Feast or Fiction? A True History of Thanksgiving

Wednesday, November 16, 2022
7:00PM
Virtual Program (Zoom)

What comes to mind when you think of the first Thanksgiving? Do you envision Pilgrims, Wampanoags, and a 3-day feast? Would you be surprised to learn that there’s very little evidence such a feast ever happened? The modern American celebration of Thanksgiving was actually a Civil War-era invention devoted to establishing national unity at a time of great conflict. From these origins follow a complicated story of assimilationism, commercialism, and national myth-making that Americans are still unpacking today.

So how did schoolteachers around the country end up repeating the story of the Pilgrims every November? And how has that affected Indigenous people and immigrants along the way?

Join FHC Curator Stacen Goldman for a presentation and conversation about the origins and impact of the holiday you thought you knew!

This Zoom program will be recorded and, once edited, sent to ticket holders.

Tickets: $5/FHC Member, $10/Not-yet-a-member