Thanksgiving From Regional Feast to National Holiday

Episode Three: From Regional Feast to National Holiday traces Thanksgiving's transformation from scattered Puritan thanksgiving days and regional harvest celebrations into a unified national observance. This episode reveals how Sarah Josepha Hale's decades-long campaign through Godey's Lady's Book, combined with Abraham Lincoln's eighteen sixty-three Civil War proclamation, created Thanksgiving as we know it. The episode explores regional resistance, particularly from the South which viewed it as a Yankee holiday, the standardization of the turkey-centered menu through women's magazines and commercialization, and Franklin Roosevelt's controversial attempt to change the date. It examines how Thanksgiving has both unified and divided America, serving as a site of contestation over immigration, women's labor, civil rights, and Indigenous perspectives while remaining a flexible tradition adapted by diverse communities.
Click here to browse handpicked Amazon finds inspired by this podcast series!

https://amzn.to/42YoQGI

This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI