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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.
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Episode Two: The First Thanksgiving, Fact versus Myth dismantles the beloved story of Pilgrims and Indians sharing a peaceful feast by examining the scant historical evidence that actually exists. With only two brief primary sources mentioning the sixteen twenty-one gathering, this episode reveals how almost everything Americans believe about the First Thanksgiving is speculation or invention. From debunking the modern menu of turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie to exposing the power dynamics and diplomatic calculations behind the three-day event, the episode centers Wampanoag perspectives that have been systematically erased. It traces how this ordinary harvest celebration was transformed into a founding myth two centuries later and examines the devastating aftermath of King Philip's War that betrayed the alliance formed at that original gathering.
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Episode One: Ancient Harvests and the Roots of Thanksgiving explores the rich harvest traditions of Indigenous peoples across North America that existed thousands of years before the Mayflower arrived. From the Haudenosaunee's Three Sisters agricultural system and year-round thanksgiving ceremonies, to the Pacific Northwest's elaborate First Salmon rituals, to the Wampanoag's seasonal celebrations that blended farming, fishing, and gathering, this episode reveals sophisticated cultures deeply connected to the land through reciprocity and gratitude. The episode also examines European harvest festivals, particularly English Harvest Home celebrations and Puritan thanksgiving days, showing how these traditions would eventually collide with Indigenous practices to create the foundation for modern Thanksgiving.
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