ObservanceMonday, October 11, 2027
Indigenous Peoples' Day
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Indigenous Peoples' Day is observed on the second Monday in October, the same day as the federal Columbus Day holiday, and in a great many places it is marked instead of it. It began as a municipal decision: in 1992, weeks before the 500th anniversary of Columbus's arrival, Berkeley, California renamed the day — the first city in the United States to do so. It is not itself a federal holiday.
History
The immediate trigger was a celebration. In the 1980s President Ronald Reagan created the Christopher Columbus Quincentenary Jubilee Commission, whose plans included sailing replicas of Columbus's ships into San Francisco Bay. Berkeley residents and Native leaders organized to counterprotest and called themselves Resistance 500. One of them, John Curl, has described how the group persuaded the Berkeley City Council in 1992 to drop Columbus Day and observe Indigenous Peoples' Day in its place; Loni Hancock, then the city's mayor, later said the request was the first time she had understood the holiday's effect on Indigenous people. Berkeley first observed the day on October 12, 1992. The replica ships never sailed.
The city's own account is brief and unambiguous. A 2022 Berkeley council document states that "in 1992, Berkeley became the first city in the United States to rename as Indigenous Peoples' Day the federal holiday formerly recognized as Columbus Day," credits the change with prompting revisions to the school district's history curriculum, and counts nearly 130 cities and 20 states observing the day as of that year. Neither that document nor contemporary reporting gives a resolution number or a council vote date, so this page does not state one.
South Dakota had arrived somewhere similar two years earlier, under a different name. Its 1990 legislature established Native Americans' Day on the second Monday in October, a day the statute describes as "dedicated to the remembrance of the great Native American leaders who contributed so much to the history of our state." South Dakota's enumerated holidays carry that day and do not include Columbus Day.
Federal recognition has so far come by proclamation rather than statute. On October 8, 2021, President Biden signed Proclamation 10283, designating October 11, 2021 as Indigenous Peoples' Day. It names one date, sets no recurring rule, and does not mention Columbus Day — and he signed a separate Columbus Day proclamation for that same date the same day.
Timeline
- 1980s — President Ronald Reagan creates the Christopher Columbus Quincentenary Jubilee Commission. Its plan to sail replica ships into San Francisco Bay prompts a Bay Area counterprotest group, Resistance 500.
- 1990 — The South Dakota legislature establishes Native Americans' Day on the second Monday in October.
- 1992 — Berkeley, California becomes the first city in the United States to rename the federal Columbus Day holiday as Indigenous Peoples' Day.
- October 12, 1992 — Berkeley observes Indigenous Peoples' Day for the first time.
- October 8, 2021 — President Biden signs Proclamation 10283, designating October 11, 2021 as Indigenous Peoples' Day, and a separate proclamation naming the same date Columbus Day.
- 2022 — A City of Berkeley council document counts nearly 130 cities and 20 states observing the day.
How to observe
Read Proclamation 10283 and Proclamation 10281 side by side. Both were signed on October 8, 2021, both designate October 11, and neither acknowledges the other. The first recognizes Tribal Nations' "inherent sovereignty"; the second acknowledges "the painful history of wrongs and atrocities that many European explorers inflicted."
Find out what your own state or city calls the day, and whether anything closes. The designation is almost always a state statute or a municipal resolution rather than anything federal, and the name varies — in South Dakota it is Native Americans' Day.
Learn whose land you are on, by name. Berkeley's land acknowledgement work identifies the city as the ancestral and unceded home of the Ohlone people and names the Confederated Villages of Lisjan and the Sogorea Te' Land Trust. That specificity is the substance of the thing, and most places have an equivalent. Berkeley's own observance has continued since 1992 as an annual Pow Wow.
Frequently asked questions
Is Indigenous Peoples' Day a federal holiday?
No. The list of legal public holidays at 5 U.S.C. 6103(a) does not include it. The federal recognition it has had is Proclamation 10283, signed October 8, 2021, which designated one specific date, October 11, 2021.
Does Indigenous Peoples' Day replace Columbus Day?
That depends entirely on where you are. Because it is a state or local designation, some places observe it instead of Columbus Day, some alongside it, and some not at all. South Dakota's holiday statute is an example of full replacement: it lists Native Americans' Day on the second Monday in October and does not list Columbus Day.
Why does South Dakota call it Native Americans' Day?
