Gov. Bill Walker opened the first day of the Alaska Federation of Natives conference in Anchorage by renaming the second Monday in October from Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day.
A proclamation effecting the change states that the idea was first proposed in 1977 by a delegation to the United Nations Conference on Discrimination Against Indigenous Populations in the Americas.
It has since been accepted by cities across the country — the largest is Seattle — and Alaska is the first state to make the change.
