Indigenous Peoples Day acknowledges violent history

The first encounters between European settlers and Native Americans are captured on a wood engraving in this 1888 image. DigitalVision Vectors For the third year, the United States will officially observe Columbus Day alongside Indigenous Peoples Day on Oct. 9, 2023. In 2021, the Biden administration declared the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples Day. I am a scholar of Colonial-Indigenous relations and think that officially recognizing Indigenous Peoples Day – and, more broadly, Native Americans’ history and survival – is important. Yet, Indigenous Peoples Day and Columbus Day should also serve as a reminder of the violent past endured by Indigenous communities in North America. This past – complete with settlers’ brutal tactics of violence – is often ignored in the U.S. My research on New England examines the important role that settlers’ wars against Native Americans played in their colonization of the region. This warfare often targeted Native American women and children and was often encouraged through scalp bounties – meaning people or local governments offering money in exchange for a Native American’s scalp. Understanding scalping Scalping describes the forceful removal of the human scalp with hair attached. The violent act is usually performed with a knife,...