That is the name in the 1990 statute that created it, which describes the day as "dedicated to the remembrance of the great Native American leaders who contributed so much to the history of our state." The phrase "Indigenous Peoples' Day" does not appear in South Dakota's holiday statutes.
Is Indigenous Peoples' Day always the second Monday in October?
Where it is observed as an alternative to Columbus Day, yes — that is the day the federal Columbus Day holiday falls on. The 2021 presidential proclamation, however, designated only a single date and set no recurring rule.
When is Indigenous Peoples' Day?
| Year | Date | Day |
|---|---|---|
| 2027 | October 11 | Monday |
| 2028 | October 9 | Monday |
| 2029 | October 8 | Monday |
| 2030 | October 14 | Monday |
| 2031 | October 13 | Monday |
Sources
- City of Berkeley, Council item of October 11, 2022, Land Acknowledgement Recognizing Berkeley as the Ancestral, Unceded Home of the Ohlone People — https://berkeleyca.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2022-10-11%20Item%2019%20Land%20Acknowledgement%20Recognizing%20Berkeley.pdf → that in 1992 Berkeley became the first city in the United States to rename as Indigenous Peoples' Day the federal holiday formerly recognized as Columbus Day; that the change prompted revisions to the school district's history curriculum; the count of nearly 130 cities and 20 states as of 2022; Berkeley as the ancestral and unceded home of the Ohlone people, and the Confederated Villages of Lisjan and Sogorea Te' Land Trust.
- KQED, How Berkeley Became the First City to Ditch Columbus Day for Indigenous Peoples Day — https://www.kqed.org/news/11621763/how-berkeley-became-the-first-city-to-ditch-columbus-day-for-indigenous-peoples-day → the Reagan-era Christopher Columbus Quincentenary Jubilee Commission and the planned replica-ship voyage into San Francisco Bay; the formation of Resistance 500; John Curl as an organizer and his account of persuading the City Council in 1992; then-mayor Loni Hancock's recollection; Berkeley first observing the day on October 12, 1992; the annual Indigenous Peoples Day Pow Wow; that the replica-ship voyage never happened.
- Federal Register, Proclamation 10283, Indigenous Peoples' Day, 2021, 86 FR 57307 — https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/10/14/2021-22583/indigenous-peoples-day-2021 → the proclamation number and its October 8, 2021 signing by President Biden; the designation of October 11, 2021; the absence of any recurring formula; the quoted references to inherent sovereignty and to trust and treaty obligations; that it does not mention Columbus Day.
- Federal Register, Proclamation 10281, Columbus Day, 2021, 86 FR 57007 — https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2021-10-14/pdf/2021-22514.pdf → the separate Columbus Day proclamation signed the same day, October 8, 2021, designating the same date, October 11, 2021; the quoted acknowledgement of wrongs and atrocities inflicted on Tribal Nations and Indigenous communities.
- South Dakota Legislature, Codified Law 1-5-1.2, Native Americans' Day established — https://sdlegislature.gov/api/Statutes/1-5-1.2.html → the statutory text establishing Native Americans' Day on the second Monday in October as a legal state holiday, and its dedication to the remembrance of Native American leaders; the source note SL 1990, ch 7, section 2, giving the 1990 enactment.
- South Dakota Legislature, Codified Law 1-5-1, Holidays enumerated — https://sdlegislature.gov/api/Statutes/1-5-1.html?all=true → that the enumerated holidays include the second Monday in October as Native Americans' Day and do not include Columbus Day.
- U.S. Government Publishing Office, 5 U.S.C. 6103, 2024 edition — https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2024-title5/pdf/USCODE-2024-title5-partIII-subpartE-chap61-subchapI-sec6103.pdf → the full list of legal public holidays, which contains Columbus Day on the second Monday in October and does not contain Indigenous Peoples' Day.
Omitted for lack of a source: the frequently repeated claim that the proposal to replace Columbus Day originated at a 1977 United Nations conference in Geneva, which none of the primary or reputable sources consulted here documents; the claim that Proclamation 10283 was the first presidential proclamation of Indigenous Peoples' Day, which the Federal Register document does not state; a Berkeley resolution number or council vote date for the 1992 action.
Rejected as sources: nationaltoday, nationaldaycalendar, checkiday, timeanddate, and content-farm or AI-generated listicles.
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