Thanksgiving Day is the last Thursday in November, and a big turkey dinner is traditional. How did this holiday start? In 1621, the Pilgrims in Plymouth, Massachusetts held a festival to celebrate a a good harvest after a hard and hungry year. The Wampanoag Indians, who had signed a peace treaty with the Pilgrims and helped them, were invited to the feast. Later, in 1789 President George Washington declared November 26 a day of Thanksgiving, and then in 1863 President Abraham Lincoln made it an annual holiday.
Learn more about Thanksgiving and early American history in Scholastic Go! Then with TrueFlix you can learn more about Native Americans as well early American history. Discover how the Thirteen Colonies became the United States!
“Thanksgiving Day.” Scholastic GO!, go.scholastic.com/content/schgo/D/article/a20/290/a2029070-h.html. Accessed 3 Nov. 2023.