Indigenous Peoples' Day

Indigenous Peoples' Day
Indigenous Peoples' Day celebration in Berkeley, California in 2012
Also called	First People’s Day, National Indigenous Peoples Day, Indian Day (Brazil), or Native American Day
Observed by	Various states and municipalities in the Americas on Columbus Day.
Type	Ethnic
Significance	A day in honor of Native Indigenous Americans on Columbus Day.
Date	Varies
Frequency	Annual
First time	October 12, 1992
Related to	National Indigenous Peoples Day in Canada

Indigenous Peoples' Day^[1] is a holiday that celebrates and honor the Indigenous peoples of America and commemorates their shared history and culture. 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 European explorer Christopher Columbus. Some people now reject celebrating him, saying that he represents "the violent history of the colonization in the Western Hemisphere".^[2].

Indigenous Peoples' Day was begun in 1989 in South Dakota, where Lynn Hart and Governor Mickelson backed a resolution to celebrate Native American day on the second Monday of October, marking the beginning of the year of reconciliation in 1990.^[3] It was instituted in Berkeley, California, in 1992, to coincide with the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas. Two years later, Santa Cruz, California, instituted the holiday, and in the 2010s, various other cities and states took it up.^[4]

It is similar to Native American Day, observed in September in California and Tennessee.

History

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 United States with a celebration to be known as Indigenous Peoples' Day.^[5] Similarly, Native American groups staged actions in Boston, Massachusetts instead of Thanksgiving, which has been celebrated there to mark collaboration between English colonists and Native Americans in the first years. In July 1990, at the First Continental Conference on 500 Years of Indian Resistance in Quito, Ecuador, representatives of indigenous groups 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".^[6]

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 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.^[7] It promoted the idea that Columbus's "discovery" of inhabited lands and subsequent European colonization of these areas had resulted in the genocide of indigenous peoples by decisions of colonial and national governments.^[8][9]

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 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^[10] 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^[11] through diseases, warfare, massacres, and forced assimilation. Get Lost (Again) Columbus, an opera by a Native American composer, was produced that day.^[12] Berkeley has celebrated Indigenous Peoples' Day ever since.^[13] Beginning in 1993, Berkeley has also held an annual pow wow and festival on Indigenous Peoples' Day.^[7]

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.^[14] 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.^[14]

At least three states do not celebrate Columbus Day (Hawaii, Oregon, and South Dakota); South Dakota officially celebrates Native American Day instead.^[4][15][16] Various tribal governments in Oklahoma designate the day as "Native American Day", or have renamed the day after their own tribes.^[17] In 2013, the California state legislature considered a bill, AB55, to formally replace Columbus Day with Native American Day but did not pass it.^[18] On August 30, 2017, following similar affirmative votes in Oberlin, Ohio^[19], followed later by Bangor, Maine in the earlier weeks of the same month,^[20] the Los Angeles City Council voted in favor of replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day.^[21]

Children in schools have been taught about Christopher Columbus as a hero, but as explained in the bookRethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years, many feel that children should be taught about the truth of Christopher Columbus and what he has done to the native people of the Americas^[22].

Other celebrations

Numerous efforts in the Americas have honored Native Americans as part of Columbus Day, or by designating two holidays for the same date.^[11] Especially since Native American activism has increased since the 1960s and 1970s, a variety of protests have been staged against celebrating Columbus Day.^[23] These have included mock trials of Christopher Columbus in St. Paul, Minnesota^[24], and protests and disruptions of Columbus Day parades in the United States.^[25]

Indigenous peoples in other nations have also lobbied to have holidays established to recognize their contributions and history. For instance, Brazil celebrates "National Indigenous Peoples' Day" on April 19.^[26] In the Philippines, the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, as well as various local indigenous towns, designated October 29, 2008, as Indigenous Peoples' Day.^[27]

International Day of the World’s Indigenous People

In 1994, the United Nations declared an International Day of the World’s Indigenous People, establishing it on August 9.^[28] This international holiday has been celebrated also in various nations.^[29][30]

Observing locations

The following locations celebrate Indigenous Peoples' Day instead of Columbus Day, with the exceptions of Lewiston, New York^[31], Tompkins County, New York^[32], West Hartford, Connecticut^[33], and Lawton, Oklahoma,^[34] which celebrate both.

See also

• Columbus Day
• Indian Day (Brazil)
• Indigenous Resistance Day
• Native American Day
• National Indigenous Peoples Day (Canada)
• Political correctness
• Timeline of support for Indigenous Peoples' Day

References

External links

• Indigenous Peoples Day: A Handbook for Activists & Documentary History— A new book from the Indigenous Peoples Committee, curated by John Curl.
• Archives of Indigenous Peoples Day— Historical archives of the origins and development of Indigenous Peoples Day
• Berkeley's Indigenous Peoples Day— History of the annual celebration, pow wow and Native American market
• Indigenous Peoples Day 2014— A short documentary on Indigenous Peoples Day 2014
• Article-20 Years Later—The Origins of Indigenous Peoples Day