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giving

Lea Garcia-Salazar

Created on November 21, 2025

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Transcript

History of

Thanks

giving

START!

Origins of Thanksgiving

  • Thanksgiving traces back to 1621, when the Pilgrims (English settlers at Plymouth) held a harvest feast after surviving their first difficult year.
  • They were helped by the Wampanoag people, especially Squanto, who taught them how to grow corn, fish, and survive the harsh climate.
  • The 1621 meal lasted three days and likely included venison, corn, and wild fowl — not the foods we typically imagine today.
  • This event is often called the “First Thanksgiving,” though similar harvest festivals existed long before in many cultures.

EVOLVING TRADITIONS IN

Colonial America

  • Thanksgiving was not an annual or nationwide holiday at first; colonies held their own days of thanks for harvests, military victories, or survival.
  • The idea of a Thanksgiving celebration spread through New England, becoming a more regular fall tradition by the late 1600s.
  • Meals focused on what was locally available rather than the modern standardized dishes.
  • Native–colonist relationships were complex: moments of cooperation existed, but conflict and displacement soon followed, adding difficult historical context.

Becoming a National Holiday

  • During the American Revolution, the Continental Congress declared several national days of thanksgiving to boost unity.
  • In the 1800s, writer Sarah Josepha Hale (author of “Mary Had a Little Lamb”) campaigned for a permanent national holiday.
  • President Abraham Lincoln, influenced by Hale, declared Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863, during the Civil War, to promote national healing.
  • Lincoln set the holiday on the last Thursday of November, which remained until the 20th century.

Modern Thanksgiving AND ITS

Complex Legacy

  • In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt officially established Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday of November.
  • Modern traditions include turkey dinners, parades, football games, and family gatherings.
  • For many Native American communities, the day is also a reminder of loss, colonization, and broken treaties; some observe it as a National Day of Mourning.
  • Today, Thanksgiving is both a celebration of gratitude and a time to reflect on the full, complex history behind the holiday.

Thank you!