Indigenous Peoples’ Day, a holiday aiming to recognize the resilience and diversity of Indigenous communities in the United States, is on Monday, Oct. 14. It is celebrated across the country on the second Monday of October and is an official holiday in Athens-Clarke County.

Athens-Clarke County, the city of Athens and the University of Georgia were built on the ancestral homelands of the Cherokee and Muscogee. Prominent Athenians such as UGA founder Abraham Baldwin, Georgia governor Wilson Lumpkin and jurist Augustin Clayton advocated for and facilitated the displacement and removal of these Indigenous populations in the region.

The Athens-Clarke County Unified Government’s 2021 resolution to recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day said that “[Athens-Clarke County] has benefited directly from Indian removal policies that violated human rights, broke government treaties, and forced Cherokee and Muscogee (Creek) People from their homeland.”

ACCUG added that on the holiday, they will “support events that encourage understanding and appreciation of Indigenous Peoples, their traditions and culture, and our shared history in these ancestral lands,” according to the resolution.

Indigenous Peoples’ Day coincides with and is being increasingly celebrated across the country in place of Columbus Day, a federal holiday that recognizes Italian explorer Christopher Columbus, who is credited for discovering the Americas under the flagship of Spain. Athens-Clarke County no longer officially observes Columbus Day.

Native American Student Association at UGA will host an event celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day, including a discussion of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act and its impacts on UGA, on Monday from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Intersection Room at Tate Student Center.

See a list of closures and schedule changes in observance of the holiday throughout the county.