Native American Day is a holiday celebrated across the United States in lieu of Columbus Day. In California and Nevada, the holiday is celebrated on the fourth Friday of September, whereas in South Dakota and Wisconsin, it falls on the second Monday of October. Within each of these states, Native American Day honors the cultural contributions of Native American communities to the respective state’s history, as well as to the overall country. The state of Tennessee observes a similar American Indian Day each year on the fourth Monday of September.
In 1939, Governor Culbert Olson declared October 1st to be "Indian Day", making California the first state to honor this holiday. In 1968, Governor Ronald Reagan signed a resolution calling for a holiday called American Indian Day, to be held the Fourth Friday in September. In 1998, the California Assembly passed AB 1953, which made Native American Day an official state holiday, observed annually on the fourth Friday in September.
In 1997, the state of Nevada also declared the Fourth Friday of September as Native American Day.
South Dakota
In 1989, the South Dakota legislature unanimously passed legislation proposed by Governor George S. Mickelson to proclaim 1990 as the "Year of Reconciliation" between Native Americans and whites, to change Columbus Day to Native American Day and to make Martin Luther King's birthday into a state holiday. Since 1990, the second Monday in October has been celebrated as Native American Day in South Dakota. On Oct 3, 2017, The Proclamation of Native American day was announced by the Mayor of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Accepting the Proclamation would be the Lakota-Dakota-Nakota representatives of Sioux Falls. South Dakota and Vermont, which celebrates Indigenous Peoples' Day, are the only states to practice non-observance of the federal holiday of Columbus Day.
Tennessee
In 1994, the state General Assembly established the "fourth Monday in September of each year" to be especially observed in Tennessee as "American Indian Day", "to recognize the contributions of American Indians with suitable ceremony and fellowship designed to promote greater understanding and brotherhood between American Indians and the non-Indian people of the state of Tennessee".
In 2016, Vermont governor Phil Scott renamed Columbus Day to "Indigenous Peoples' Day" as an effort to increase awareness among state residents of the native peoples' contributions to Vermont. This measure is part of a larger effort of the state to foster "cultural development" among their indigenous communities.
