Monday, October 10 is a federal and state government holiday, although the holiday differs depending on your jurisdiction. While many states continue to call the second Monday in October "Columbus Day," a number of others have renamed the holiday a variation on "Native Americans' Day" or "Indigenous Peoples Day," or observe the newer holiday in addition to the old one.
Celebrations of Italian explorer Christopher Columbus's 1492 landfall in North America have occurred in various American locations as early as the eighteenth century, and October 12 (later moved to the second Monday in October) was established as a federal holiday in the 1930s. However, Columbus Day has sparked protests by Native American communities and others, who have highlighted the impact of colonization on indigenous people in the Americas, and the related history of violent conflict and forced assimilation.
As noted in Smithsonian Magazine, South Dakota was the first state to rename the holiday in 1990, to Native Americans' Day. (Hawaii had previously renamed the second Monday in October as "Discoverers' Day" in 1988, but also clarified that it is not an official state holiday.) Other states have co-observed the holidays, such as Alabama's addition of "American Indian Heritage Day" alongside "Columbus Day and Fraternal Day" in 2000 . Last year, the federal government followed a similar approach, with a presidential proclamation for Columbus Day as well as one for Indigenous Peoples Day – the first time the federal government had formally acknowledged the newer holiday.
Researching the legal holidays (or any other research topic) in all fifty states can be a time-consuming process. Fortunately, fifty-state surveys exist to help speed things up. These resources compile statutory or regulatory code citations on a particular topic for all U.S. jurisdictions. Even a slightly outdated fifty-state survey can be a helpful starting place to point researchers to the correct section or area of an individual state’s current code.
How, then, to find 50-state surveys? Both Lexis and Westlaw have collections of topical surveys from their secondary source menus, but other options also exist. The National Survey of State Laws (9th ed. 2022, online in HeinOnline) is a long-running publication that compiles 50-state surveys on selected topics, including one on "Legal Holidays" state-by-state. Charts include the relevant code section number and a summary of the state information.
Another useful database for locating 50-state surveys is the Subject Compilations of State Laws, 1960-2018 (online in HeinOnline). Drawn from the contents of another long-running book series, the Subject Compilations database will often point to the 50-state surveys contained in Lexis and Westlaw, and the state comparison charts in Bloomberg Law. For the topic of state holidays, one helpful result in this category is Lexis's Banking Law – Bank Activities: Legal & Bank Holidays chart (last updated May 2020). The Subject Compilations database may also point to footnotes in law review articles or court opinions that list various jurisdictions' laws on a topic, relevant treatise sections, and even web links to non-governmental organizations. (Because the latest edition of the Subject Compilations in the database is from 2018, it will also point to older editions of the National Survey of State Laws in HeinOnline.)
For help with locating, or guidance on compiling, relevant 50-state surveys on a topic, be sure to Ask a Librarian.
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