I am writing this blog in a dwelling that sits within a mile of the Squamscott River named for the Indigenous Peoples who were the original inhabitants of the land. The Squamscott people were part of the Algonquin tribe who lived in this area of coastal New Hampshire for thousands of years. They walked this land, fished in the waters of the tidal river, and grew crops to sustain their small villages.

Indigenous Peoples’ Day is the second Monday of October in the United States. It was declared a nationally recognized holiday by President Biden in 2021. Columbus Day is also celebrated on the second Monday of October as a federal holiday. The reason the two holidays are on the same day is about history and remembrance. The way the holidays intersect and are celebrated depends on where you live.

It was the leadership of local and national Indigenous individuals and groups over the past several decades that helped make this holiday a reality through their influence, lobbying efforts, and protests. From their First People’s perspective and the lived experience passed down through their history, they have opened our eyes to reexamine the history of Christopher Columbus and the “discoverers,” and their devastating impact on their Indigenous Ancestors and its complicated legacy in our present-day America. Our Thanksgiving has also been revisited through the lens of Indigenous Peoples as a day of reflection and remembrance. (There are 574 federally recognized United States tribes out of an estimated 1,000 + that inhabited North America before 1492.)

Marking days on the calendar can help raise our collective awareness and support our learning and unlearning about historical narratives. However, it will take a dedicated every-day effort to replace the stories and break the stereotypes they have become embedded in United States culture. For generations American school children, like me in the 60s, were taught “Indians” sold Manhattan to the Dutch for less than $30 in trinkets and beads. This nonsense left out the real history of how the Lenape People misunderstood the concept of land ownership and set in motion how biases, prejudice, and racism can take root. Their tribes had for decades been sharing the land they viewed as a communal resource to be inhabited with respect for people and all living things. They agreed to allow the Dutch, French, Swedes, and English to inhabit the land with them. As history shows the Europeans’ interests and goals were about exclusive land ownership, and, in a relatively short period of time, they drove out the Indigenous Peoples from the land and exploited its rich resources.

We need the strong voices of our Indigenous leaders to continue to support this unlearning so we can reshape past, false narratives to serve the present moment for how Indigenous People are recognized and celebrated with equal opportunities in our society. As Van Heuvelen, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe from South Dakota reminds us, “There are no set rules on how one should appreciate Indigenous Peoples Day, “It’s all about reflection, recognition, celebration and education.”

This work continues, community by community and state by state—17 states currently recognize the day, and several states have dropped Columbus Day. Schools are changing their curriculums to offer children a broader understanding of the complex origins of the history of how the original Americans were impacted by the “discovery” of the Americas by Christopher Columbus.

Each state and town in the United States has its own history of Indigenous Peoples to recognize and make visible, not as relics of the history, but as current members of their communities where they may live and work. I am aware I write this blog as an American white male of Italian heritage, so I come to this topic with humility and a learning attitude. And most of all, I am listening to the voices of Indigenous elders for what they see as our collective way forward.