The other side of Thanksgiving

The story that we all know about the First Thanksgiving is the gathering celebrated by the Pilgrims after their first harvest in the New Land, Plymouth, in 1621.  But rarely do we talk about the advocate who make this event a Holiday in North America. Do you know who?

Thank You, Sarah: The Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving

According to history, in the early 1800s, the only national holidays celebrated in the United States were Washington's Birthday and Independence Day. It was until 1863 that a woman called Sarah Hale made history changed and advocated for making Thanksgiving a national holiday in the United States. How did it happen?

For decades, Sarah Hale wrote letters to five Presidents of the United States: Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, and Abraham Lincoln. 

Her initial letters failed to persuade the presidents; however, the letter she wrote to Lincoln convinced him to support legislation establishing a national holiday of Thanksgiving in 1863. What had happened without Hale’s persistence?

1863 letter from Hale to Lincoln discussing Thanksgiving 

Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/Letter-SarahHaletoLincoln.jpg

The new national holiday was considered a unifying day after the stress of the American Civil War. 

Are we facing a similar stress? 

Today, more than ever, we need to be unify and accept changes with dignity.

Let's celebrate with family and friends leaving behind divisions.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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