Laurie M. Johnson is a professor of political science and has taught a course on religion and politics at Kansas State University.

Douglas Firth Anderson is a professor of history with a specialty in American religious history at Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa.

J. David Woodard is a professor of political science at Clemson University in Clemson, S.C., and author of The New Southern Politics.

Ferrel Guillory is a professor of journalism and director of the Program on Public Life at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C.

In Oklahoma a bill was introduced in 2005 that would have replaced Columbus Day with Native American Day. The bill did not receive a committee hearing.

Read an article from The Jamestown Sun about South Dakota’s Indigenous Peoples’ Holiday that stands in place of the Columbus Day holiday.

Joe Baca was a U.S. Representative in, D-Calif. He sponsored House Resolution 76 to establish a legal holiday recognizing Native Americans’ contributions.

Roberta Combs is president of the Christian Coalition, a political action organization that describes itself as “pro-family.” According to news releases on its website, the coalition has several times agreed with statements made by Mitt Romney.

Read “non-observance” for an idea of which states have opposed celebration of Christopher Columbus and why the holiday has become increasingly unpopular.