American Thanksgiving Facts

From one nerd who’s family won’t listen to them anymore…

• In the time between the first and second Thanksgivings, America went from one settlement to thirteen colonies.
• George Washington tried to make Thanksgiving A Thing but no dice.
• Thanksgiving is A Thing because a woman named Sarah Hale bugged literally everyone she could think of for 15 years. She was concerned that Americans were losing their genteel nature. Abraham Lincoln finally approved Thanksgiving as a national holiday in 1863.
• Thanksgiving wasn’t set as a specific date until 1941.
• The US Military had an influence on making turkey a staple of Thanksgiving. It was tradition for the military to serve turkey for turkey day, which exposed lots of people outside the North East to the food.
• The tradition of gifting the president a turkey started in 1947 but pardons didn’t start until 1987 with Reagan.
• Thanksgiving is obviously controversial, as like so many things it’s built off lies and misconceptions about the relationships between colonizers and Native peoples. If you want a better look at the history of cooperation, betrayal, and early America, i suggest reading Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community and War by Nathaniel Philbrick. (I haven’t read a book from a solely Native perspective in terms of the history so if you have a good suggestion please let me know!)