Michigan to โขObserve Indigenousโฃ Peoples’ Day Alongsideโ Federal Columbus Day
LANSING – As teh United States marks Columbus Day as a federal holiday on October โ14, 2025, Michigan will also recognize โขIndigenous Peoples’ โฃDay,โ acknowledgingโค the โคimportant impact of Europeanโข settlement on Native American communities. The observance comes amid ongoing national debate surroundingโค the legacy of Christopher Columbus.
Historical records show Indigenous peoples sufferedโค theft, lossโ of their homelands, enslavement, death, forced displacement and disrupted cultural traditions due to European settlement. Native America saw its population decline by โ95% within 130 years ofโ initial European contact, according to museum data.
“Celebrating Columbus and other explorers like himโค dismisses the devastating losses experienced by Indigenous Peoples โof the Western Hemisphere in the past and the ongoing effects of colonialism today,” a statement onโข a museum website reads.
Columbus Day remains a federal holiday, with โPresident Trump issuing a proclamation on October 9,โฃ 2025, praising Columbus as “the original Americanโข hero” and criticizing efforts โขto reframe the day to โfocus on Indigenous peoples. Theโ proclamation stated, “This โColumbus Day, we honor his life with reverence โand gratitude, and we pledge to reclaim his remarkable legacyโฆfrom the left-wing arsonists who haveโ sought to destroy his name and dishonor his memory.”
Celebrations of Columbus Day in the U.S.date back to 1792. In 1892, โthe holidayโค became a way to honor Italian immigrants,โ who faced โขdiscrimination atโข the time, following aโข proclamation by Presidentโฃ Benjamin Harrison. Presidentโข Franklin D.โฃ Roosevelt designated columbus day a โfederal holiday in 1934.