Mahaska (Native American leader) Mahaska (Native American leader) Mahaska (archaic Ioway "Maxúshga" pronounced ; contemporary "Maxúhga"), or White Cloud, (1784–1834) was a chief of the Native American Iowa tribe. His son, also named Mahaska, was better known as Francis White Cloud. Mahaska was born into the Iowa tribe. He became chief at an early age after killing several enemy Sioux to avenge his father's death by them. Later Mahaska killed a French trader in an argument; he was arrested and imprisoned in St. Louis, Missouri. After he escaped, he led a raid against the Osage. Afterward, he decided that his father's death was finally
Native American Day 1998, the California Assembly passed AB 1953, which made Native American Day an official state holiday, observed annually on the fourth Friday in September. In 1997, the state of Nevada also declared the Fourth Friday of September as [Nevada Indian] Native American Day. In 1989, the South Dakota legislature unanimously passed legislation proposed by Governor George S. Mickelson to proclaim 1990 as the "Year of Reconciliation" between Native Americans and whites, to change Columbus Day to Native American Day and to make Martin Luther King's birthday into a state holiday. Since 1990, the second Monday in October has been celebrated