MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
The Thanksgiving story most of us hear is about friendship, unity. But when Abraham Lincoln proclaimed it a national holiday in 1863, he likely wasn't thinking about pilgrims and Native Americans. He was more probably thinking about the Civil War, and so was the woman who had lobbied for Thanksgiving for years. Rund Abdelfatah and Ramtin Arablouei at NPR's history podcast Throughline bring us her story.
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RUND ABDELFATAH, BYLINE: Sarah Josepha Hale was born in New Hampshire in 1788, not too far away from where the pilgrims first landed.
MELANIE KIRKPATRICK: She was the daughter of Revolutionary War heroes.
ABDELFATAH: This is Melanie Kirkpatrick, author of the book "Lady Editor," a biography about Sarah Josepha Hale.
KIRKPATRICK: She was very well-educated.
ABDELFATAH: She poured her energy into writing and publishing.
KIRKPATRICK: And then she wrote a novel, which was an antislavery novel. It came out in 1827.
ABDELFATAH: And it landed her a job as the editor of a magazine called Godey's Lady's Book. It had a massive reach across the country. Sarah used her platform to push for the things she believed in. She supported women's education, though not women's suffrage. She opposed slavery and thought free Black people should be repatriated to Africa. And she had a vision for creating a united national culture.
KIRKPATRICK: She thought that the Revolution had united the American colonies politically but not culturally and that the new country needed to develop its own culture, and the new country needed its own stories. They needed something to coalesce around.
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ABDELFATAH: And for Sarah, there was no better day to coalesce around than her favorite holiday - Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving in the early to mid-1800s was mostly celebrated in northern states, and generally on different days. It was not a national holiday, and Sarah wanted to change that.
KIRKPATRICK: She thought that if we could all come together and celebrate on the same day, that would help to bring Americans together. And as the Civil War approached, she also had the hope that it would forestall war.
ABDELFATAH: She wrote columns in the magazine making her case for a national holiday.
SARAH WYMAN, BYLINE: (As Sarah Josepha Hale) We believe our Thanksgiving Day, if fixed and perpetuated, will be a great and sanctifying promoter of this national spirit.
RAMTIN ARABLOUEI, BYLINE: But she knew the audience of a woman's magazine wouldn't be enough. She had to convince the men in power.
KIRKPATRICK: She had a huge network, and she would handwrite personal letters to governors...
WYMAN: (As Sarah Josepha Hale) Will you use the influence of your high official status...
KIRKPATRICK: ...Congressmen...
WYMAN: (As Sarah Josepha Hale) ...To establish the last Thursday in November...
KIRKPATRICK: ...Members of the Senate...
WYMAN: (As Sarah Josepha Hale) ...As the annual American Thanksgiving?
KIRKPATRICK: ...Trying to get their support for her idea of a national holiday. And she did have success. She got many of the governors to agree on a given date, but not all of them. So then she thought that the better idea would be to get the president to proclaim a national day of Thanksgiving.
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KIRKPATRICK: So finally, in 1863, she wrote to Lincoln.
WYMAN: (As Sarah Josepha Hale) Sir, permit me as editress of the Lady's Book to request a few minutes of your precious time.
ARABLOUEI: 1863 was a hard year for Abraham Lincoln. Tens of thousands of people had already died in the civil war. The Confederate Army had notched a couple of major victories. And in June of that year, the Confederate general, Robert E. Lee, began invading the Union state of Pennsylvania. Just five days after reading Hale's letter...
KIRKPATRICK: Lincoln agreed and issued a proclamation.
ARABLOUEI: Making Thanksgiving a national holiday.
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KIRKPATRICK: He asked Americans to come together with one heart and one voice. And he was again talking about Northerners and Southerners stopping the war and moving toward peace and reunification.
ARABLOUEI: Sarah Josepha Hale's years of persistence had paid off. She'd helped start an American tradition that continues to this day. But what she really wanted, a shared national story that could help unify a divided country, that proved harder to achieve.
KELLY: That was Melanie Kirkpatrick, author of the book "Lady Editor," speaking with Throughline hosts Ramtin Arablouei and Rund Abdelfatah. You can hear the whole episode on the Throughline podcast. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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