Thanksgiving — Bunk History

Painting, James Daugherty, "Thanksgiving Greetings."

You Cannot Give Thanks for What Is Stolen

American artists were instrumental in propagating the false narrative of Thanksgiving, a deliberate erasure of violence against Indigenous peoples.

by Joseph Pierce via Hyperallergic on November 23, 2022

This 1925 painting depicts an idealized version of an early Thanksgiving celebration in Plymouth.

How to Tell the Thanksgiving Story on Its 400th Anniversary

Scholars are unraveling the myths surrounding the 1621 feast, which found the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag cementing a newly established alliance.

by David Kindy via Smithsonian on November 23, 2021

A turkey dinner on a table, with the Rockwell painting Freedom from Want, also featuring a turkey dinner, hanging on the wall.

How the American Right Claimed Thanksgiving for Its Own

Pass the free enterprise, please.

by Lawrence B. Glickman via Slate on November 22, 2021

Painting of the first Thanksgiving

The First Thanksgiving is a Key Chapter in America's Origin Story

What happened in Virginia four months later mattered much more.

by Peter C. Mancall via The Conversation on November 22, 2021

Action shot of the Detroit Lions playing the Chicago Bears in 1934.

How the NFL Popularized Thanksgiving Day Football

The NFL holiday tradition took off in 1934, when the Detroit Lions hosted the unbeaten Chicago Bears in a game broadcast nationally on radio.

by Chris Mueller via HISTORY on November 10, 2021

Mashpee Wampanoag woman puts away traditional clothing in a wetu (wood-framed building).

This Tribe Helped the Pilgrims Survive for Their First Thanksgiving. They Still Regret It.

Long marginalized and misrepresented in U.S. history, the Wampanoags are bracing for the 400th anniversary of the first Pilgrim Thanksgiving in 1621.

by Dana Hedgpeth via Retropolis on November 4, 2021

Newspaper scraps from the Flu Pandemic of 1918.

We're Celebrating Thanksgiving Amid a Pandemic. Here's How We Did it in 1918 and What Happened Next.

Many Americans were living under quarantines, and officials warned people to stay home for the holiday.

by Grace Hauck via USA Today on November 24, 2020

The Way American Kids Are Learning About the 'First Thanksgiving' Is Changing

"I look back now and realize I was teaching a lot of misconceptions."

by Olivia B. Waxman via TIME on November 21, 2019

The Invention of Thanksgiving

Massacres, myths, and the making of the great November holiday.

by Philip J. Deloria via The New Yorker on November 18, 2019

Thanksgiving Has Been Reinvented Many Times

From colonial times to the nineteenth century, Thanksgiving was very different from the holiday we know now.

by Elizabeth Pleck, Matthew Wills via JSTOR Daily on November 1, 2019

A painting entitled "The First Thanksgiving, 1621" by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (ca. 1932).

A Brief History of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a holiday about food – but it is more specifically a holiday about food’s absence.

by Rachel B. Herrmann via History Extra on November 21, 2018

A painting entitled "The First Thanksgiving, 1621" by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (ca. 1932).

Thanksgiving: The National Day of Mourning

A Native student explains why the holiday is a painful reminder of a whitewashed past.

by Allen Salway via Paper on November 21, 2018

family Thanksgiving meal

The Dark and Divisive History of America’s Thanksgiving Hymn

How a beloved song with origins in 16th-century Europe captures both a holiday's spirit of unity and a country's legacy of exclusion.

by Neil J. Young via The Atlantic on November 23, 2017

Person carrying live Thanksgiving turkey

American as Pumpkin Pie: A History of Thanksgiving

Why Pilgrims would be stunned by our "traditional" Thanksgiving table, and other surprising truths about the invention of our national holiday.

via BackStory on November 25, 2016

Godey's Lady's book cover, 1867.

All Hale Thanksgiving

In the 1820s, Sarah Hale, a New England widow and the editor of Godey’s Ladies Book made it her mission to get Thanksgiving recognized as a national holiday.

via BackStory on November 15, 2016

Woman holding a turkey on a platter.

