OKLAHOMA CITY – On Sept. 29, the City Council of OKC voted unanimously to recognize the second Monday in October as “Indigenous Peoples’ Day,” a distinction that local advocates have worked toward for 12 years.
The date has been known as “Columbus Day” for several decades and remains a federal holiday. Changing that designation would require an act of Congress. Indigenous Peoples’ Day is celebrated in light of the harm Indigenous people and nations have suffered at the hands of European colonization.
Sarah Adams and Kendra Wilson-Clements are the co-founders of Matriarch, an organization focused on empowering Indigenous women, Two-Spirit and non-binary people, and Cousins, an Indigenous 2SLGBTQIA+ Youth Group. They were among those leading the initiative for the permanent recognition.
“Indigenous Peoples’ Day is important for us because there is such a thing as erasure through representation,” Adams told Free Press, “and when we see things like Columbus Day still on the calendar, knowing the atrocities committed by Columbus towards Indigenous people, there is an obligation to shine light on that truth and an accountability to know what we celebrate.”
Adams said she felt honored to be a part of this work and to acknowledge those who were lost or who suffered during that time.
“We know that noting this date doesn’t actually change those atrocities,” Adams said, “but it does give us an opportunity as a community to talk about the truth of that time period and to talk about how our Indigenous communities are thriving and how they contribute to our state, our city, our nation, and Turtle Island.”
The journey to the resolution
Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt has issued proclamations since 2018 honoring Indigenous Peoples’ Day, but community advocates have asked for a more permanent resolution.
Proposals to specifically recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day failed before Oklahoma City’s City Council in 2015 (with a 5-4 vote against) and in 2016 (with a 6-3 vote against).
Community advocate Summer Wesley also helped lead the initiative for permanent recognition. Wesley said it was rewarding to see the resolution pass unanimously, 10 years after the 6-3 vote in 2016. She said the victory came after years of “harsh voting” and “tireless advocacy.”
“Those votes were very contentious, and so when [Sarah] told me it was unanimous, that was the best outcome that we ever hoped to expect,” Wesley told Free Press in an interview. “That was incredible to see how big a shift there has been over these years.”
Wesley said the win felt especially significant because previous efforts before City Council had often met with pushback or calls to compromise, including changing the name or date of the observance.
The 2016 proposal included discussion of moving the observance to August to separate it from Columbus Day, but it was ultimately rejected. Wesley said changing the date would not have had the same impact as directly addressing Columbus’ history. She also recalled discussions about calling it Native American Day instead of Indigenous Peoples’ Day. At the state level, Oklahoma, which is home to 39 tribal nations, began recognizing “Oklahoma Native American Day” in 1998, designated as the third Monday in November. That was moved to the second Monday in October in 2019.
“We were being asked to essentially exclude Indigenous Peoples from outside the United States,” Wesley said of the 2016 vote. “In the open discussion in the meeting, it was very clear they wanted anyone from south of the border to be excluded, and we’re not going to exclude our Indigenous relatives just because of an imaginary border.”
Unanimously passed
On Sept. 29, 2026, this was the first item on City Council’s agenda, passing with full support. Wesley said she felt hopeful about the unanimous vote and lack of opposition or pushback over the name or date. She was glad to see “what should have been there from the beginning,” praised leaders for being “open and respectful” and expressed gratitude to Mayor David Holt for taking on the initiative.
“I think it’s wonderful we finally have a day to be able to celebrate,” Wesley said.
The resolution clarifies that Indigenous Peoples’ Day is “ceremonial” rather than a “city holiday.”
“Though I have proclaimed Indigenous Peoples’ Day since 2018 and will continue to do so, the day doesn’t formally exist in OKC without my proclamation or a resolution of Council,” Mayor Holt told Free Press. “And so, just to ensure that the planners of our local events can have certainty in the future, I felt it was best to secure a resolution of Council that establishes the day into perpetuity. I am pleased that the Council agreed, and I’m grateful for their unanimous vote.”
Sarah Adams attended the City Council meeting, and, when the motion passed, Holt told her, “I know you’ve been with us these eight years. We appreciate it.”
Adams said it was “an overwhelming feeling” to see the resolution pass unanimously after such a long journey.
“We’ve been working over a decade to see it move from a proclamation to a resolution, and I just could not be more thrilled with the decision from City Council,” Adams told Free Press.
Adams said this represents a “big change.”
“Back about 12 years ago, there was a collective of about seven or eight Indigenous community members in Oklahoma City who came together and started working on this in my living room,” Adams said. “We sat down, and we planned some of these celebrations in other spaces like the University of Oklahoma and other Indigenous Peoples’ Day celebrations before we even had one of our own. And so it’s really great to see how many people have been working toward this.”
Adams said that a collective of Indigenous community members have donated their time and talents to plan events, panels, marketing and more.
“It really was this community collaboration to get us here,” Adams said. “There’s a determination in our community to make sure that we leave this place better than it was. It’s important to us to make sure that our kids and grandkids don’t have to fight to see this day honored every year.”
Indigenous Peoples’ Day celebrations
Leaders from the First Americans Museum (FAM) were among those supporting a permanent observance. FAM Executive Director and CEO Dr. Kelli Mosteller advocated on behalf of the museum during the council sessions and backed the resolution.
“We are just really proud that you are considering this resolution to make the recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ Day in Oklahoma City, where we can celebrate the wonderful diversity and thriving cultures of the 39 tribes in Oklahoma, something that is permanently happening in Oklahoma City,” Mosteller said at the City Council meeting Sept. 29.
The First Americans Museum hosts an annual Indigenous Peoples’ Day celebration, which now welcomes over 3,000 global guests. The resolution gives a “mayor-proof” for this event’s future, making its status permanent, regardless of who is mayor.
“Our city’s Indigenous Peoples’ Day celebration at First Americans Museum has become perhaps the largest in the nation. It is an important day for Oklahoma City, as we have emerged as a national capital for Native and Indigenous people,” Mayor Holt told Free Press.
Dr. Mosteller detailed the museum’s five years of hosting the annual celebration.
“It is, without true statistics and data, what I could find as the largest celebration and, without argument, the best celebration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day in the country,” Mosteller said at the City Council meeting.
The event is Monday, Oct. 12 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the First Americans Museum. This year’s theme is “Sovereignty in Motion,” exploring how Indigenous communities embody movement in daily life. The event includes physical activities like a Lacrosse game as well as live music, a chalk mural contest, Indigenous film screenings, ribbon skirt contests, food from FAM’s 39 Restaurant and food trucks, a Matriarch panel discussion, and half-off FAM museum admission.
This event will also include the annual Mayoral Proclamation at 1 p.m., the first time this proclamation has been done since the resolution has passed.
This event isn’t the only celebration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day. In addition to Matriarch and Cousins, Sarah Adams and Kendra Wilson-Clements are also founders of Capitol Hill’s Indigenous collective, Culture Hub, which will be hosting an opening reception and artist panel for an art collection, “Collective Wisdom” from 6-9 p.m. on Oct. 12.
Zoe Elrod covers events and happenings around Oklahoma City for Free Press bringing her skill as a reporter and photographer. Zoe has spent her career covering local musicians, artists, politicians, and everyday folks.
