Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples’ Day: What the Names Actually Change

Every October, the same argument tends to collapse several different questions into one: Is it Columbus Day? Indigenous Peoples’ Day? Both? Did one replace the other?

The answer depends on which government or institution you’re talking about. Federal law, state law, local observance and historical interpretation are related, but they aren’t interchangeable.

What federal law actually says

At the federal level, the name is Columbus Day.

Title 5 of the U.S. Code lists Columbus Day as a legal public holiday observed on the second Monday in October.

For 2026, the Office of Personnel Management lists Monday, October 12, as Columbus Day on the federal holiday schedule.

That means a claim that Columbus Day has been abolished or federally renamed needs a very specific receipt. Under current federal law, it has not been. See the 2026 OPM federal holiday schedule.

What the presidential proclamation does

The annual White House proclamation is a separate part of the legal structure.

Under 36 U.S.C. § 107, Congress requests that the President issue a proclamation each year designating the second Monday in October as Columbus Day, calling for the flag to be displayed on federal buildings and inviting public observance.

President Donald Trump issued the 2026 Columbus Day proclamation on October 7.

The proclamation matters, but it isn’t what creates the federal holiday by itself. The legal public holiday is already listed in 5 U.S.C. § 6103. The proclamation is the annual observance mechanism Congress separately requested.

Why states and local governments can use a different name

Federal holiday law doesn’t require every state, city, school system or private institution to use the same label for its own observance.

OPM itself notes that state and local governments and private businesses may use other names for federal holidays.

Some states have gone further and changed the name in their own laws.

Maine enacted a law changing references to the second Monday in October from Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day.

Vermont law likewise lists Indigenous Peoples’ Day as the state legal holiday on the second Monday in October.

Those state choices change how those states label and administer their own holiday. They don’t amend the federal holiday statute.

So did Indigenous Peoples’ Day replace Columbus Day?

Not at the federal level.

Under current federal law, Columbus Day remains the legal public holiday. A state or local government can separately recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day, rename its own holiday or choose another form of commemoration.

That’s why two statements can both be true at the same time:

• The federal government recognizes Columbus Day.

• A particular state or city recognizes Indigenous Peoples’ Day on the same date.

The apparent contradiction disappears once the level of government is identified.

The historical argument is a different question

A statute can tell you what a government calls a holiday. It can’t settle every historical or moral argument attached to the name.

People can disagree about Christopher Columbus, European colonization, Indigenous history, national memory and what should be commemorated. Those disagreements may influence how governments choose to name the day, but they aren’t the same thing as the legal status of the holiday.

That distinction matters because a historical argument is often presented as though it automatically changed the law, while a legal designation is sometimes presented as though it settled the history. Neither follows from the other.

How to read the most common claims

• “Columbus Day was abolished.” Ask: by which government? That can be true for a particular state or locality while remaining false as a statement about federal law.

• “Indigenous Peoples’ Day is now the federal holiday.” Under current federal law, it isn’t.

• “States can’t rename the day.” They can set their own legal holidays and observances, as Maine and Vermont demonstrate.

• “The President created Columbus Day with a proclamation.” The annual proclamation is requested by federal statute, but Columbus Day is separately listed as a federal legal public holiday in Title 5.

The clean distinction

One date can carry several layers of meaning.

• Federal legal status: Columbus Day.

• State and local observance: varies by jurisdiction.

• Presidential proclamation: an annual federal observance requested by statute.

• Historical interpretation: a separate civic and historical debate.

You can argue about what the day should be called. You can commemorate one history, several histories or none at all.

But before arguing about what changed, identify the level of government, the legal text and the actual decision.

The name is part of the story. The jurisdiction tells you what the name legally changes.