Tarvis Thompson-Pace
- Oct 10, 2022
- 2 min read

Celebrating Indigenous Peoples' Day

Updated: Oct 11, 2022

Indigenous Peoples’ Day will be held on Monday, October 10 this year. Originally proposed as a celebration to counter Columbus Day, Indigenous Peoples’ day was first formally recognized by a U.S. president last year by President Joe Biden, although it has been observed in communities across the country for decades.

Indigenous Peoples’ day refers to and celebrates the varied groups of people who can trace their ancestry in North, Central, and South America back to the first groups of people to ever live in these lands. Native Americans are a diverse people. There are 574 different tribes recognized by the U.S Government in 2022, and 826 different groups of indigenous peoples in Central and South America. You can go to https://native-land.ca/ to see exactly where different tribes live or historically lived.

Each of these tribal groups has different customs, languages, religious beliefs, power structures, and cultural traditions, so any discussion of Native American people must take into account the kaleidoscopic variety of experiences and perspectives these groups and individuals have.

It’s also important to remember that, while there is often a focus on historical events that have impacted Native Americans - such as Columbus encountering the Taino people when he landed in the West Indies in 1492, the interaction the Wampanoag people had with Separatist English settlers in Plymouth Massachusetts in 1620, or the forcible removal of the Creek and Cherokee people from their ancestral lands in Tennessee and Georgia in the 1800s, known as the Trail of Tears- people are living modern lives in 2022 who are Native Americans and belong to Indigenous tribes. When we celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ day, it is alongside millions of Indigenous people living in the United States today.

For those interested in participating in the observance of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, and November’s month-long Native American Heritage Month, below are different resources and ideas for how adults, children, and families can learn, participate, and celebrate.

Resources

Kids and Families

Books

Encounter – Jane Yolen

When We Were Alone by David A. Robertson

We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga by Traci Sorell: 9781580897723 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

Mama, Do You Love Me? by Barbara M. Joosse

We Are Still Here! by Traci Sorell: 9781623541927 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

Notable Native People

Native/Indigenous Picture Books - Bookshop.org

Places

Etowah Indian Mounds State Historic Site | Department Of Natural Resources Division