The “first Thanksgiving” most often refers to a 1621 meal between the Pilgrims and the Native Wampanoag people, though historians have uncovered earlier examples, including Spanish colonists who celebrated alongside the Seloy tribe in Florida in 1565 and Virginia settlers who took part in "a day of thanksgiving to Almighty god" in 1619.
Hours of research by our editors, distilled into minutes of clarity.
President George HW Bush oversaw the first official pardon, but the tradition began years before that. This short video from PBS News explores the history of presidential pardons for the lucky birds. There’s no “fowl” language, but there are plenty of puns!
It all started with a match between Princeton and Yale in 1876, attended by fewer than 1,000 fans. That competition spawned an annual tradition attracting millions of viewers across college and professional teams.
How did a raccoon intended for the Thanksgiving dinner table end up a beloved presidential pet? History teacher Sharon McMahon’s podcast "Here’s Where It Gets Interesting" takes an episode to delve into some of the more unusual Thanksgivings at the White House, including the Great Cranberry Scare of 1959 and the story of Calvin Coolidge and his "first raccoon," Rebecca.
With dozens of balloons and floats, and thousands of costumes, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade requires year-round planning to pull off. Go behind the scenes with the designers and builders who make the magic happen. See how the floats come together and what makes this annual spectacle a reality.
Enormous balloons didn’t make an appearance until 1927, and the parade wasn’t televised until 1948. But no matter the decade, a visit from Santa Claus has always been a highlight.
The Wampanoag people, weakened by disease, were at risk of being forcefully subsumed by the neighboring Narragansett tribe. Recognizing an opportunity, the Wampanoag offered the settlers necessary survival skills in exchange for protection through the settlers’ firearms. The treaty remained in place for more than 40 years.
Indigenous people lived in the Americas for centuries before the arrival of the first Europeans in the 15th century. Their arrival was disastrous for native tribes; in addition to being enslaved and losing their land, they had no natural immunity to the diseases brought by colonists. Eventually, up to 95% of the Native American population was killed by illnesses including typhus, chickenpox, and cholera, an event now known as the Great Dying.
Decades of violence and disease brought by European settlers had devastated local tribes. Up to 75% of the Wampanoag people had been eliminated, leading them to sign the peace treaty to preserve those who remained.
Cow feet and tongue were sometimes included in mincemeat pies—a popular 18th-century dish. Josefa Hale, who inspired Lincoln to declare Thanksgiving a holiday, said they were “indispensable; but [hoped] this rich, expensive, and exceedingly unhealthy diet will be used very sparingly...”
This interactive experience casts you as a high school journalist uncovering how the Thanksgiving narrative has become simplified. Through animations, maps, primary sources, expert interviews, and text-message riddles, the game turns historical investigation into an engaging, hands-on mystery.
Art, music, sports, entertainment, movies, and many other subjects—these elements define who we are as a society and how we express ourselves as a culture. Take a deep dive into the topics shaping our shared norms, values, institutions, and more.