Happy Indigenous Peoples Day

Last year, the city of Austin officially replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day. The holiday memorializing the Spanish explorer Christopher Columbus is a federal holiday, so it is still officially celebrated across the United States, but all Austin city materials, including calendars, now refer to the new name. The movement to adopt the counter-holiday in honor of the indigenous peoples in America first began when South Dakota replaced Columbus Day with Native Americans’ Day in 1990, and many other cities across the nation have followed suit. The Austin City Council vote to rename the holiday was 9-1-1, with Council Member Ellen Troxclair against and Council Member Alison Alter abstaining. The Austin Independent School District will not hold classes today in observance of the holiday.