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N.H. House Rejects Bill to Replace Columbus Day with Indigenous People’s Day

Dan Tuohy / NHPR

The New Hampshire House of Representatives voted down a billTuesday that would have replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

The language from the bill imagined Indigenous Peoples’ Day as “a time for New Hampshire residents to reflect on the continuing struggles of the indigenous peoples of the Americas.”

The bill was sponsored by state Rep. Wayne Burton, a Democrat  from Durham, which last year became the first town in the state to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day in lieu of Columbus Day.

Opponents of the bill raised concerns about disrespecting the Italian heritage of Christopher Columbus.

Lawmakers voted to send the bill to interim study, a status many bills never recover from.

Jason Moon is a senior reporter and producer on the Document team. He has created longform narrative podcast series on topics ranging from unsolved murders, to presidential elections, to secret lists of police officers.
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