Indigenous Peoples' Day (United States)

Indigenous Peoples' Day is a holiday in the United States that celebrates and honors Indigenous American peoples and commemorates their histories and cultures. It is celebrated across the United States on the second Monday in October, and is an official city and state holiday in various localities. It began as a counter-celebration held on the same day as the U.S. federal holiday of Columbus Day, which honors Italian explorer Christopher Columbus. It is celebrated as an alternative to Columbus Day, citing the lasting harm Indigenous tribes suffered because of Columbus's contributions to the European colonization of the Americas.
The roots of the holiday can be traced back to discussions and propositions regarding instituting it as a replacement for Columbus Day that took place in 1977 during The International NGO Conference on Discrimination Against Indigenous Populations in the Americas in Geneva, Switzerland. In 2021, Joe Biden formally commemorated the holiday with a presidential proclamation, becoming the first U.S. president to do so, and presidential proclamations have also been issued in 2022, 2023, and 2024. Indigenous Peoples’ Day is not a recognized holiday under U.S. Federal Law.
In 1977, the International Conference on Discrimination Against Indigenous Populations in the Americas, sponsored by the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, began to discuss replacing Columbus Day in the Americas with a celebration to be known as Indigenous Peoples Day. Similarly, Native American groups staged a sort of protest in Boston instead of Thanksgiving, which has been celebrated there to mark collaboration between Massachusetts colonists and Native Americans. In July 1990, at the First Continental Conference on 500 Years of Indian Resistance in Quito, Ecuador, representatives of Indigenous peoples throughout the Americas agreed that they would mark 1992, the 500th anniversary of the first of the voyages of Christopher Columbus, as a year to promote "continental unity" and "liberation".
After the conference, attendees from Northern California organized protests against the "Quincentennial Jubilee" that had been organized by the United States Congress for the San Francisco Bay Area on Columbus Day in 1992. It was to include replicas of Columbus's ships sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge and reenacting their "discovery" of America. The delegates formed the Bay Area Indian Alliance and in turn, the "Resistance 500" task force. It promoted the idea that Columbus's "discovery" of inhabited lands and the subsequent European colonization of them had resulted in the genocide of thousands of Indigenous peoples because of the decisions which were made by colonial and national governments.
In 1992, the group convinced the city council of Berkeley, California, to declare October 12 as a "Day of Solidarity with Indigenous People" and 1992 as the "Year of Indigenous People." The city implemented related programs in schools, libraries, and museums. The city symbolically renamed Columbus Day as "Indigenous Peoples Day" beginning in 1992 to protest the historical conquest of North America by Europeans, and to call attention to the losses suffered by the Native American peoples and their cultures through diseases, warfare, massacres, and forced assimilation. Get Lost (Again) Columbus, an opera by a Native American composer, White Cloud Wolfhawk, was produced that day. Berkeley has celebrated Indigenous Peoples Day ever since. Beginning in 1993, Berkeley has also held an annual powwow and festival on Indigenous Peoples Day.
In the years following Berkeley's action, other local governments and institutions have either renamed or canceled Columbus Day, either to celebrate Native American history and cultures, to avoid celebrating Columbus and the European colonization of the Americas, or due to raised controversy over the legacy of Columbus. Several other California cities, including Richmond, Santa Cruz, and Sebastopol, now celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day and encourage people to donate to a neighboring tribe and recognize the trauma and pain Indigenous peoples have been subjected to by colonizers. This shift from Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day can also be seen more recently. For example, the City of Newton, Massachusetts voted to change the name of the holiday in 2020. Since then, Indigenous residents of Newton have banded together to host an annual Indigenous Peoples Day Ceremonial Celebration to commemorate the day.
At least 14 states do not celebrate Columbus Day (Alaska, Hawaii, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin), as well as Washington, DC; South Dakota officially celebrates Native American Day instead. Various tribal governments in Oklahoma designate the day as "Native American Day", or have renamed the day after their own tribes. In 2013, the California state legislature considered a bill, AB55, to formally replace Columbus Day with Native American Day but did not pass it. While the California governor has recognized Indigenous Peoples Day, the holiday was eliminated by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 2008-12 California budget crisis. On August 30, 2017, following similar affirmative votes in Oberlin, Ohio, followed later by Bangor, Maine, in the earlier weeks of the same month, the Los Angeles City Council voted in favor of replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day. On October 10, 2019, just a few days before Columbus Day would be celebrated in Washington, D.C., the D.C. Council voted to temporarily replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day. This bill was led by Councilmember David Grosso (I-At Large) and must undergo congressional approval to become permanent. Washington D.C., as of May 2023, has yet to have given the permanent legislation to this renaming.
Although it is not a federal holiday under US law, the Biden Administration has formally recognized Indigenous Peoples Day. The first White House proclamation on the holiday was released in 2021, written with input from Indigenous activists.
Numerous efforts in North America have honored Native American people as part of Columbus Day, or by designating two holidays for the same date. Especially since Native American activism has increased since the 1960s and 1970s, a variety of protests have been staged against celebrating Columbus Day. These have included mock trials of Christopher Columbus in St. Paul, Minnesota, and protests and disruptions of Columbus Day parades in the United States.
Indigenous peoples in other nations have also lobbied to have holidays established to recognize their contributions and history. In South America, for instance, Brazil celebrates "National Indigenous Peoples Day" on April 19.
In Asia, Taiwan designated August 1 as Indigenous Peoples Day in 2016 under the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen, who announced that the government is committed to promoting the rights of Taiwan's Indigenous peoples and enhancing public awareness of their culture and history. In the Philippines, the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, as well as various local Indigenous towns, designated October 29, 1987, as Indigenous Peoples Day.
Some states celebrate a separate but similar Native American Day; however, this is observed not on Columbus Day but in September. Those who observe include the states of California and Tennessee. However, as of 2021, the State of California does not actually observe this holiday by closing its government offices, giving its employees paid time off, or encouraging private businesses to do the same in observance. In Washington state it is celebrated the Friday immediately following the fourth Thursday in November.
In 2003, the United Nations declared an International Day of the World's Indigenous People, establishing it on August 9. This international holiday has been celebrated also in various nations.
The following U.S. states and federal district have established Indigenous Peoples' Day as a state holiday on the second Monday in October.
Additionally, the following states have a holiday celebrating Native Americans on some other day or have recognized Indigenous Peoples' Day but not as an official holiday.
In February 2025, Google announced that Indigenous Peoples' Month would no longer be highlighted by default on Google Calendar, arguing that it was no longer "scalable or sustainable" to continue adding the growing number of national and international "cultural moments" manually to its calendars.
Indigenous Peoples' Day has been criticized by some American conservative communities and public figures. In 2020, President Donald Trump criticized Indigenous Peoples' Day at a campaign rally in Michigan, calling it an example of how "the radical left is eradicating our history". In 2022, the Washington Examiner published a column calling for the holiday's end, saying that Indigenous peoples attacked and conquered each other's land.