Kids' Books Weekly
Sarah Hale Saved Thanksgiving
The vision and persistence of one woman led to our national holiday called Thanksgiving.
America's Thanksgiving holiday is credited to the Pilgrims. The truth is, we have a national celebration thanks to Sarah Hale's 38-year letter writing campaign. In Hale's day—two hundred years after the pilgrims arrived —Thanksgiving had been mostly forgotten. Hale wanted Thanksgiving to be a national holiday, and she started a campaign in 1825 to bring it to pass. Sarah Hale's Early Life Sarah Josepha Hale was born in Newport, New Hampshire, in 1788. Her father, disabled Revolutionary War Captain Gordon Buell, and her mother, Martha Whittlesay Buell, believed in equal education for both sexes. Hale was educated at home by her mother, and by her brother Horatio, who taught her what he'd learned at Dartmouth. Hale continued her education …
