Was Thanksigiving Originally A Southern Tradition? (2024)

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- In 1863, at the height of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday. This fact - along with the holiday's origin among the Pilgrims of Plymouth colony - would seem to give Thanksgiving a Yankee flavor. Not so, says a history professor at the University of Arkansas. The Thanksgiving tradition is as deeply rooted in the South as it is in the North.

In fact, Willard Gatewood, emeritus alumni distinguished professor of history, would argue that the American Thanksgiving began in the South.

On Dec. 4, 1619, 39 British settlers arrived at the Jamestown colony, located in what is now the state of Virginia. "The charter these settlers brought over from the royal government said they must set aside the day of their arrival as a time to give thanks annually to God," said Gatewood. This southern Thanksgiving pre-dates the Plymouth celebration by two years.

"The Jamestown crew didn't have much to be thankful for except that they were alive," Gatewood explained. "It was a time of starvation. But they had made it to the New World, and they were going to give thanks."

Rather than emphasizing the nation's division, Gatewood asserts, Thanksgiving acted as a common feature, uniting northern and southern culture for generations before the Civil War. New York passed laws to make it a state holiday in 1830, and Virginia ratified an official Thanksgiving in 1855.

"Both North and South had been celebrating Thanksgiving long before Lincoln declared it national," he said. "It wasn't associated with presidents or politics so much as with tradition."

This tradition extends far back in history, according to Gatewood. Thanksgiving originated in Europe in the form of harvest festivals that celebrated the abundance of the land and the health of the people. Colonists brought this tradition to the New World where they added religious connotations - thanking God for their safe arrival and continued survival.

Gatewood said this tradition spread through the New England colonies after 1623 when Governor William Bradford of the Plymouth colony set aside July 30 as a day of "prayer and celebration." The Jamestown Thanksgiving celebration may have remained more localized.

National recognition of the holiday came late and during a time of great conflict. But according to Gatewood, Lincoln's decision to give Presidential recognition to Thanksgiving had little to do with politics.

Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of a popular women's magazine called "Godey's Lady's Book," began an editorial crusade to attain national recognition for Thanksgiving. Her efforts are credited with persuading Lincoln to make his 1863 proclamation.

"'Godey's Lady's Book' was the premier women's magazine before the Civil War and was widely distributed, both North and South," said Gatewood. "Women took it to heart. And even though women did not then hold the power to vote, through letter-writing campaigns and pressure on male members of the family, they exerted great influence."

And Gatewood suggests that the timing of Lincoln's Thanksgiving proclamation may have been welcome despite the on-going animosity between North and South: "In a time of such conflict, it must have been comforting to find some common bond -a thankfulness for what America had given us rather than anger and contention."

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