Bet You Didn't Know: Thanksgiving | History — Transcript

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1. 0:05we're all familiar with the story of the
2. 0:07first Thanksgiving when the pilgrims
3. 0:09invited local Native Americans to share
4. 0:11a meal with them but we bet you didn't
5. 0:13know Thanksgiving didn't become an
6. 0:15annual tradition until more than 200
7. 0:17years later that first Thanksgiving in
8. 0:201621 wasn't just one big meal it was a
9. 0:243-day Festival of eating hunting and
10. 0:26other entertainments in honor of the
11. 0:28Pilgrim's first successful harvest the
12. 0:31Indians killed five deer as gifts for
13. 0:33the colonists so venison was definitely
14. 0:36on the first Thanksgiving menu but we
15. 0:38bet you didn't know that turkey was not
16. 0:41they also didn't have pumpkin pie or
17. 0:43potatoes which hadn't been introduced to
18. 0:45New England yet and while they may have
19. 0:47eaten cranberries they would have been
20. 0:49served plain not in a sauce or relish
21. 0:53the pilgrims didn't plan on starting a
22. 0:54Thanksgiving tradition in fact they
23. 0:56didn't repeat the November celebration
24. 0:58in subsequent years in 1789 President
25. 1:01George Washington announced the first
26. 1:03ever National Thanksgiving holiday which
27. 1:05took place on Thursday November 26 but
28. 1:08it didn't become an annual tradition
29. 1:10Nationwide until the 19th century that's
30. 1:12when an American writer named Sarah
31. 1:14josepa hail most famous for writing the
32. 1:17nursery rhyme Mary had a little lamb was
33. 1:19inspired by a diary of Pilgrim life to
34. 1:21recreate that first Thanksgiving feast
35. 1:24beginning in 1827 hail waged a nearly
36. 1:2730-year campaign to make Thanksgiving
37. 1:29and National holiday she also published
38. 1:31recipes for pumpkin pie turkey and
39. 1:34stuffing that probably didn't appear on
40. 1:36the Pilgrim's plates but would become
41. 1:38the Staples of modern Thanksgiving meals
42. 1:40in 1863 in the midst of the Civil War
43. 1:43President Abraham Lincoln announced that
44. 1:45the nation would celebrate Thanksgiving
45. 1:47every year on the final Thursday in
46. 1:49November but did you know in 1939
47. 1:52President Franklin D Roosevelt decided
48. 1:55to move the holiday up a week to give
49. 1:57Depression era retailers more time to
50. 1:59make money during the free- Christmas
51. 2:00shopping season the move was widely
52. 2:02criticized and in 1941 FDR signed a bill
53. 2:06fixing Thanksgiving on the fourth
54. 2:08Thursday in November where it stays
55. 2:10today one of the quirkiest Thanksgiving
56. 2:12Traditions began in 1989 when President
57. 2:15George HW Bush granted the first
58. 2:18official pardon to a turkey every
59. 2:20November since then the current Oval
60. 2:22Office occupant has given a reprieve to
61. 2:24one or two turkeys sending them into
62. 2:27retirement on a farm rather than to a
63. 2:29dinner table
64. 2:30though it only began in the late 20th
65. 2:32century the story has become one of the
66. 2:34more unusual chapters in the long
67. 2:36history of Thanksgiving traditions
68. 2:45[Music]