly, we bring them to the light, and we do all we can to address them.”
