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The holiday is meant to commemorate Columbus' landing in the Americas in 1492. Previously celebrated on October 12 each year, the holiday was moved to the second Monday of October when the Uniform Holiday Act was enacted in 1968. For some people, Columbus day isn't just about celebrating his arrival in America.
Keeping this in view, what is the significance of Columbus Day?
Columbus Day is a U.S. holiday that commemorates the landing of Christopher Columbus in the Americas in 1492, and Columbus Day 2020 is on Monday, October 12. It was unofficially celebrated in a number of cities and states as early as the 18th century, but did not become a federal holiday until 1937.
Similarly, when did Columbus Day become Indigenous Peoples Day?
The turning point came in 1990, when South Dakota changed the name of the holiday to Native Americans' Day, part of the state's Year of Reconciliation with its tribes. Two years later, Berkeley, California, became the first city to officially jettison the Columbus Day name; the new moniker was Indigenous Peoples' Day.
Indigenous people power In 1989, activists in South Dakota persuaded the state to replace Columbus Day with Native American Day. Both states have large Native populations that played active roles in the Red Power Movement in the 1960s and 1970s, which sought to make American Indian people more politically visible.