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July 4th Holiday Launches America’s Semiquincentennial

July 5, 2025

Friday, July 4, 2025, marked the beginning of America’s Semiquincentennial year – a celebration known nationally as America 250 to commemorate the 250-year anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. 

The Declaration of Independence, signed by 52 delegates who would come to be referred to as America’s “Founding Fathers,” was ratified at the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia – a building now known as Independence Hall. This “unanimous Declaration of the 13 united States of America” was signed into law on August 2, 1776. Widely considered the founding document of the United States, the Declaration explained why the original 13 colonies no longer regarded themselves as subject to British colonial rule, but as independent sovereign states.

Throughout the past 250 years, the United States of America has seen substantial growth … and substantial change. In that time, 37 states have been added to the original thirteen colonies, including South Dakota, which became the 40th state to enter the Union on November 2, 1889. South Dakota is, therefore, relatively “young,” but its land and people have a rich and enduring history extending long before statehood.

SDHC seeks to honor this history by recognizing and sharing the wide variety of stories of those who have called this land home over the past 250 years. To do so, we need YOU, the public, to share your own memories and the oral histories of those who endured hardship and struggle to make a life on these lands, as well as the triumphs – big and small – that make up the tapestry we call life in South Dakota.

Please share your story with us: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeIQdo1eo5kQ__9ffuYiozPJ6Y5fgn8pYhVyQKaFSYqehX8nw/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=112004494905122864068

The South Dakota Humanities Council acknowledges that it operates on the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary lands of the Oceti Sakowin – the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota. We honor and appreciate the Indigenous people who have the longest relationship to this place.

Learn more about humanities programming in South Dakota by signing up for SDHC e-Updates!