Indigenous Peoples’ Day
Celebrate and honor indigenous American peoples and commemorate their histories and cultures on Monday, October 9, 2023.
Indigenous Peoples’ Day 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 Columbus Day. Some people reject celebrating him, saying that he represents “the violent history of the colonization in the Western Hemisphere,” and that the holiday glorifies an exploration that led to the genocide of native peoples and paved the way for slavery.
The notion of an Indigenous Peoples Day took root at an international conference on discrimination sponsored by the United Nations in 1977. South Dakota was the first state to recognize the day in 1989, and the cities of Berkeley and Santa Cruz, California, followed. California and Tennessee observe Native American Day in September. In 1992, Berkeley, California declared October 12 as a “Day of Solidarity with Indigenous People” and 1992 as the “Year of Indigenous People.”
Berkeley symbolically renamed Columbus Day as “Indigenous Peoples Day” 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.
Two years later, Santa Cruz, California, instituted the holiday. By 2015, many other cities and states had adopted the holiday. In 2021, Joe Biden formally commemorated the holiday with a presidential proclamation, becoming the first US president to do so.
Fourteen states – Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Vermont and Wisconsin – plus the District of Columbia and more than 130 cities observe Indigenous Peoples Day instead of, or in addition to, Columbus Day.
How to Celebrate
Learn more about whose land you live on. Native Land Digital has created a free resource documenting Indigenous territories, treaties, and languages. Gain a better understanding of the area you live in at native-land.ca.
Alright; Supaman featuring Neenah
Purchase Indigenous art. Take a trip to Cherokee to visit the Qualla Arts and Crafts cooperative, located across the street from the Museum of the Cherokee Indian.
Read books by Indigenous authors. Visit a local bookstore to learn about different tribes and cultures.
Prepare an Indigenous meal. Powwows has a list of recipes at www.powwows.com/25-favorite-native-american-recipes.
Listen to music by Indigenous artists. There are numerous artists performing a wide variety of music.
Berklee Online’s playlist, “Indigenous Musicians You Should Listen to Now,” can be found at open.spotify.com. Read the accompanying article at online.berklee.edu/takenote/10-indigenous-musicians-you-should-listen-to-now.
Plant heirloom seeds. The Alliance of Native Seedkeepers sells heirloom seeds and uses the profits to help introduce ancient, often nearly extinct plants that were important to Indigenous tribes. Go to www.allianceofnativeseedkeepers.com.
Donate to Indigenous activists and groups. Native Movement supports grassroots-led projects that align with our vision to dismantle oppressive systems for all, and that endeavor to ensure social justice, Indigenous Peoples’ rights, and the rights of Mother Earth. Visit them online at www.nativemovement.org.
Take a trip to visitcherokeenc.com for more events and ideas, including an interactive journey through Cherokee history at Oconaluftee Indian Village.
