President Trump pushes to reinstate Columbus Day, ignoring Indigenous Peoples’ Day shift

President Trump recently announced he wants to bring Columbus Day "back from the ashes," though it remains an official federal holiday. According to NPR, Columbus Day is currently one of 11 holidays recognized by the U.S. Office of Personal Management. In a post on Truth Social, Trump stated he would reinstate Columbus Day "under the same rules, dates, and locations, as it has had for all of the many decades before," despite the fact that the holiday continues to be officially observed.

The controversy stems from the growing recognition of Indigenous Peoples' Day alongside Columbus Day, a shift that has gained momentum in recent years. NPR notes that former president Biden became the first U.S. president to formally recognize Indigenous Peoples' Day as a national observance in 2021, which President Trump appears to be responding to with his recent statement.

This federal holiday commemorates Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas on October 12, 1492, reports USA Today. Originally declared a federal holiday in 1937 and celebrated on October 12, the date was changed to the second Monday in October in 1971. According to USA Today, Italian Americans celebrated the day informally for years before President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Congress established it as a federal holiday, largely due to lobbying by the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal and charitable organization.

The push to replace or rename Columbus Day has grown in recent decades, with South Dakota becoming the first state in 1990 to declare the second Monday in October as Native Americans' Day. According to Rename Columbus Day, approximately 29 states no longer celebrate Columbus Day, and around 216 cities have either renamed or replaced it with Indigenous Peoples' Day.

While President Trump claims to be bringing the holiday back, it never actually disappeared, as the New York Times points out, explaining that the second Monday in October is still officially recognized as Columbus Day by the federal government. 

According to the New York Times, this proclamation came during a period of increased debate about the legacy of Christopher Columbus, whose arrival in North America led to centuries of exploitation and slaughter of Native American populations. The Times reports that dozens of Columbus statues were removed during this period, many amid the Black Lives Matter protests following George Floyd's death in May 2020.

While several states and dozens of cities recognize Indigenous Peoples' Day, the New York Times notes it is not considered a federal holiday, though there have been occasional efforts in Congress to make it one.