On Monday, October 14, in honor of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, the whole country is off. Find out more about it here.
There will be a day of reflection on October 14, 2024, but some people aren’t sure if it’s a government holiday or not. When people woke up today, they were confused about why some nearby businesses were closed. Is this a sign that today is a government holiday? Read on to find out more about Indigenous Peoples’ Day, which used to be called Columbus Day.
What kind of holiday is today?
Today is Indigenous Peoples’ Day, which used to be called Columbus Day. Today is a holiday at the federal government. Some banks, like Bank of America and Wells Fargo, observe the holiday. There is also no mail coming in or going out today because post offices are closed. The stock markets are still open today, though.
What is the holiday for?
Columbus Day was made to honor Christopher Columbus’s trip to the Americas. It was in 1492 that the Italian adventurer got to the Bahamas. For hundreds of years, Columbus was widely thought to have discovered the Americas, but many people spoke out against how he treated native people badly and forced them to work for him.
Different parts of the world and the US celebrate the holiday in different ways. Some cities, like San Francisco and New York City, have parades on Columbus Day, but many other places in the country don’t celebrate it at all.
What does Indigenous Peoples’ Day mean?
On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we celebrate the history, culture, and accomplishments of Native Americans.
For many years, different American states celebrated Indigenous Peoples’ Day in their own unique ways. Hawaii made Columbus Day a Discoverers’ Day in 1988, and South Dakota made it a Native American Day in 1989. By 2015, Alaska, Vermont, North Carolina, California, Louisiana, Nebraska, Oregon, and Texas were among the states that had switched from celebrating Columbus Day to celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Some states, like Alabama, gave the holiday a new name to honor both Italian and Native American history. For example, Alabama called it American Indian Heritage Day/Columbus Day.
After most Americans changed Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples’ Day instead, some famous people said mean things about it. USA Today reports that in October 2020, Donald Trump said bad things about Joe Biden’s support for Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
At the time, Trump released an announcement that has since been taken down, asking people to celebrate the holiday with “appropriate ceremonies and activities.”
According to the news source, Trump’s now-deleted proclamation said, “Unfortunately, radical activists have tried to destroy Christopher Columbus’s legacy in recent years.” “These extremists want to talk about his mistakes instead of his many contributions, his discoveries instead of his crimes, and his accomplishments instead of his wrongdoings.”
