The History of Thanksgiving

Before Plymouth: Giving thanks was not new

Harvest festivals are among the oldest celebrations humans have. The Wampanoag and other Indigenous nations of the Northeast held their own thanksgiving ceremonies through the year, giving thanks for the green corn, the strawberries, the harvest and more. Gratitude was woven into daily and seasonal life long before any Europeans arrived.

English settlers also brought their own customs. In the Protestant tradition, a "day of thanksgiving" was usually a religious occasion, a day of prayer and church services called after a specific blessing such as rain after a drought or a military victory. Feasting was not the point. That distinction matters, because the 1621 event at Plymouth was closer to an English harvest celebration than to a religious day of thanksgiving.

Other European groups held services of thanks in North America earlier, including Spanish settlers in Florida in 1565 and English colonists at Berkeley Hundred in Virginia in 1619. The Plymouth story became the best known largely because of how it was retold in the 1800s.

The 1621 harvest feast at Plymouth

The Mayflower arrived in late 1620 carrying around 100 English passengers, some of them religious separatists we now call Pilgrims. They settled on land that had been the Patuxet village, emptied a few years earlier by an epidemic brought by European traders. About half the colonists died during that first winter.

The Wampanoag, led by the sachem Ousamequin (often called Massasoit), had their own reasons to make an alliance. Their people had also been devastated by disease, and they faced pressure from rival nations. In March 1621 the two groups agreed to a treaty of mutual protection. Tisquantum, better known as Squanto, a Patuxet man who had learned English after being kidnapped and taken to Europe, helped the colonists plant corn, fish and survive.

That autumn, after a successful harvest, the colonists held a celebration. Our main source is a letter by colonist Edward Winslow, written in December 1621. He describes men being sent out "fowling" and says that Massasoit arrived "with some ninety men," and that they stayed for three days. The Wampanoag "went out and killed five deer" and brought them to share. Historians believe the Wampanoag may have come after hearing the colonists firing guns in celebration, possibly thinking there was trouble.

What did they eat? Venison and wild fowl, which might have included ducks, geese or turkey. Corn, probably as bread or porridge, and likely seafood such as mussels, eels and lobster. There were almost certainly no potatoes, no pumpkin pie and no cranberry sauce as we know it. The colonists had no ovens for pies and very little sugar.

The story behind the story

The friendly picture of 1621 is real but incomplete. The peace between the Wampanoag and the English held for about 50 years, then collapsed as colonists took more land. King Philip's War (1675 to 1678), led by Massasoit's son Metacom, was one of the deadliest conflicts per capita in American history and devastated Native communities across New England.

The 1621 meal was also not called "the First Thanksgiving" at the time. That label came much later, mostly in the 19th century, when the holiday was being promoted as a national tradition. Telling the history accurately does not take anything away from the holiday. It simply gives the Wampanoag their place as people with their own history, not just supporting characters in someone else's story. Wampanoag communities, including the Mashpee and Aquinnah Wampanoag, are still in Massachusetts today.

Sarah Josepha Hale and the campaign for a national holiday

For two centuries, Thanksgiving days were declared by individual colonies, states and occasionally presidents. George Washington issued a national Thanksgiving proclamation in 1789, and some later presidents did the same, but there was no fixed annual holiday. New England states kept the tradition strongest, each on its own date.

The person who changed that was Sarah Josepha Hale, an author and the long-serving editor of Godey's Lady's Book, one of the most popular magazines of the era. (She also wrote the nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb.") Starting in the 1840s, Hale wrote editorials and letters to governors and presidents urging a single national day of thanks. She kept it up for about 17 years. Her vision of Thanksgiving, with roast turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie, helped shape the menu many families still follow.

Lincoln's 1863 proclamation

Hale's persistence paid off during the Civil War. On October 3, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation (drafted by Secretary of State William Seward) setting apart "the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise." It opened with the now-famous line: "The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies."

The proclamation also asked Americans to remember "all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife." Coming months after the Battle of Gettysburg, it was meant as a call for national healing as much as celebration. From then on, presidents proclaimed Thanksgiving every year, almost always on the last Thursday of November.

FDR, "Franksgiving" and the 1941 law

In 1939, November had five Thursdays, which meant Thanksgiving would fall on November 30 and leave a very short Christmas shopping season during the Great Depression. Retailers lobbied President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and he moved Thanksgiving a week earlier to November 23.

The change caused confusion and grumbling. Critics nicknamed it "Franksgiving." Some states followed the new date, others stuck with the old one, and for two years Americans celebrated on different Thursdays depending on where they lived. Calendars, football schedules and family plans were thrown off.

Congress settled the matter. In late 1941 it passed a joint resolution fixing Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday of November, and Roosevelt signed it on December 26, 1941. The law took effect in 1942, and Thanksgiving has been on the fourth Thursday ever since. That's why in 2026 it falls on Thursday, November 26.

The National Day of Mourning

Not everyone celebrates on Thanksgiving Day. Since 1970, United American Indians of New England have held a National Day of Mourning at Cole's Hill in Plymouth, overlooking Plymouth Rock. It began when Wamsutta (Frank) James, an Aquinnah Wampanoag leader, was invited to speak at a state celebration marking the 350th anniversary of the Mayflower's arrival. When organizers saw his speech, which spoke honestly about the losses his people suffered, they asked him to change it. He refused and instead spoke to a gathering of Native people and supporters on the hill.

The Day of Mourning is held every year on Thanksgiving Day. Participants remember Native ancestors, protest ongoing injustices and honor Indigenous survival. Many families now make room for both feelings: gratitude for the people at their table and a clear-eyed understanding of the history behind the holiday.

Thanksgiving today

Modern Thanksgiving blends all of these threads. The Macy's parade (first held in 1924), NFL football (the Detroit Lions have hosted on Thanksgiving since 1934), the presidential turkey pardon and Black Friday shopping have all grown up around the meal. Friendsgiving gatherings have become popular with people who live far from family. At its heart, though, the holiday is still about sitting down together and saying thank you, which is something the Wampanoag, the colonists, Sarah Josepha Hale and Lincoln would all recognize.