Indigenous Peoples’ Day

Happy Indigenous Peoples’ Day!

In 1977, participants at the United Nations International Conference on Discrimination against Indigenous Populations in the Americas proposed that Indigenous Peoples’ Day replace Columbus Day. 

The colonial takeovers of the Americas, starting with Columbus, led to the deaths of millions of Native people and the forced assimilation of survivors. Indigenous Peoples’ Day recognizes that Native people are the first inhabitants of the Americas, including the lands that later became the United States of America.

EVOLVE Family Services believes in the importance of observing Indigenous Peoples’ Day in place of Columbus Day. We stand behind the movement to tell a more complete and accurate version of United States history.

However, many schools continue to teach the inaccurate myth of Columbus “discovering” America. Teaching the full narrative is key to our society rethinking its history. There are lots of ways to celebrate and teach children about this day.

Educational Resources:

–Teaching for Change provides teachers and parents with the tools to create schools where students learn to read, write, and change the world.

–Native Knowledge 360° has resources to help students learn about and celebrate Indigenous People’ Day.

-The American Indians in Children’s Literature blog is a great resource to find analysis of Indigenous peoples in children’s and young adult books.

-Check out the Celebrating Indigenous Languages Project. Children can listen to greetings recorded by 50 indigenous language speakers.

-Teach kids about Standing Rock. Young Water Protectors: A Story About Standing Rock is a book written by a child involved in the movement, Aslan Tudor.

Join the campaign to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The Zinn Education Project has a toolkit of resources to get involved with this.