Indigenous People’s Day: Why some Americans don’t celebrate Columbus Day

Indigenous People’s Day was created in reaction to atrocities carried out by Columbus and European settlers against Native American people in the Americas

Indigenous Peoples’ Day is a holiday in the United States that was created in reaction to Columbus Day, a national holiday dedicated to celebrating the explorer who led expeditions to the Americas starting in 1492.

Since then, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus – who completed four voyages for Spain across the Atlantic Ocean – has become a controversial figure in history. As a result, many states and cities have decided to rename the holiday in honor of the Indigenous communities who already lived in the Americas before his arrival, and call attention to the violence committed against Native Americans since Columbus and his crews arrived on shore.

Here’s what you need to know about the renamed national holiday.

How long has Columbus Day been around?

Columbus Day is typically observed on the second Monday in October. This year, the holiday will take place on Monday, October 14, 2024.

It became US federal holiday in 1937 after an effort by Roman Catholic Italian Americans, who were at the time members of a particularly stigmatized ethnic and religious group. Members of the group campaigned to make Columbus Day a holiday in order to establish Columbus, a Catholic Italian, as an important and central figure in American history.

Along the way, their efforts wound up cultivating the false impression among many Americans that Columbus literally discovered the Americas, even though Indigenous communities had established settlements at least 500 years prior to Columbus’ arrival.

Why have many renamed Columbus Day?

While much of American history has been written around the conquests of European descendants, there has been increasing recognition that the American narrative has served to only marginalize Indigenous peoples, whose communities were negatively impacted by genocide and colonization.

“Columbus Day is not just a holiday, it represents the violent history of colonization in the Western hemisphere,” Leo Killsback, a professor of American Indian Studies at Arizona State University, told the History Channel.

Some American public schools do not teach students in-depth about the millions of people who lived in the Americas before Europeans arrived, and what has happened to the population through the years. Instead, Indigenous Peoples’ Day highlights the brutal history of the man, and his treatment of the Indigenous people he found already living in the Americas when he arrived.

Historians have found evidence that Columbus and his teams enslaved native inhabitants of the West Indies, and subjected them to extreme violence. That treatment started on the first day he arrived, according to his journal, which says that he immediately ordered the seizure of six native people to be used as servants.

Some claims state that Columbus oversaw the slaughter of Indigenous people, and even ordered people’s hands be cut off for failing to perform tasks for his teams.

Is Indigenous Peoples’ Day a federal holiday?

Indigenous Peoples’ Day has been recognized for decades in different forms and under a variety of names to celebrate Native Americans’ history and culture, and to recognize the challenges they continue to face.

In 2021, US President Joe Biden issued the first-ever presidential proclamation of Indigenous Peoples’ Day. He said in a statement that the day is meant to “honor America’s first inhabitants and the Tribal Nations that continue to thrive today.”

Although it is not a federal holiday, Indigenous Peoples’ day is celebrated all over the country. Across the US, 17 states – including Washington, South Dakota and Maine, as well as Washington, DC – have holidays honoring Indigenous communities. Dozens of cities and school systems observe Indigenous Peoples’ Day as well.

Several US lawmakers have since reintroduced legislation meant to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day as a federal holiday.

How do people celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day?

Indigenous Peoples’ Day is often marked by protests against memorials to Columbus, for environmental justice, for the return of Indigenous lands and in honor of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. By calling attention to Indigenous Peoples’ Day and the desire to make it a federal holiday, supporters hope that it will bring attention to the ways Indigenous people are discriminated against and disproportionately affected by climate change and gender violence.

Additional reporting from AP.