Indigenous Peoples Day is a holiday that celebrates and raises awareness of the many cultures of Indigenous or Native American peoples’ all across the United States. 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. 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. It also urges Americans to rethink the history they learned as a child and help to understand the true history of the Americas.

“Today, Indigenous communities continue to suffer from economic and health disparities relative to the general population, continue to witness the same assaults on our lands that have resulted in environmental degradation; however, we continue to persevere, flourish and celebrate our cultures and ways of knowing, while also thriving in contemporary America. On Indigenous Peoples’ Day we invite you to take a little time to learn more about the cultures of the people who originally inhabited the land on which you now live. Acknowledging and taking part in Indigenous Peoples’ Day can be liberating and uplifting to museum visitors, and we encourage and invite all to celebrate with us.”

Monica Raphael (Anishinaabe / Sičáŋğu Lakota), Thomas G. and Susan C. Hoback curator of Great Lakes Native cultures and community engagement