Myth of the First Thanksgiving

Last updated

The myth of the First Thanksgiving refers to the mythologized retelling of a 1621 harvest feast by the Pilgrims in Plymouth, Massachusetts as the foundation for the modern Thanksgiving holiday as celebrated in the United States. Also called the "Thanksgiving myth", this description of events has been criticized by both Indigenous peoples of the United States and academic scholars for how it obfuscates history, particularly the relationships between the Pilgrims and the Indigenous people of the region.

Contents

Myth

Historian David Silver describes the myth of the First Thanksgiving as such: "The myth is that friendly Indians, unidentified by tribe, welcome the Pilgrims to America, teach them how to live in this new place, sit down to dinner with them and then disappear". [1]

Background

According to the myth, the Pilgrims left England on the Mayflower in search of religious freedom. [2] : 7-8  [3] Although the settlers did include the Separatists, who wanted to break away from the Church of England, other members of the community had travelled to the New World for largely financial reasons, rather than religious reasons. [4] [5]

The myth continues, saying that once the Mayflower landed in Cape Cod Bay, the men onboard drew up the Mayflower Compact, an agreement that all the men onboard the ship agreed to follow. [2] : 7-8 [ relevant? ][ vague ] This has been cited as the First democratic governing document in what would become the United States, [6] [ original research? ] and a supposed basis for the American Constitution over a century later. [2] : 7-8 [ relevant? ]

Once the English colonists landed, the myth says they found the local Indigenous people (primarily the Wampanoag), [2] : 26,29  with whom they had a warm, friendly, and "faithful" relationship, [3] with the settlers requiring Wampanoag assistance to survive, which they provided out of the goodness of their hearts. [1] [7] [8] In truth, Wampanoag leader Ousamequin was the one to initiate contact with the settlers in March 1621, after a time of wary avoidance; the Wampanoag had previous negative experiences with European fishermen, some of whom had captured individuals as slaves. [1] [2] : 26,29  The relationship was political, rather than being based on interpersonal relationships, with the Wampanoag hoping an alliance with the settlers would allow them access to trade and help them fight against the Narragansett people. [1] [7] [9] This alliance was also not universally approved of, with individual Wampanoag challenging the idea that the alliance was a good idea. [1] The Pilgrims primarily maintained an alliance with the Wampanoag in order to have access to resources. [7]

The winter of late 1620 into early 1621 was brutal for the English settlers, with many of them dying. The settlers were able to prepare for the next winter with the help of Tisquantum, usually called Squanto in the myth, [2] : 7-8  but what is usually not mentioned is that Tisquantum had been captured by the English in 1614, and had been enslaved in Spain. [5] [9] He made his way to England and learned English before returning to North America in 1619. [5] [9] When he returned, his tribe had been ravaged by smallpox. [5] The English settlers had built Plymouth on the area where his village had been, as the land was already cleared. [9]

1621 feast

According to the myth, the First Thanksgiving was celebrated for 3 days, with local Native Americans in attendance as guests, as a way to give thanks for each other's presence and contributions. [10] [7] Historians are unsure if the settlers invited the Native Americans. [7] [5] Some accounts suggest that Wampanoag men came to the settlement after hearing celebratory gunfire, fearing the settlement was under attack. [7] [9] Other historians think their presence might have been coincidence, with Wampanoag leader Massasoit happening to visit the settlement on diplomatic grounds that day, [7] [5] or that Wampanoag people had been planting near the settlement on that day. [5]

Furthermore, artistic renditions tend to feature only a few Native Americans in attendance, when in truth the event had about 90 Wampanoag visitors compared to the 50 settlers. [7] [5]

It is true that both the English settlers and Wampanoag people ate together, and there were prayers and games. [5]

Many artistic renditions of the 1621 events portray the members of the community in black and gray clothing; these clothes, however, would have only been worn on Sundays. On weekdays, the Pilgrims wore colorful clothing, just as English people back home would have. [4] [11] The settlers also would not have worn buckles on their shoes. [11]

Foods eaten

The myth of the First Thanksgiving often attaches modern day Thanksgiving foods to the 1621 event.

