2024-10-14 22:55:03
Which businesses are open and closed this Indigenous Peoples’ and Columbus Day? We’ve got you covered.
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt designated Columbus Day a national holiday in 1934, according to the Library of Congress. Now a federal holiday, the second Monday of October has been celebrated as Columbus Day since 1971.
However, the day is more widely becoming known as Indigenous Peoples’ Day as people push for the holiday to have a rebrand because of the holiday’s namesake, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus, and the bloodshed he left behind in North America.
Is Columbus Day still a federal holiday?
Despite the inconsistency and the controversy, the federal holiday is still recognized. Columbus Day is one of 11 federal holidays, according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
Is Indigenous Peoples’ Day an official holiday?
It depends on where you live.
Approximately 29 states and Washington, D.C. do not celebrate Columbus Day. About 216 cities have renamed it or replaced it with Indigenous Peoples’ Day, according to renamecolumbusday.org. Some states recognize Indigenous Peoples Day via proclamation, while others treat it as an official holiday.
Gov. Kim Reynolds renamed the holiday in Iowa in 2018.
At the federal level, Indigenous Peoples’ Day has received presidential proclamations from the Biden administration for the last three years.
“Indigenous peoples are a beacon of resilience, strength, and perseverance as well as a source of incredible contributions. Indigenous peoples and Tribal Nations continue to practice their cultures, remember their heritages, and pass down their histories from generation to generation,” Biden wrote in the 2023 proclamation on the holiday.
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