The St. Augustine City Commission voted this week to officially proclaim the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples Day — the third Florida city that has formally taken the step.
The day, which this year falls on October 13, is also recognized federally as Columbus Day.
The proclamation was sponsored by Mayor Nancy Sikes-Kline and was approved without discussion as part of the meeting’s consent agenda.
A portion of the proclamation reads: “The arrival of European explorers and settlers brought disease, genocide, and slavery to the Americas, and Indigenous peoples increasingly lost access to their ancestral lands and natural resources, which significantly impacted their ability to practice aspects of their cultures and traditions.”
The document also highlights St. Augustine’s own connection to Indigenous history, noting that the Castillo de San Marcos served as a prison for Native American soldiers during the Plains Wars of the 1800s.
According to the proclamation, the designation of Indigenous Peoples Day is intended to acknowledge both the historical injustices faced by Native peoples and their continued presence and contributions.
“Indigenous Peoples Day is an opportunity to reveal historic truths about pre-existing Indigenous cultures and Peoples that have survived a most often violent colonization process, and who continue to exist and thrive in present-day America,” the statement reads.
St. Augustine joins two other cities in Florida in recognizing the day.
Gainesville was the first to do so in 2015, and North Miami followed suit in 2020, according to a website that tracks the issue.
Nationally, cities including Seattle and Minneapolis were among the early adopters, with Berkeley, California becoming the first U.S. city to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day in 1992.
The movement to mute the importance of Columbus Day has not come without controversy. President Donald Trump said earlier this year. that he would not recognize Indigenous Peoples Day and pledged to bring recognition of the Italian mariner “back from the ashes.”
The City Commission did not indicate whether any specific events or commemorations would accompany the newly recognized day.
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