Press-Citizen staff

Iowa City and Johnson County have proclaimed Oct. 9 as Indigenous Peoples Day, a day nationally marked as Columbus Day.

In a proclamation signed at the Oct. 3 city council meeting, Mayor Jim Throgmorton recognized “the indigenous peoples of the lands that would later become known as the Americas and acknowledged that the state of Iowa is built upon the homelands and villages of Indigenous Peoples,” according to a news release from the city.

The Johnson County Board of Supervisors also proclaimed Oct. 9 as Indigenous Peoples Day during its meeting on Oct. 5.

More:Support grows for Indigenous Peoples Day amid Columbus Day criticism

The idea for Indigenous People's Day was first proposed in 1977 by a delegation of Native Nations to the International Conference on Discrimination Against Indigenous Populations in the Americas, the news release said. Since then, a number of cities and towns have begun to proclaim the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples Day to celebrate indigenous heritage and resiliency.

Davenport's city council has also adopted Monday as Indigenous Peoples Day.

Columbus Day, which is the second Monday in October and became a federal holiday in 1937, commemorates the landing of Christopher Columbus in the Americas in 1492, according to History.com.