Turkey is commonly portrayed as a centerpiece of the First Thanksgiving meal, although it is not mentioned in primary sources, [5] and historian Godfrey Hodgson suggests turkey would have been rare in New England at the time and difficult for the Pilgrim to hunt with their available weapons. [12] This claim has been disputed by the curators of Plimoth Patuxet, the museum which teaches the history of Plymouth Colony. [5] [12]

Although pie is commonly associated with modern Thanksgiving celebrations, it would not have been present at the 1621 event due to the lack of butter or wheat flour. [5] [12] Similarly, potatoes would not have been brought to New England yet. [7] Foods like pecans and sweet potatoes would not have been present, as they came from southern celebrations starting in the late 19th century. [5] [12]

Primary accounts suggest that the feast included crops harvested by the Plymouth settlers, fowl hunted by the settlers, and five deer, which were brought by the Wampanoag. [5] Historians think the deer would have been processed into stew. Cornmeal, succotash, pumpkin, and cranberries may have also been served. [5]

Aftermath

The myth does not often explore the aftermath of the 1621 event, supposing simply that the friendship between the colonists and Native Americans led to a peace that allowed the English colonies in New England to continue to thrive. [2] : 7-8  In reality, the alliance between the Plymouth settlers and the Wampanoag would fully fall apart in the years following the 1621 feast, culminating in the 1630s Pequot War and the 1670s King Phillip's War. [1]

In 1623, the Plymouth colonists held a day of thanksgiving in response to rains after drought and the arrival of Captain Miles Standish, making this the first day of thanksgiving identified as such in primary sources in the Plymouth Bay Colony. [13]

History of the myth

Background

English academic Godfrey Hodgson in his 2006 book, A Great and Godly Adventure: The Pilgrims and the Myth of the First Thanksgiving, suggests that calling the 1621 harvest feast a thanksgiving feast would be inaccurate, as although the Pilgrims did celebrate days of thanksgiving, the 1621 event is not referred to as such in any primary documents. [12] Additionally, days of Thanksgiving had been recorded elsewhere on the continent prior to the 1621 event, including Spanish Florida in 1565, [14] Newfoundland in 1578, Popham Colony in what is now Maine in 1607, and Jamestown in 1607 and 1610. [13]

Two primary accounts of the 1621 event exist; one is by Edward Winslow, and one by William Bradford. [7] Neither account refers to the event as a day of thanksgiving or a celebration of thanksgiving. [7] Furthermore, the Plymouth settlers were not viewed as "the fathers of America" until the 1760s, when a group of Pilgrim descendants began to push that idea. [1]

Various days of thanksgiving were held in New England throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, and were largely church based, with a community feast at the end of a full day of fasting. [2] : 3-4  Often these days were held in late November, to mark the end of the agricultural year. [2] : 3-4  Over time, communities in New England began to hold thanksgiving days twice annually in the spring and autumn, with fasting less strictly observed. [2] : 3-4  Traditions such as family reunions and balls emerged, with turkey and pumpkin being commonly eaten foods at Thanksgiving meals. [15] : 13  At the time, the holiday was much more associated with winter motifs, and would remain so until Christmas became more popular in the United States in the mid-19th century. [15] : 16 

The first national day of thanksgiving in the United States was declared by George Washington in 1789, but he did not connect this day to the 1621 event, nor was this meant as an annual occurrence. [7] [11]

19th and 20th century

According to historians at Plimoth Patuxet, the 1621 event was not called "the First Thanksgiving" until the 1830s, more than two centuries after the original event. [7] [5] In 1841, a publishing of Winslow's account by Reverend Alexander Young noted that it was "the First Thanksgiving, the harvest festival of New England". [7] [16] This 1841 publication is thought to have truly popularized the idea of the 1621 event as the First Thanksgiving. [1]

"The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth" (1914) By Jennie A. Brownscombe Thanksgiving-Brownscombe.jpg
"The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth" (1914) By Jennie A. Brownscombe

In the 1840s, American writer Sarah Josepha Hale read an account of the 1621 event, connected the feast to contemporary Thanksgiving celebrations, [15] : 26  and began advocating for a national Thanksgiving holiday in 1846. [11] [17] : 118  She wrote letters to presidents Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, and James Buchanan, but it was her letter to Abraham Lincoln that inspired him to declare a national Thanksgiving Day, which he hoped would unify the country in the midst of the Civil War. [18] [17] : 2004  It was Hale who popularized what is now seen as the classic Thanksgiving menu, publishing recipes for turkey and pumpkin pie in Godey's Lady's Book. [11] [19]

Artistic representations of the event did not become common until the early 20th century. [15] : 9-10  [15] : 14-15  The 19th-century depictions that do exist often include depictions of violence between the colonists and Native Americans, which may have been influenced by the ongoing Indian Wars. [15] : 9-10  In other examples, such as an 1857 rendition by American painter Edwin White which includes Native Americans "shooting at a mark," [20] seemingly as part of an archery contest, but otherwise show peaceful interactions between Native Americans and the Pilgrims.

