#sarah hale

NOVEMBER 26 - SARAH JOSEPHA HALE

If you’re off from work for Thanksgiving today, then you might want to express your gratitude for Sarah Josepha Hale. Beginning as far back as 1827, the writer and women’s magazine editor tirelessly campaigned to make Thanksgiving a national holiday in the United States.

“The last Thursday in November – shall it be THE DAY?”shewrote in a 1853 editorial. “If the State Governors will this year unite on this day, there is little doubt but a precedent will be established, and become a fixed custom forevermore.”

Hale’s efforts were dismissed by four US presidents in a row. It wasn’t until 1863 that Abraham Lincoln supported legislation for the cause, thereby putting an end to over three decades of advocating for the change. Thanksgiving joined Washington’s Birthday and Independence Day as the third national holiday in US history.

Beyond this initiative, Hale is also known as the author of the popular children’s nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb”, and her fundraising efforts were essential for the completion of the long-delayed Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown, Massachusetts. Through asking her readers to donate and organizing a week-long craft fair at the Quincy Market, she raised a total of $30,000 to help finish the project.

Hale’s politics were, at times, quite shaky by modern standards. She pushed for women’s education and the entrance of women into the workforce, yet she opposed women’s suffrage in favor of the “secret, silent influence” women could have on male voters. She was an adamant opponent of slavery, yet one of her novels suggested that all freed slaves should be relocated to Liberia.

Alas, in her time, Hale’s views were seen as progressive. While her track record isn’t perfect - and some might say she reinforced certain stereotypical gender roles regarding domesticity - she was a pioneer for women in the literary world and helped push forward the careers of other female writers.

And while Thanksgiving itself may not be a perfect holiday - with roots that link back to the massacre of Native Americans - there are, indeed, some positive traditions that have endured beyond the holiday’s problematic history. Regardless of her original intentions, Hale has given us a day to focus on the importance of family, charity and personal reflection.