14, 2013."We must never forget the centuries-long campaign of violence, displacement, assimilation, and terror wrought upon Native communities and Tribal Nations throughout our country," Biden wrote last week in a proclamation recognizing Indigenous Peoples' Day.
Columbus day 2021 update#
Note: This is an update of a post originally published on Oct. Several states (including Iowa, Vermont, Oregon and Texas) and dozens of cities (including Seattle, San Antonio, Houston and, just last week, Boston) recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day instead, though not as an official public holiday. More recently, Native American groups and other critics have advocated for changing the holiday to something else, citing Columbus’ own mistreatment of natives and the legacy of European settlement that his voyages initiated. 12 to the second Monday in October starting in 1971. Originally conceived as a celebration of Italian American heritage, Columbus Day became a federal holiday in 1937, largely due to lobbying by the Knights of Columbus. And Nebraska last year adopted Indigenous Peoples’ Day to coexist with Columbus Day.Įven Columbus, Ohio, no longer observes its namesake’s holiday, having renamed it Indigenous Peoples’ Day in 2020 – though Columbus, Georgia, still does. Columbus Day doubles as Yorktown Victory Day, at least in Virginia. In Alabama, the second Monday in October is also American Indian Heritage Day (since 2000) and Fraternal Day, a day honoring Freemasons, Rotarians, Elks and other social and service clubs. Virgin Islands, for example, formally observes Columbus Day but puts much more emphasis on Puerto Rico-Virgin Islands Friendship Day, which just happens to fall on the same day. And in Hawaii, the day is known as Discoverers’ Day, though it isn’t – and by law can’t be – an official state holiday.Įven places with official Columbus Day holidays sometimes give them alternative identities. The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands began substituting Commonwealth Cultural Day for Columbus Day in 2006. Tennessee officially observes Columbus Day, but on a completely different day: The governor can and routinely does move the observance to the Friday after Thanksgiving, to facilitate a four-day weekend. Since 1990, South Dakota has observed Native Americans’ Day as an official state holiday on the second Monday in October. In those four jurisdictions, the day is still an official (i.e., paid) state holiday. Colorado – the first state to designate Columbus Day as a state holiday more than 100 years ago – renamed it in 2020 to honor Frances Xavier Cabrini, a Catholic nun and Italian immigrant who founded dozens of schools, hospitals and orphanages to serve poor immigrants and was canonized in 1946. all renamed the holiday Indigenous Peoples’ Day in 2019. California and Delaware dropped the holiday entirely in 2009, the latter swapping in a floating holiday for state workers. Since the turn of the 21st century, states have taken several different approaches to Columbus Day.
Two decades ago, 25 states and the District of Columbia treated Columbus Day as a public holiday, according to the Council of State Governments’ comprehensive “ Book of the States.”
Columbus day 2021 plus#
We supplemented those lists with news reports about local observances, or the lack thereof, of Columbus Day or its many alternatives.įor information about which states previously observed Columbus Day and when they switched or dropped it, we turned to “The Book of the States,” published by the Council of State Governments – supplemented again with news media accounts, historical essays and other sources.īased on our review of state human resources websites and other sources, only 20 states, plus American Samoa and Puerto Rico, still call the second Monday in October Columbus Day and consider it a public holiday – meaning government offices are closed and state workers have a paid day off. Our main sources for this post were state administrative, personnel and human-resources websites, most of which post lists of official state holidays. Several other states have designated the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples’ Day, or some other name honoring Native Americans, without making it an official state holiday.
We decided to focus on states and territories that observe Columbus Day (or one of its substitutes) as an official public holiday – meaning that state offices are closed and state workers get a paid day off. Given the continuing controversy over how and whether to recognize Christopher Columbus and his accomplishments, we thought it was time to take a new look at the Columbus Day holiday – our first since 2019.
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