The myth of the First Thanksgiving remained on the periphery of the holiday until 1889, when Jane G. Austin's Standish of Standish was published. [15] : 14-15  The novel was a fictionalized narrative following the early years of the Plymouth Colony, and it became a bestseller. [15] : 14-15  The novel includes a "sentimental account of the 'First Thanksgiving' centered on an outdoor feast" (emphasis author), [15] : 14-15  during which Massasoit prayed that the "Great Spirit" would allow the colonists to prosper and kill the colonists' enemies. [21] Now popularized, the myth also presented a more appealing reason for the Thanksgiving holiday, as a commemorative occasion of an important American historical event, rather than a more religious, and specifically Calvinist, occasion. [15] : 16 

The myth continued to evolve in the late 19th-century, when it was used by white Protestant Americans in response to their fears over immigration by Catholics and Jews, as the myth allowed them to claim that Protestants had been given the land the United States now claimed. [1] The myth also allowed New Englanders to claim that the founding of their region had been done bloodlessly, as opposed to the slavery of the south and the Indian Wars of the west. [1] [2] : 5-7 

In the 1880s and 1890s, journals such as the Journal of Education published lesson plans to teach the history of Thanksgiving, some of which connected the 1621 event to older Thanksgiving celebrations, including those of ancient Greece and Rome, the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, and the English Harvest Home, [22] and comparing the Mayflower passengers to the Jews fleeing Egypt in the Biblical Book of Exodus. [23] In one 1884 plan, Thanksgiving is said to be set apart from these holidays because "it is not a day of boisterous hilarity and celebration but a devout outpouring of thanks from a God-fearing people for blessings received during the year," specifically because of its origin in the 1621 event. [24]

It was not until Franklin D. Roosevelt's Thanksgiving proclamation in 1939 that the holiday and the 1621 event were explicitly connected by a president, and the myth and holiday were not fully linked until after World War II. [15] : 14-15 

In 1963, President John F. Kennedy started his Thanksgiving proclamation with the words "Over three centuries ago, our forefathers in Virginia and in Massachusetts, far from home in a lonely wilderness, set aside a time of thanksgiving," but did not identify the Massachusetts "time of thanksgiving" with the 1621 event. [25]

Time Magazine published an article titled "The Pilgrims: Unshakeable Myth" in November 1970, in which they credited the mythological retelling of the 1621 events to "19th century romantics". [4]

Reactions

In 1970, Native American groups organized the first National Day of Mourning, held on the same day as Thanksgiving. [2] : 2 

In the 21st century, scholars and historians have continued to try to disprove the myth and to teach the history of the early New England colonies more accurately. [26]

Thanksgiving pageants reenacting the 1621 event, completed with stereotypical Pilgrim and Native American costumes, have often been held in school settings. [1] [2] : 8-9 

In the 1993 film Addams Family Values , a Thanksgiving play based on the myths is performed at a summer camp, but is interrupted by Wednesday Addams, who points out the violence European settlers inflicted on Native American communities. [27]

Larissa FastHorse's 2015 play, The Thanksgiving Play , centers on a group of white teachers writing a Thanksgiving play that combines the myth with Native American Heritage month. [28]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony)</span> Early settlers in Massachusetts

The Pilgrims, also known as the Pilgrim Fathers, were the English settlers who travelled to North America on the ship Mayflower and established the Plymouth Colony in Plymouth, Massachusetts. John Smith had named this territory New Plymouth in 1620, sharing the name of the Pilgrims' final departure port of Plymouth, Devon. The Pilgrims' leadership came from the religious congregations of Brownists or Separatists, who had fled religious persecution in England for the tolerance of 17th-century Holland in the Netherlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Myles Standish</span> English military officer hired by the Pilgrims (1584–1656)

