Lilly at 16:56, 6 July 2026

2026-07-06T16:56:47Z

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			{{#seo:
			\|title=History of Thanksgiving
			\|description=Explore the history of Thanksgiving, from Indigenous and Wampanoag perspectives to Plymouth Colony, presidential proclamations, holiday traditions, myths, and modern remembrance.
			\|keywords=Thanksgiving history, First Thanksgiving, Wampanoag, Pilgrims, Plymouth Colony, National Day of Mourning, Sarah Josepha Hale, Abraham Lincoln Thanksgiving, Franksgiving, Thanksgiving traditions
			\|image=File:Placeholder.png
			\|image_width=300
			\|image_height=200
			\|type=article}}

			[[Category:Thanksgiving]]
			[[Category:American History]]
			[[Category:Native American History]]
			[[Category:Holidays]]
			[[Category:Plymouth Colony]]

			__NOTOC__

			== History of Thanksgiving ==

			=== Origins and Early Thanksgiving Traditions ===
			Thanksgiving is often remembered as beginning with the 1621 harvest gathering between English settlers at Plymouth Colony and members of the Wampanoag people. However, the holiday’s deeper history is more complex. Earlier European harvest festivals, religious thanksgiving services, Spanish and French colonial observances, and Indigenous food traditions all shaped the background of what later became the American Thanksgiving story.

			The 1621 Plymouth event was not originally called “Thanksgiving” in the modern sense. It was a harvest celebration described briefly by Edward Winslow, involving English colonists and Wampanoag participants. Later generations transformed this limited historical episode into a national origin story.

			=== Plymouth Colony, Pilgrims, and the Wampanoag ===
			The Pilgrims arrived in New England after signing the Mayflower Compact in 1620 and founding Plymouth Colony. Their survival depended partly on diplomacy and assistance from Native people, including the Wampanoag leader Massasoit and Tisquantum, often known as Squanto.

			The familiar story of friendly Pilgrims and Native Americans sharing a peaceful meal leaves out much of the surrounding history. The Wampanoag had already suffered devastating epidemics before English settlement expanded. The early alliance between Plymouth and the Wampanoag eventually gave way to conflict, especially during King Philip’s War in 1675–1676, one of the most destructive wars in colonial New England.

			=== Native American and Indigenous Perspectives ===
			For many Native Americans, Thanksgiving is not simply a celebration of gratitude and family. It is also a reminder of colonization, land loss, violence, disease, and the erasure of Indigenous history. Native-centered interpretations challenge the simplified “First Thanksgiving” myth and emphasize survival, resistance, sovereignty, and remembrance.

			The National Day of Mourning, first organized in Plymouth in 1970, offers a powerful alternative interpretation of the holiday. It grew from Wamsutta Frank James’s suppressed speech, which criticized the celebratory Thanksgiving narrative and called attention to the suffering of Native peoples. Today, many educators and Native organizations encourage teaching Thanksgiving through Wampanoag history, Indigenous foodways, and the continuing presence of Native nations.

			=== Thanksgiving Becomes a National Holiday ===
			Thanksgiving did not become a fixed national holiday immediately after the Plymouth harvest event. Early presidents, including George Washington, issued thanksgiving proclamations tied to civic and religious themes. Washington’s 1789 proclamation called for a national day of gratitude after the adoption of the Constitution.

			The holiday became more firmly national during the Civil War. Sarah Josepha Hale, an editor and writer, campaigned for decades to make Thanksgiving a national observance. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for a national Thanksgiving, framing gratitude as a unifying act during a time of war and division.

			In the 20th century, President Franklin D. Roosevelt attempted to move Thanksgiving earlier in November to extend the Christmas shopping season. The controversy became known as “Franksgiving.” Congress resolved the dispute in 1941 by establishing Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday in November.

			=== Food, Traditions, Parades, and Football ===
			Modern Thanksgiving traditions developed over centuries. The foods associated with the holiday, such as turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, potatoes, and pumpkin pie, were not all part of the 1621 meal. Historical evidence suggests that venison, corn, wildfowl, and local foods were more likely present at the Plymouth harvest gathering.

			Thanksgiving also became connected to domestic culture, family gatherings, parades, and sports. The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade began in 1924 and became one of the most recognizable public celebrations of the holiday. Football, first through college games and later through professional games, became another major Thanksgiving tradition.

			=== Earlier and Alternative Thanksgiving Claims ===
			Although Plymouth became the most famous Thanksgiving origin story, other places claim earlier thanksgiving observances. These include Spanish colonial gatherings in Florida and Texas, French colonial observances, English thanksgiving services in Maine, and Canadian traditions connected to Martin Frobisher’s 1578 expedition.

			These claims show that thanksgiving rituals were not unique to Plymouth. Many communities held religious services, harvest feasts, and communal meals long before Thanksgiving became a national American holiday.

			=== Myth, Memory, and Teaching Thanksgiving ===
			Thanksgiving is both a holiday and a story Americans tell about themselves. The popular classroom version often emphasizes cooperation and gratitude while minimizing colonial violence, Native dispossession, and the later construction of national myths.

			Modern scholarship and teaching resources encourage a fuller approach. A more responsible history includes the limited evidence for the 1621 harvest event, the Wampanoag role in early Plymouth history, the consequences of colonization, the rise of presidential proclamations, and the voices of Native people who observe Thanksgiving as a day of mourning or reflection.

			=== Conclusion ===
			The history of Thanksgiving is not a single simple story. It includes harvest traditions, colonial settlement, Wampanoag diplomacy, Native survival, presidential politics, Civil War nationalism, family rituals, food culture, consumer traditions, and Indigenous remembrance. Understanding Thanksgiving fully requires looking beyond the myth of the “First Thanksgiving” and recognizing both the holiday’s national importance and the painful histories it often conceals.

			__TOC__








	===General Overviews and Reference===		===General Overviews and Reference===
	=====Thanksgiving 2026: Tradition, Origins and Meaning=====		=====Thanksgiving 2026: Tradition, Origins and Meaning=====

Lilly: Created page with "===General Overviews and Reference=== =====Thanksgiving 2026: Tradition, Origins and Meaning===== [https://www.history.com/articles/history-of-thanksgiving | History.com Editors | History.com | Updated 2026] This overview covers the 1621 harvest feast, later colonial thanksgivings, Lincoln’s proclamation, Roosevelt’s date change, and modern holiday traditions. =====Thanksgiving: From Local Harvests to National Holiday===== [https://www.si.edu/spotlight/thanksgiving..."

2026-07-06T14:57:55Z

Created page with "===General Overviews and Reference=== =====Thanksgiving 2026: Tradition, Origins and Meaning===== [https://www.history.com/articles/history-of-thanksgiving | History.com Editors | History.com | Updated 2026] This overview covers the 1621 harvest feast, later colonial thanksgivings, Lincoln’s proclamation, Roosevelt’s date change, and modern holiday traditions. =====Thanksgiving: From Local Harvests to National Holiday===== [https://www.si.edu/spotlight/thanksgiving..."

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History of Thanksgiving - Revision history

Lilly at 16:56, 6 July 2026