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As Americans settle in for a national day of Thanksgiving, we at Hudson give thanks for you, our supporters. Explore the origins of Thanksgiving with Hudson Senior Fellow Melanie Kirkpatrick, author of Thanksgiving: The Holiday at the Heart of the American Experience. This year, Melanie deepened her research on the topic with a biography on the remarkable woman responsible for the holiday we celebrate today, Lady Editor: Sarah Josepha Hale and the Making of the Modern American Woman.
In our curated selection below, Melanie shares her insights into this uniquely American celebration and Sarah Josepha Hale's decades-long campaign to bring the country together by making Thanksgiving a national holiday. And don't miss Melanie on C-SPAN's Washington Journal at 8am EST today as she answers callers' questions on the history and customs of Thanksgiving.
In 1789, George Washington issued the first-ever presidential proclamation declaring a "day of public thanks-giving." Seventy-four years later, Abraham Lincoln became the second president to ask all Americans to come together for a day of national Thanksgiving. The thread between Washington's Thanksgiving Day and Lincoln's was Sarah Josepha Hale.
In this episode of Claremont Institute's American Story podcast, host Chris Flannery explores Melanie's biography on Hale, "one of the most influential women of the nineteenth century," her impact on American culture, women's education, and her influence on Lincoln's decision to recognize Thanksgiving as a national holiday.
A Book Talk with Melanie Kirkpatrick on Lady Editor
Thanksgiving as we know it would not exist today without Sarah Josepha Hale's vision of a shared national celebration. As the editor of “Godey’s Lady’s Book,” Hale shaped a common aesthetic for the growing country with her all-American approach—publishing American authors writing on American topics, including Thanksgiving.
Listen to Melanie in conversation with Hudson’s Vice President of Public Affairs Ann Marie Hauser on Lady Editor, Melanie's new book on the extraordinary life of Sarah Josepha Hale.
Melanie joined The Larry Meiller Show on Wisconsin Public Radio to talk about the earliest Thanksgiving traditions and when we added football to the celebration.
Football has been a part of our Thanksgiving celebration for centuries. The father of American football, Walter Camp, notes that “in America, the first football was a peculiar Thanksgiving Day custom of kicking an inflated pig’s bladder about the ‘yard’ of New England farmhouses, to the great merriment of the younger members of the household and the occasional discomfiture of the elders.”
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We all know the story of Thanksgiving. Or do we? This uniquely American holiday has a rich and little-known history beyond the famous Pilgrim feast of 1621. While the rites and rituals have evolved, the essence of Thanksgiving remains the same: family and friends gathering in the spirit of gratitude.
Melanie Kirkpatrick’s exploration of America’s oldest tradition offers a fascinating look at the meaning of the holiday we celebrate on the fourth Thursday of November.
Learn more at Encounter Books.
For half a century, Sarah Josepha Hale was the most influential woman in America. As editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book, she was the leading cultural arbiter for the growing nation. Among her notable contributions to American culture, she re-imagined Thanksgiving as a national day of gratitude, and her efforts influenced President Lincoln to declare what had once been New England-based celebration a national holiday.
Melanie Kirkpatrick's Lady Editor re-creates the life of this remarkable woman, whose career as a writer, editor, and early feminist encompassed ideas central to American history.
Learn more at Encounter Books.
