By: Sutton Rizzo
Indigenous Peoples’ Day, formerly known as Columbus Day, is celebrated on the second Monday in October. It celebrates the culture of Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians, which were greatly affected by the European arrival in America. The push to change it from Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples’ Day has strengthened over the past few decades, mostly due to the abuse that these groups faced when Christopher Columbus first came to the Americas.
The idea of replacing Columbus Day was first brought up in 1977 at a United Nations International nongovernmental organization conference. In 1990, South Dakota became the first state to replace the Columbus Day namesake, calling it Native Americans’ Day. Berkley, California, became the first city to adopt the name used today. In present-day, many more states and cities have adopted Indigenous Peoples’ Day as an addition to Columbus Day or in place of Columbus Day. In 2021, Joe Biden, who was the president at the time, became the first president to recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day as an official holiday.
