The Problematic White Woman Who is (Kinda, Sorta) Responsible for Thanksgiving
She wrote "Mary Had a Little Lamb" but didn't want women to vote
Hello friends! Happy Wednesday! Want to be utterly enraged by an unsupportive husband? Read this Slate article. It will probably lead to a “Bad Art Friend” type discussion except there’s no question about who the (deserved) villain is in this story. For all my American friends, this week is Thanksgiving aka National Day of Mourning aka one of the most misunderstood holidays in our culture. I’d say the only one that tops it, while not an American holiday, is Cinco de Mayo. You could really just put them both on a list entitled “White People Ruin Things: Holiday Edition.” The third on the list would be making mac and cheese. I’d like to unequivocally declare if you put raisins in your mac and cheese, I don’t trust you and never will.
For this week’s newsletter, I thought it would be interesting to get to the root of why we actually celebrate Thanksgiving because it’s not a widely told tale. We know the white-washed version and Native American version of the day of Thanksgiving. But we don’t talk much about how it became a national holiday decades later seemingly out of the blue. Would it surprise you to know a problematic white woman was behind it all? Friends, meet Sarah Josepha Hale.
Quick side note: Some people may have a problem that I didn’t highlight an indigenous woman for this week’s newsletter. That’s a fair criticism. I decided to highlight this story instead because I believe once people realize how the holiday became more widely celebrated, it will be another tool in your kit to question the holiday and its origins. I suggest reading the below articles for Native American perspectives and stories of Thanksgiving.
“What Does Thanksgiving Mean to Native Americans?” Native Hope
United American Indians of New England
“Everyone’s history matters: The Wampanog Indian Thanksgiving story deserves to be known” Smithsonian
“For Native Peoples, Thanksgiving Isn’t a Celebration. It’s a National Day of Mourning” WBUR
Sarah Josepha Hale
Sarah Hale had a somewhat unusual childhood. Even though she was born in the late 1700s (peak patriarchy times), her parents were totally on board with the educating women thing. Then, the cherry on the sundae, she married a man who was also supportive of her writing and academic pursuits. This led to her writing lots of poetry including a very famous poem turned nursery rhyme called “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” She later became the editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book. This was like a very early Ladies Home Journal type magazine. It had the latest fashions with sewing patterns, sheet music, and short stories. Editing and writing for the magazine meant she had a direct line into many homes during this time. Sometimes she advocated for good things like abolishing slavery, the importance of women’s education and raising money to preserve historic sites. You can thank her for the boring trip to Mount Vernon as a kiddo as well as helping fund the creation of Vassar College. But, she also used it to advocate for women staying in the home, against women’s suffrage and was the manager of Team Gender Roles. Which, doesn’t totally make sense considering her stance on women’s education but when has any woman (who had EVERY advantage) arguing for the patriarchy ever made sense? And, even though she was against slavery, she was very quiet about that publicly, which is basically useless.
Since Hale was a well-educated, prominent poet and editor who used her powers for both good and evil, naturally she would be the one to champion Thanksgiving, right? Not quite, so let’s unpack that. Hale grew up in New Hampshire where they regularly celebrated Thanksgiving. Pretty convenient that she grew up to be a writer and editor for a woman’s magazine with holiday issues where she could advocate for the holiday to women across the country. She really wanted Thanksgiving to be an official holiday, so much so that she advocated for both federal and state legislation to declare the last Thursday in November as a “day of thanks.” She wrote five Presidents about this issue and was ignored by all of them.
During the Civil War, Hale wrote a letter to President Lincoln and his Secretary of State saying we really needed Thanksgiving to be a federal holiday (30 states recognized it as this point) to help unify the country. She thought this was especially apropos due to the tension between the North and South. Pretty wild she wanted to whitewash one holiday by using it to “calm down” a conflict steeped in racism. Who did she think would be forced to prepare and serve the Thanksgiving meal in the South? Here’s where things get a little sticky. We don’t exactly know how much Hale’s letters influenced Lincoln. He could have already been willing to do this. He could have been heavily persuaded. But, many cite her letter as pivotal and influential to his decision-making because five days after receiving it he made his Thanksgiving declaration. So, there you have it. A problematic white woman is the reason Thanksgiving is a national holiday.
If this has piqued your interest and you’d like to learn more about Hale, you can read Lady Editor, a biography about Hale by Melanie Kirkpatrick. Although, it does make me wonder if “lady editor” is the 1700s equivalent of girl boss?
Alrighty, friends, that’s all for this week! See ya next Wednesday!
Citations
“How the ‘Mother of Thanksgiving’ Lobbied Abraham Lincoln to Proclaim the National Holiday” History.com
“Sarah Josepha Hale” National Women’s History Museum
“Meet the ‘Mother of Thanksgiving’: Sarah Josepha Hale” Philanthropy Roundtable
“Literary Lady, Complicated Proto-Feminist” National Review