aeiou.now

Topic: Indigenous and Colonial Memory

How does United States mark Indigenous and Colonial Memory?

Columbus Day

Local date
October 12, 2026
When is it?
The second Monday in October.

Columbus Day is written into the list of legal public holidays at 5 U.S.C. 6103: "Columbus Day, the second Monday in October," alongside New Year's Day, the Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. It was fixed to 12 October until the Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1968 (Public Law 90–363) shifted it to a Monday. A second statute, 36 U.S.C. 107, *requests* that the President issue a proclamation each year designating the day, calling on government officials to fly the flag on all government buildings, and inviting Americans to observe it in schools and churches "with appropriate ceremonies that express the public sentiment befitting the anniversary of the discovery of America." That phrase — the discovery of America — survives from the Act of 30 April 1934 and is still in the code today. The request has been honoured without a break: the most recent Columbus Day proclamation in the Federal Register was signed on 9 October 2025.

Indigenous Peoples' Day

Local date
October 12, 2026
When is it?
The second Monday in October — the same day as Columbus Day.

Indigenous Peoples' Day has no federal statutory existence. Section 6103 has never been amended, and the renaming bills introduced in successive Congresses have never passed. The day grew upward from the states instead. South Dakota legislated first, in 1990: SDCL 1-5-1.2 makes the second Monday in October a legal holiday "to be known as Native Americans' Day," dedicated to the remembrance of the great Native American leaders who contributed so much to the history of the state — and Columbus Day accordingly does not appear anywhere in that state's list of holidays. Maine passed Public Law 59 in 2019, a bill titled *An Act To Change the Name of Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day*, striking the words out clause by clause; 4 M.R.S. §1051 now reads "Indigenous Peoples Day, the 2nd Monday in October," and no court may sit that day. Alabama keeps both and adds a third: its official state holiday list gives the second Monday in October as "Columbus Day & Fraternal Day & American Indian Heritage Day" — one day, three names, on one line. At the White House the day lasted four years: the Federal Register holds exactly four Indigenous Peoples' Day proclamations, for 2021 through 2024, and each one was signed on the same day as that year's Columbus Day proclamation.

What is this topic?

In the United States the second Monday in October is one square on the calendar claimed by two names. Federal law has not moved: 5 U.S.C. 6103 still lists Columbus Day, and 36 U.S.C. 107 still asks the President for an annual proclamation marking "the anniversary of the discovery of America." Everything else moved around it — South Dakota replaced the day with Native Americans' Day in 1990, Maine renamed it in 2019, Alabama keeps three names on one line, and the White House issued Indigenous Peoples' Day proclamations for exactly four years. Taiwan wrote three such commemorations into statute and gave a day off to none of them, Brazil renamed its day in 2022 without making it a holiday, India created one in 2021, and Japan recognised an indigenous people without giving it a date.

Sources and dates

Dates follow local time zones, calendars, and official notices. Check the source when a date is estimated or locally variable.