top of page
Search

Indigenous Peoples’ Day: Honoring the People Who Were Here First

Writer: Evans Fish & Chips
Evans Fish & Chips
Oct 12
5 min read
Views of Dook’o’oosłííd, the Sacred Mountain of the West, Courtney G. Coffman, commissioned by Open Source Navajo. Used under the Creative Commons license indicated on Wikimedia Commons.
Views of Dook’o’oosłííd, the Sacred Mountain of the West, Courtney G. Coffman, commissioned by Open Source Navajo. Used under the Creative Commons license indicated on Wikimedia Commons.

Every October, communities across the United States observe Indigenous Peoples’ Day, a holiday recognizing the history, cultures, resilience, and continuing presence of Indigenous peoples throughout the Americas.


For some, it is also a day to reconsider how the history of European colonization has traditionally been taught, and whose stories have been left out.


What Is Indigenous Peoples’ Day?


Indigenous Peoples’ Day is observed on the second Monday of October, the same day that has traditionally been known as Columbus Day in the United States. The idea behind Indigenous Peoples’ Day has roots in Indigenous activism and international advocacy. In 1977, Indigenous representatives and advocates gathered at the International NGO Conference on Discrimination Against Indigenous Populations in the Americas in Geneva. One of the conference's recommendations called for October 12, the date associated with Columbus's arrival in the Americas, to become an International Day of Solidarity with the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas.


The movement gained momentum in the United States over the following decades. In 1992, Berkeley, California formally adopted Indigenous Peoples’ Day as an alternative to its Columbus Day observance. Since then, states, cities, universities, and other communities across the country have adopted the holiday or similar observances.


Today, the second Monday of October has different names and meanings depending on where you live. The federal government continues to recognize the date as Columbus Day, while many states and communities observe Indigenous Peoples’ Day, and some recognize both.


Why Change the Focus?


Christopher Columbus's voyages are often presented as the beginning of European history in the Americas. But the Americas were not empty when Columbus arrived.


Indigenous peoples had lived throughout North, Central, and South America for thousands of years. They developed complex societies, languages, governments, agricultural systems, trade networks, technologies, religions, and artistic traditions long before European colonization.


Navajo riders in Canyon de Chelly, ca. 1904. Photograph by Edward S. Curtis. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. No known copyright restrictions.
Navajo riders in Canyon de Chelly, ca. 1904. Photograph by Edward S. Curtis. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. No known copyright restrictions.

European contact brought enormous changes, including warfare, enslavement, forced displacement, land seizure, and epidemics that devastated Indigenous communities. The Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian notes that Native American population declined by an estimated 95 percent in the 130 years following first contact. However, the effects and timing of disease and demographic collapse varied significantly by region and peoples.


Indigenous Peoples’ Day does not require ignoring Columbus or European history. Instead, it asks us to broaden the story and recognize that there was—and continues to be—an Indigenous history that does not begin or end with European arrival.


Indigenous Peoples Are Not a People of the Past


One of the most important ideas behind Indigenous Peoples’ Day is that Indigenous peoples are still here.

There are hundreds of federally recognized tribal nations in the United States, each with its own history, government, culture, and traditions. There is no single Indigenous culture or experience.


Some communities speak languages that have been passed down for generations. Others are working to revitalize languages that colonial policies attempted to suppress. Tribal nations continue to govern their own communities, protect cultural traditions, manage lands and resources, and advocate for their rights.


Navajo woman weaving a blanket, 1910. Detroit Publishing Company photograph. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. No known copyright restrictions.
Navajo woman weaving a blanket, 1910. Detroit Publishing Company photograph. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. No known copyright restrictions.

The National Congress of American Indians describes tribal nations as sovereign governments with a continuing government-to-government relationship with the United States. Protecting tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, cultures, and ways of life remains central to its work.


Indigenous history isn't simply something that happened centuries ago. It is living history.


Indigenous Peoples of Northern Arizona


Here in Flagstaff, this history is especially close to home.


Flagstaff sits in the heart of the Colorado Plateau, a region with a long and continuing Indigenous presence. The City of Flagstaff formally acknowledges the ancestral homelands of the area's Indigenous nations and original stewards, noting that these lands remain connected to Native descendants and that nearby mountains hold sacred significance for Indigenous peoples.


The wider Flagstaff region is home to and surrounded by the lands of Indigenous peoples including the Navajo, Hopi, Havasupai, Hualapai, and Kaibab Paiute peoples, among others. Ancient archaeological sites throughout the region also preserve evidence of earlier Indigenous communities, including the Sinagua and Ancestral Puebloans.


And then there are the San Francisco Peaks, rising above Flagstaff.


For the Diné, the Peaks are known as Dook’o’oosłííd, or Abalone Shell Mountain. They are one of the four sacred mountains that define the traditional Diné homeland. Navajo Nation cultural resources describe Dook’o’oosłííd as the western sacred mountain, located here in the San Francisco Peaks.


Snowy San Francisco Peaks, December 25, 2010. Photograph by Martin Ely. Used under CC BY 2.0.
Snowy San Francisco Peaks, December 25, 2010. Photograph by Martin Ely. Used under CC BY 2.0.

The landscape surrounding Flagstaff isn't simply scenery. Mountains, rivers, forests, springs, and other places can carry generations of cultural, spiritual, and historical meaning.


Northern Arizona is also home to thriving Indigenous communities today. The region's Indigenous history can be found not only in archaeological sites and museums, but in families, languages, businesses, artists, educators, governments, ceremonies, and communities that continue to shape the region.


A Day for Learning


Indigenous Peoples’ Day can be an opportunity to learn about the specific nations whose homelands we live on and visit. It can mean learning the names of the people connected to the land beneath our feet. It can mean learning about Indigenous foods, art, languages, and technologies. It can mean visiting Indigenous-owned businesses, supporting Indigenous artists and authors, or simply taking the time to listen to Indigenous people telling their own histories.


Here in Flagstaff, there are opportunities to learn from Indigenous people and organizations throughout the year. The City itself has hosted Indigenous Peoples’ Day celebrations featuring presentations, cultural shares, songs, dances, and discussions about Indigenous leadership and community.


Most importantly, Indigenous Peoples’ Day means remembering that Indigenous peoples are not a chapter that ended when European settlers arrived.


They are here.


They have always been here.


And their stories are part of the history of this place.


Did You Know?


The National Congress of American Indians was founded in 1944 by nearly 80 delegates representing 50 tribes and associations from 27 states. It was created in response to federal policies threatening tribal sovereignty and has continued to advocate for the rights and self-determination of tribal nations.

Indigenous history isn't only ancient history. It is also the history of people organizing, governing, creating, teaching, adapting, and building communities today.


This Indigenous Peoples’ Day, take a moment to learn whose traditional homelands you are standing on.

History looks a little different when you know who was here first.


Sources


 
 
 

Comments

bottom of page