The Modern Invention of Thanksgiving

The holiday emerged not from the 17th century, but rather from concerns over immigration and urbanization in the 19th century.

by Anne Blue Wills, Livia Gershon via JSTOR Daily on November 26, 2014

Pilgrim Thanksgiving

Which Thanksgiving?

The forgotten history of Thanksgiving.

by Karl Jacoby via Los Angeles Times on November 26, 2008

The Truth About Thanksgiving Is that the Debunkers Are Wrong

A response to claims that the First Thanksgiving was not a "thanksgiving" as the Pilgrims understood it.

by Jeremy Bangs via HNN on September 1, 2005

“The Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers,” an 1885 parody of an 1850 painting by Charles Lucy.

Thankstaking

Was the 'first Thanksgiving' merely a pretext for the bloodshed, enslavement, and displacement that would follow in later decades?

by Jane Kamensky via Commonplace on January 1, 2001

Charlie Brown and his friends at a store with a Christmas sale.

When Christmas Started Creeping

Christmas starts earlier every year — or does it?

by Bill Black via Contingent on November 8, 2022

Still Life with Ham, 1625.

Thanksgiving and the Curse of Ham

19th-century African American writer Charles Chesnutt’s subversive literature.

by Imani Perry via The Atlantic on November 23, 2021

Where Does Your Tofurky Come From?

The first frozen Tofurky meal was a hard sell with retailers and a mad success with the customers who managed to find it.

by Jonathan Kauffman via The New Yorker on November 21, 2017

Sketch of a mother carrying a large platter while children around her run and cheer.

A Backlash Against 'Mixed' Foods Led to the Demise of a Classic American Dish

In the 19th century, puddings were as popular and widespread as pasta dishes are today.

by Helen Zoe Veit via The Conversation on November 20, 2017

Botanical drawing of a pumpkin, curubita pepo.

A Brief History of Pumpkin Pie in America

One obvious change occurred at around the turn of the 19th century, when the rapid expansion of the canning industry brought canned pumpkin to every market.

by Alison Kelly via Library of Congress Blog on November 20, 2017

Smiling porcelain salt and pepper shaker figures called "the Pilgrim Pair," and their children, "Lilgrims," atop two academic books about Puritan history entitled "The Barbarous Years" and "Seasons of Misery."

Come On, Lilgrim

The gap between academic and popular understandings of early American topics is an enduring challenge for early Americanists.

by Jonathan Beecher Field via Commonplace on December 16, 2015

Thanksgiving card featuring a turkey with a carving knife and fork in its back.

Talking Turkey

A conversation with food historian Andrew F. Smith on his new book, "The Turkey: An American Story."

by Andrew F. Smith, Jeffery Kastner via Cabinet on November 1, 2006

Dole pineapple cookbook featuring a pineapple upside down cake and a can of Dole sliced pineapple.

American Food Traditions That Started as Marketing Ploys

Your grandma didn't invent that recipe.

by Diana Hubbell via Atlas Obscura on September 30, 2024

Peanuts' Franklin as a flat two-dimensional character.

It’s Flagrant Tokenism, Charlie Brown!

Peanuts’ Franklin has been a controversial character for decades. A new special attempts reparations.

by Troy Patterson via Slate on February 16, 2024

Illustrtion of wild turkies on a sidewalk

The Return of the Wild Turkey

In New England, the birds were once hunted nearly to extinction; now they’re swarming the streets like they own the place. Sometimes turnabout is fowl play.

by Jill Lepore via The New Yorker on November 20, 2022

Lydia Maria Child Taught Americans to Make Do With Less

A popular writer’s 1829 self-help book ‘The Frugal Housewife’ was based on the same democratic principles that made her a champion of the abolitionist cause.

by Lydia Moland via The Wall Street Journal on November 10, 2022

brought to you by

© Bunk History