The Woman that made Thanksgiving a national US holiday
This is Sarah Jodepha Hale. She was an educated woman at a time when few women were educated as her parents homeschooled her after failing to get her enrolled in a school. Among her claims to fame is the fact that she wrote the poem "Mary had a little lamb."
More importantly, later on in her life she was made editor of Godey's Lady Book, and she used that position for to constantly advocate Thanksgiving to be made a national Holiday, Thanksgiving being something that was only celebrated in new England. Her Reasoning? She felt that all of Americas divides and problems could be solved if people would just sit down for a good meal once a year and talk it over.
This became a little more fraught when the Civil War broke out. But this just made her beat the drum for Thankgivings even harder. And so in 1863, Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday, though the south would have to wait 2 more years for it to be enforced there, due to the war.
So there you go, the person most directly responsible for American Turkey day.
Comments (3)
Check out the pics, y'all - Am I Wrong?? ...
Perhaps one of her forebears had been an executioner.
Her married name is that of a U.S. Revolutionary War spy most remembered for his Last Words, "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country" - just before he was Hanged by the British (Nathan Hale).
Go figure ...