Indigenous
Peoples' Week
Artwork by Chanti Mañon
Indigenous Peoples' Week mission statement
The national origins of Indigenous Peoples' Day began in 1977 as a counter holiday to Columbus Day in an effort to draw attention to Indigenous sovereignty, struggles, and rights. In 2015, Corvallis and Portland became the first two cities in the State of Oregon to proclaim Indigenous People with the Corvallis efforts being led by OSU students. In choosing to celebrate Indigenous Peoples' Day, Oregon State University honors the ways, histories and contributions of Indigenous students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members historically and in current times. By recognizing the complexity of the Indigenous experience at OSU, in Oregon, and throughout the Americas and Pacific Islands more broadly, we will tell a more accurate and complete story of Indigenous people. Indigenous Peoples' Day will be recognized on the second Monday of October with the remainder of the week including events focused on decolonizing the Indigenous narrative. These events, open to everyone at OSU and in the larger community, focus on learning and positive representation. Indigenous Peoples' Day helps shift the perpetuation of damaging myths and stereotypes to highlighting the resilience, creativity, innovation and community of Indigenous people at OSU and beyond.
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' WEEK 2025 | Oct. 11-17, 2025
FREE events! All are welcome.
Sponsored by: OSU-Cascades, Division of Student Affairs, Office of Institutional Diversity, Presidents Commission on Indigenous Affairs, kaku-ixt mana ina haws, and łatwa ina Alumni Network
Support Indigenous Programming
SATURDAY, OCT. 11, 2025
First Peoples Celebration with Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs
At OSU-Cascades, explore the history and culture of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. Experience the opening ceremony and invocation, tribal crafts and artistry from the Tananáwit Artists Community, traditional regalia and Native dancing, and a round dance with the amazing, Grammy-nominated Black Lodge Singers.
- 1-5 p.m. — Full schedule + more details.
- OSU-Cascades — 1500 SW Chandler Ave, Bend, OR 97702
MONDAY, OCT. 13, 2025 | Indigenous Peoples' Day
Indigenous Peoples' Day Celebration at PRAx
- Starts at 5 p.m.
- Indigenous Peoples' Day Proclamations — With Oregon State University and City of Corvallis
- Keynote Speakers — Leonard Peltier (via Zoom) and Dino Butler
- Film Screening — Free Leonard Peltier
- PRAx — 470 SW 15th Street, Corvallis, OR 97331
- Note: Livestream available for portions of the event
- Free event! No ticket required.
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 15 | In Corvallis
Guest speaker: Deborah Miranda
- Talk title — "Blood Quantum Chart Bingo: Indigenizing the Colonizer's Archives"
- Starts at 5 p.m.
- kaku-ixt mana ina haws — 311 SW 26th St, Corvallis, OR 97331
- Free event! All are welcome.
THURSDAY, OCT. 16, 2025
OSU Indigenous Community Welcome
Hosted by kaku-ixt mana ina haws.
- 5-7 p.m.
- kaku-ixt mana ina haws — 311 SW 26th St, Corvallis, OR 97331
- Free event! All are welcome.
ONGOING EXHIBITS
Books and films by Indigenous creators
- Celebrate Indigenous Peoples' Day by watching a film or reading a book by an Indigenous creator. This guide features a selection of ebooks and streaming movies. All of these titles have unlimited-user licenses at the OSU Libraries, making them suitable for class assignments, book clubs, or educational screenings.
- The Valley Library
For accommodations related to disabilities, contact [email protected].
MEET THE 2025 SPEAKERS
Leonard Peltier
A member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians. Leonard is a boarding school survivor, an activist for Indigenous rights and a member of the American Indian Movement (AIM). His supporters consider him the longest-serving Indigenous political prisoner in the United States. For nearly 50 years, he was imprisoned for the June 26, 1975, death of two FBI agents who died during the June 26 shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Despite a lack of direct evidence, he was imprisoned until he was granted compassionate clemency in January 2025 by President Biden to serve the remainder of his life sentence at his home on the Turtle Mountain Reservation. Leonard maintains his innocence. His story has been the subject of multiple books and films.
Darelle “Dino” Butler
An enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians. He has spent his life dedicated to supporting Indigenous rights and ceremonies. During the 1970s, Dino became involved with the American Indian Movement (AIM), where he met Leonard Peltier. After the June 26, 1975, shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, Butler was arrested and later acquitted on grounds of self-defense along with Bob Robideau in a separate trial from Leonard’s. Dino spent much of his life advocating for Leonard’s release from prison. He also advocated for other Indigenous rights issues and ceremonial access for Indigenous people, both nationally and internationally.
Deborah Miranda
An enrolled member of the Ohlone-Costanoan Esselen Nation in California, with Santa Ynez Chumash ancestry. Deborah is a Thomas H. Broadus Professor of English (emerita) at Washington and Lee University. Her hybrid project, Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir, won the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Literary Award and was shortlisted for the William Saroyan International Literary Prize. She is also the author of four poetry collections (Indian Cartography, The Zen of La Llorona, Raised by Humans, and Altar for Broken Things) and co-editor of the Lambda finalist Sovereign Erotics: An Anthology of Two-Spirit Literature.