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What Is Indigenous Peoples Day

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Indigenous People

Understanding Indigenous Peoples Day

First of all, indigenous people are those that are recognized to be original residents of a land or country. For example, Native American Indians are considered to be the indigenous people of the United States, as they were present and established before Columbus, or even his predecessor, Leif Erikson, arrived on the coastlines of the eastern seaboard of the continent.

There is a growing trend in the country to celebrate what used to be known as Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples Day, and the weekend closest to October 12th is now a time where Americans of all races, colors, beliefs and creeds celebrate their roots and their ancestry in the freest nation in the world. Many Americans recognize the fact that, while Columbus is generally accepted as the discoverer of America, that Native Americans lived in the country for hundreds of years before that. Some may even feel that Columbus’ discovery was little more than an invasion, but as with all cultures throughout history, exploration and settlement has changed and absorbed, or eradicated, many cultures and ways of life for many native peoples.

One of the founders of Indigenous Peoples Day, a woman named Millie Ketcheshawno, was a member of the Creek tribe of Native Americans. In the 1970’s, she joined in the revival of American Indian rights’ activists groups to draw attention to the poverty and lack of education and equal rights suffered by America’s first inhabitants. Along with the Civil Rights movements of the 1960’s, such protests and gatherings initiated a broad impact on American citizens to the plight of indigenous people not only in America, but also around the globe. For the first time, Americans seemed to take notice of the near third-world country living environments of her original settlers, and many were shocked and disturbed by what they saw. Efforts to improve living environments, education standards and career opportunities of America’s native people began to create and form organizations and clubs that focused on the needs of the long neglected people.

In California, Columbus Day is no longer celebrated, but has been replaced with Indigenous Peoples Day instead. Around the country, other local and state governments are following suit, and while the discoveries of Christopher Columbus will never be forgotten, many feel that it’s time to recognize the native inhabitants of all countries around the world. Since the year 2000, Americans from around the country travel and are welcome to attend regional Native American Indian celebrations and dances known as Powwows and Indian Markets where indigenous foods and crafts are available for sale and consumption. Schools around the country teach children Native American crafts and games, and more attention is being given to the ways of life of the American Indian before the arrival of immigrants and settlers from around the world caused the extinction of that way of life.

Because of the celebration of Indigenous Peoples Day, tribal societies and values are making a resurgence in the minds of America’s native people, and government has given tribal leaders the right to run Indian lands and reservations with little interference of the federal government. All Native American lands today are ruled and governed by tribal counsels, tribal police and elected officials. Efforts to improve living conditions, housing and education continue to grow and the input and efforts of Native Americans have made a huge impact on American culture and customs.

Despite the advent of modern industrialization and civilization however, more and more Native Americans are relying on their older relatives to teach them their native languages and customs. These customs and celebrations are then passed down to the young generations so that the American Indian way of life will never be forgotten.
America is known around the world for its rich heritage of spirit and freedom. Fierce pride and nobility of spirit are an American way of life, one that has been passed down for centuries by her native people.

When Is Columbus Day

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Discovering America on Columbus Day

Christopher Columbus discovered the New World in 1492, but the first time that the event was celebrated was roughly three hundred years after the event, in 1792. The first written record of such a celebration to honor the man who found what was to be later called the United States of America tells of a dinner given by a society that commemorated the three hundredth anniversary of Columbus’ discovery.

However, the next written record of any such celebration honoring Christopher Columbus and his sailing adventures was found in 1892, when, on the four hundredth anniversary of his discovery, a monument was raised in Central Park in New York City. The location was dubbed, and is still known, as Columbus Circle. That occasion also marked a wide celebration that culminated in a joint resolution passed by Congress that asked President Benjamin Harrison to urge the people of the United States to observe “the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America on the 21st of October… by public demonstrations and by suitable exercises in their schools and other places of assembly.”

President Harrison appointed October 12 as a “general holiday for the people of the Unites States. On that day, let the people, so far as possible, cease from toil and devote themselves to such exercises as may best express honor to the discoverer, and their appreciation of the great achievements of the four completed centuries of American life… in the churches and in other places of assembly of the people, let there be expressions of gratitude to divine Providence for the devout faith of the discoverer, and for the divine care and guidance with which he directed our history and so abundantly blessed our people.” Following the speech, gathered citizens paid their respects to the great Italian explorer.

The Knights of Columbus relentlessly attempted to urge the passage of laws that would make the day a national holiday, and in 1909 a bill was signed to officially observe October 12th as Columbus Day. Italian groups and societies are the biggest celebrants of the day, which slowly became official one or two states at a time over a number of years. That same year, 1909, saw three replicas of Columbus’ ships sail into New York Harbor to the sound of cannons and battleships dipping their colors. Thereafter, the day was celebrated as a legal holiday, but it wasn’t until 1934 that President Franklin Roosevelt asked all the states in the Union to observe Columbus Day as a national holiday.

Known as Cristofere Colombo in his native Italian, Columbus sailed with three ships, the Niña, the Pinta and the Santa Maria to find and procure new lands and territories beyond the Sargasso Sea for Spain. After nearly three months at sea, land was finally sighted and Columbus and many of his crew made landfall on what is now Watling Island. The following year, Columbus made a second voyage with over seventeen ships and over a thousand people, who reached the Dominican islands just before the onslaught of winter. Columbus made two additional voyages to the New World, and on his last, explored the coast of Central America.

Some people feel that since Columbus happened on the coast of America quite by accident, he should not be honored with a national holiday. As one editor said, “Columbus blundered into one of the outlaying islands of the Caribbean archipelago, and thought he was somewhere else.” Nevertheless, his explorations and travels in what were later to be known as American waters are important additions to American history and are duly recognized and celebrated.

Columbus Day is a day set aside to honor the spirit of early explorers, and this one especially, without whom the United States of America might have been something else entirely.