photo by: Richard Gwin

Haskell students march to City Hall on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2015 to give the Lawrence City Commission a letter declaring Oct. 12 Indigenous Peoples Day.

On Oct. 6 last year, Haskell Indian Nations University students Barb Wolfin and Lori Hasselman helped lead 300 people on a march to City Hall, where Lawrence’s mayor proclaimed Oct. 12 — federally recognized as Columbus Day — as a citywide celebration of indigenous peoples.

Wolfin reminisced on the moment Friday, about feeling the reverberations in City Hall from the drummers outside, where the crowd spilled onto the lawn.

“We packed the inside and outside grounds,” Wolfin said. “They read off the proclamation, and it was added that it was just being recognized for just that year. And so we took further action.”

Now, pending City Commission approval Tuesday, Lawrence will be the latest in a growing number of cities annually recognizing the second Monday of October as Indigenous Peoples Day going forward.

photo by: Richard Gwin

Grace Denning, a Haskell Indian Nations University student from Hoonah, Alaska, says a prayer as she dances along with more than 100 other Haskell students at City Hall on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2015. The City Commission issued a proclamation naming Monday, Oct. 12, 2015 Indigenous Peoples Day.

To make official the yearly celebration, commissioners will be asked to approve a city resolution.

Lawrence does not currently recognize Columbus Day — a day that has been said by campaigns nationwide to overlook a painful history of colonialism and land grabs.

Efforts to replace the holiday in the U.S. started in 1977, and Berkeley, Calif., in 1992 became one of the first cities to celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day.

Dan Wildcat, a professor at Haskell, said he remembers a wave of discussion that Berkeley’s action caused.

“A lot of people were wondering how come many indigenous objected to a so-called celebration about the arrival of Christopher Columbus,” Wildcat said. “From discussions we had on campus that year, we decided we needed Indigenous Peoples Day to help people understand this really powerful history over the last 500 years.”

In 2014, the city councils of Minneapolis and Seattle voted to recognize Indigenous Peoples Day, adding fuel to the movement. Last year, at least nine other cities besides Lawrence recognized the holiday, The Associated Press reported.

At the City Hall celebration Oct. 6, Wildcat asked commissioners that Indigenous Peoples Day be celebrated in perpetuity. Not receiving a clear response, Wolfin and Hasselman set to work on creating a resolution and getting it placed on a City Commission agenda.

The pair created an online petition in support of the resolution, which as of Friday had 538 signatures.

Moving forward, Wildcat says he wants people to use the day to “appreciate the incredible resilience indigenous people have demonstrated and the incredible contributions they’ve made to our nation.”

He said he also hopes Lawrence residents will take the day to learn about Haskell, a federally funded university that attracts students from 140 tribal nations and Alaska native communities.

“With Haskell here, it’s absolutely critical,” Wildcat said of recognizing the new holiday. “We’ve got to do a better job of explaining to the Lawrence community the national treasure they have here in Lawrence; they don’t understand its historical importance. Hopefully we can use this event to highlight that and to tell the story of Haskell.”

The City Commission meets at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St.

City of Lawrence proclaims Indigenous Peoples Day