Myles Standish was an English military officer and colonist. He was hired as military adviser for Plymouth Colony in present-day Massachusetts, United States by the Pilgrims. Standish accompanied the Pilgrims on the ship Mayflower and played a leading role in the administration and defense of Plymouth Colony from its foundation in 1620. On February 17, 1621, the Plymouth Colony militia elected him as its first commander and continued to re-elect him to that position for the remainder of his life. Standish served at various times as an agent of Plymouth Colony on a return trip to England, as assistant governor of the colony, and as its treasurer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plymouth Colony</span> English colonial venture in America (1620–1691)

Plymouth Colony was the first permanent English colony in New England from 1620 and the third permanent English colony in America, after Newfoundland and the Jamestown Colony. It was settled by the passengers on the Mayflower at a location that had previously been surveyed and named by Captain John Smith. The settlement served as the capital of the colony and developed as the town of Plymouth, Massachusetts. At its height, Plymouth Colony occupied most of what is now the southeastern portion of Massachusetts. Many of the people and events surrounding Plymouth Colony have become part of American folklore, including the American tradition of Thanksgiving and the monument of Plymouth Rock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Bradford (governor)</span> English Separatist leader (1590–1657)

William Bradford was an English Puritan Separatist originally from the West Riding of Yorkshire in Northern England. He moved to Leiden in Holland in order to escape persecution from King James I of England, and then emigrated to the Plymouth Colony on the Mayflower in 1620. He was a signatory to the Mayflower Compact and went on to serve as Governor of the Plymouth Colony intermittently for about 30 years between 1621 and 1657. He served as a commissioner of the United Colonies of New England on multiple occasions and served twice as president. His journal Of Plymouth Plantation covered the years from 1620 to 1646 in Plymouth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plymouth, Massachusetts</span> Town in Massachusetts, United States

Plymouth is a town and county seat of Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. Located in Greater Boston, the town holds a place of great prominence in American history, folklore, and culture, and is known as "America's Hometown". Plymouth was the site of the colony founded in 1620 by the Mayflower Pilgrims, where New England was first established. It is the oldest municipality in New England and one of the oldest in the United States. The town has served as the location of several prominent events, one of the more notable being the First Thanksgiving feast. Plymouth served as the capital of Plymouth Colony from its founding in 1620 until the colony's merger with the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1691. The English explorer John Smith named the area Plymouth and the region 'New England' during his voyage of 1614. It was a later coincidence that, after an aborted attempt to make the 1620 trans-Atlantic crossing from Southampton, the Mayflower finally set sail for America from Plymouth, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squanto</span> Native American contact of the Pilgrims

Tisquantum, more commonly known as Squanto, was a member of the Patuxet tribe of Wampanoags, best known for being an early liaison between the Native American population in Southern New England and the Mayflower Pilgrims who made their settlement at the site of Tisquantum's former summer village, now Plymouth, Massachusetts. The Patuxet tribe had lived on the western coast of Cape Cod Bay, but were wiped out by an epidemic, traditionally assumed to be smallpox brought by previous European explorers; however, recent findings suggest that the disease was Leptospirosis, a bacterial infection transmitted to humans typically via "dirty water" or soil contaminated with the waste product of infected, often domestic animals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Day of Mourning (United States protest)</span> United States Thanksgiving Day protest

The National Day of Mourning is an annual demonstration, held on the fourth Thursday in November, that aims to educate the public about Native Americans in the United States, notably the Wampanoag and other tribes of the Eastern United States; dispel myths surrounding the Thanksgiving story in the United States; and raise awareness toward historical and ongoing struggles facing Native American tribes. The first National Day of Mourning demonstration was held in 1970 after Frank "Wamsutta" James's speaking invitation was rescinded from a Massachusetts Thanksgiving Day celebration commemorating the 350th anniversary of the landing of the Mayflower. James instead delivered his speech on Cole's Hill in Plymouth, Massachusetts next to a statue of Ousamequin, where he described Native American perspectives on the Thanksgiving celebrations. The gathering became an annual event organized by the United American Indians of New England (UAINE) and coincides with both Thanksgiving Day in the United States and with Unthanksgiving Day, an annual ceremony held on Alcatraz Island in California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wampanoag</span> Native American tribes in Massachusetts

The Wampanoag, also rendered Wôpanâak, are a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands currently based in southeastern Massachusetts and formerly parts of eastern Rhode Island. Their historical territory includes the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Massasoit</span> Leader of the Wampanoag confederacy

Massasoit Sachem or Ousamequin was the sachem or leader of the Wampanoag confederacy. Massasoit means Great Sachem. Although Massasoit was only his title, English colonists mistook it as his name and it stuck.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plimoth Patuxet</span> Museum in Plymouth, Massachusetts, U.S.

Plimoth Patuxet is a complex of living history museums in Plymouth, Massachusetts founded in 1947, formerly Plimoth Plantation. It replicates the original settlement of the Plymouth Colony established in the 17th century by the English colonists who became known as the Pilgrims. They were among the first people who emigrated to America to seek religious separation from the Church of England. It is a not-for-profit museum supported by administrations, contributions, grants, and volunteers. The recreations are based upon a wide variety of first-hand and second-hand records, accounts, articles, and period paintings and artifacts, and the museum conducts ongoing research and scholarship, including historical archaeological excavation and curation locally and abroad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Massachusett</span> Historic Native American tribe from Massachusetts

The Massachusett are a Native American tribe from the region in and around present-day Greater Boston in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name comes from the Massachusett language term for "At the Great Hill," referring to the Blue Hills overlooking Boston Harbor from the south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thanksgiving dinner</span> Centerpiece of Thanksgiving in the US

The centerpiece of contemporary Thanksgiving in the United States is Thanksgiving dinner, a large meal generally centered on a large roasted turkey. Thanksgiving is the largest eating event in the United States as measured by retail sales of food and beverages and by estimates of individual food intake.

<i>Mourts Relation</i> Journal of the Mayflower Pilgrims

The booklet Mourt's Relation was written between November 1620 and November 1621, and describes in detail what happened from the landing of the Mayflower Pilgrims on Cape Cod in Provincetown Harbor through their exploring and eventual settling of Plymouth Colony.

The National Thanksgiving Proclamation was the first presidential proclamation of Thanksgiving in the United States. At the request of Congress, President George Washington declared Thursday, November 26, 1789 as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer. A National Proclamation of Thanksgiving had been issued by the Continental Congress in November of 1777.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thanksgiving (United States)</span> American federal holiday in November

Thanksgiving is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. Outside the United States, it is sometimes called American Thanksgiving to distinguish it from the Canadian holiday of the same name and related celebrations in other regions. The modern national celebration dates to 1863 and has been linked to the Pilgrims’ 1621 harvest festival since the late 19th century. As the name implies, the theme of the holiday generally revolves around giving thanks with the centerpiece of most celebrations being a Thanksgiving dinner with family and friends.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thanksgiving</span> Holiday in various countries

Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in October and November in the United States, Canada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Germany. It is also observed in the Australian territory of Norfolk Island. It began as a day of giving thanks for the blessings of the harvest and of the preceding year. Various similarly named harvest festival holidays occur throughout the world during autumn. Although Thanksgiving has historical roots in religious and cultural traditions, it has long been celebrated as a secular holiday as well.

<i>Mayflower</i> 17th-century ship of American colonists

Mayflower was an English sailing ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After 10 weeks at sea, Mayflower, with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, reached what is today the United States, dropping anchor near the tip of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, on November 21 [O.S. November 11], 1620.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New England Colonies</span> British American colonies (1620-1776)

The New England Colonies of British America included Connecticut Colony, the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Massachusetts Bay Colony, Plymouth Colony, and the Province of New Hampshire, as well as a few smaller short-lived colonies. The New England colonies were part of the Thirteen Colonies and eventually became five of the six states in New England, with Plymouth Colony absorbed into Massachusetts and Maine separating from it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patuxet</span> Village in Massachusetts, United States

The Patuxet were a Native American band of the Wampanoag tribal confederation. They lived primarily in and around modern-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, and were among the first Native Americans encountered by European settlers in the region in the early 17th century. Most of the population subsequently died of epidemic infectious diseases. The last of the Patuxet – an individual named Tisquantum, who played an important role in the survival of the Pilgrim colony at Plymouth – died in 1622.

Saints & Strangers is an American drama television two-part miniseries. It tells the story of the Mayflower voyage and chronicles the Pilgrims' first year in America and the first Thanksgiving in 1621. The program aired on the National Geographic Channel and premiered on November 22, 2015.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Bugos, Claire (November 26, 2019). "The Myths of the Thanksgiving Story and the Lasting Damage They Imbue". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2023-11-20.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Silverman, David J. (2019-11-05). This Land Is Their Land: The Wampanoag Indians, Plymouth Colony, and the Troubled History of Thanksgiving. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN   978-1-63286-926-5.
  3. 1 2 Patten, Alice G. (1898). "The First Thanksgiving Dinner". The Journal of Education. 48 (19 (1203)): 316–317. ISSN   0022-0574. JSTOR   44051809.
  4. 1 2 3 "The Pilgrims: Unshakeable Myth". Time . Vol. 96, no. 22. November 30, 1970. p. 69. Retrieved 2023-11-20– via The TIME Vault.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Salam, Maya (November 21, 2017). "Everything You Learned About Thanksgiving Is Wrong". The New York Times . Retrieved November 20, 2023.
  6. ↑ "Descendants Hail Spirit of Pilgrims". New York Herald. 1920-11-23. p. 6. Retrieved 2020-11-19.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Ishak, Natasha (2020-11-12). "Everything You Learned About The First Thanksgiving Is A Lie". All That's Interesting. Retrieved 2023-11-20.
  8. ↑ Silverman, David J. (2019-11-27). "In 1621, the Wampanoag Tribe Had Its Own Agenda". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 "The true, dark history of Thanksgiving". Potawatomi.org. 2020-11-25. Retrieved 2023-11-20.
  10. ↑ Martin, Emily (2021-11-22). "How the traditional Thanksgiving feast has evolved over centuries". National Geographic. Archived from the original on 2021-11-22. Retrieved 2023-11-20.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Strauss, Valerie (November 23, 2011). "5 myths about Thanksgiving". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 20, 2023.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 Kaminski, Margot (2007-11-01). "Review: A Great and Godly Adventure: The Pilgrims and the Myth of the First Thanksgiving, by Godfrey Hodgson". Gastronomica. 7 (4): 108–109. doi:10.1525/gfc.2007.7.4.108. ISSN   1529-3262.
  13. 1 2 "Thanksgiving in North America: From Local Harvests to National Holiday". Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 2023-11-20.
  14. ↑ "The First Thanksgiving - Castillo de San Marcos National Monument". U.S. National Park Service. Retrieved 2023-11-20.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Baker, James W. (2010-09-30). Thanksgiving: The Biography of an American Holiday. UPNE. ISBN   978-1-58465-874-0.
  16. ↑ Deloria, Philip (2019-11-18). "The Invention of Thanksgiving". The New Yorker. ISSN   0028-792X . Retrieved 2023-11-20.
  17. 1 2 Schenone, Laura. A Thousand Years Over A Hot Stove: A History Of American Women Told Through Food, Recipes, And Remembrances. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2004: 118. ISBN   978-0-393-32627-7
  18. ↑ Wilson, Susan. Literary Trail of Greater Boston. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 200: 23. ISBN   0-618-05013-2
  19. ↑ Barber, Casey (14 November 2022). "This is the best dish you could serve at Thanksgiving". CNN . Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  20. ↑ Ordway, Alfred; Colorer, Water (1857). "Sketchings". The Crayon. 4 (2): 55. doi:10.2307/25527538. ISSN   2150-3176. JSTOR   25527538 – via JSTOR.
  21. ↑ Powers, Ella M. (1895). "New England's First Thanksgiving". The Journal of Education. 42 (16 (1049)): 276–277. ISSN   0022-0574. JSTOR   44042426.
  22. ↑ Powers, Ella Marie (1896). "Ancient and Modern Thanksgiving Feasts". The Journal of Education. 44 (18 (1101)): 310–311. ISSN   0022-0574. JSTOR   44050837.
  23. ↑ Dana, Olive E. (1899). "Songs of Thanksgiving". The Journal of Education. 50 (16 (1250)): 269. ISSN   0022-0574. JSTOR   44049468.
  24. ↑ "Thanksgiving". Educational Weekly. 3 (19): 9–10. 1884. ISSN   2475-3262. JSTOR   44009053.
  25. ↑ Kennedy, John F. (November 5, 1963). "Proclamation 3560—Thanksgiving Day, 1963". The American Presidency Project. Retrieved 2023-11-20.
  26. ↑ Kindy, David. "How to Tell the Thanksgiving Story on Its 400th Anniversary". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2023-11-20.
  27. ↑ Darcy, Diane (2022-11-23). "How Wednesday Homages Addams Family Values' Iconic Thanksgiving Scene". CBR. Retrieved 2023-11-20.
  28. ↑ Kaufman, Jill (2020-11-20). "In 2020, Larissa FastHorse's 'The Thanksgiving Play' Takes On New Meaning". GBH. Retrieved 2023-11-20.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.