Four Centuries of Gratitude – Especially for the Women in the Shadows

Though the Pilgrims landed in 1620, it was not until the following autumn that the dwindling survivors joined their Native American neighbors for a meal to give thanks for having persisted during a difficult first year. That, of course, makes this year the 400^th anniversary of our annual rite of gratitude and feasting. What blessings we have known as a people through the ensuing four centuries of progress!

Though they aren’t often the focus of historical accounts, much of our good fortune can be credited to the women who served and sacrificed (often behind the scenes) through the decades – including those female souls who lived long enough to celebrate that first Thanksgiving. Although more than 100 men, women and children had arrived on shore, by the autumn of 1621, only about 50 remained, including just four married women. For nearly 80 percent of the women on the Mayflower died during the first winter, a far higher percentage than for men or children.

The story of their first 1621 harvest celebration didn’t emerge until Alexander Young wrote of it in his 1841 book Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers, citing, in part, the long-lost journal of Plymouth's Governor William Bradford, whose account had turned up in the private library of the Bishop of London. (It had apparently been stolen from Boston's Old South Church by British soldiers quartered there during the Revolution! Read more about that possibility: https://historyofmassachusetts.org/of-plymouth-plantation/).

Godey’s Lady’s Book editor Sarah Josepha Hale used Bradford’s details to bolster her ongoing campaign to create a national Thanksgiving holiday, which she had begun in 1827. Though rebuffed by Presidents Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce and Buchanan, Mrs. Hale was successful in finally convincing President Abraham Lincoln to formally do in 1863, when he proclaimed the final Thursday in November as a national day of Thanksgiving. That’s 36 years of untiring effort and unwavering belief in the importance of expressing gratitude for life’s blessings.

I’m inspired by the stories of resiliency, courage and determination of these intrepid women, i.e. those who arrived on the Mayflower and Mrs. Hale, who was the daughter of a Patriot and who established a successful career as a writer and thought leader in the mid-19^th century. It is so important that we research and remember the stories of the women who took an active role in these chapters of our nation’s history – facets of familiar stories that are frequently omitted from many accounts.

We owe a shared debt of gratitude to the women who not only achieved great things but who also nurtured their families through world wars, the Great Depression, the turbulent sixties and so many other struggles. While we gather to count our American blessings this week, let us give thanks, in particular, for the strong women who have served as our role models: Those who managed the home front during times of war and those who courageously settled the American West; the females who fought for improved education and other reforms during the Progressive Age and those who have worn the uniform of our nation in increasing numbers in recent decades; the women educators, scientists and other professionals who have improved our quality of life; the brave Suffragists who fought for our right to vote; the mothers, daughters, grandmothers, sisters who carried forward our American values and ideals through the generations. The contributions of women have been too often relegated to the shadows of history, and we should reflect on their achievements large and small when we pause this week to count blessings we enjoy in no small part because of what they did.

We descend from a long line of strong women who contributed in myriad and meaningful ways to our development as a people. Let us give thanks for the example of the women in our families, local communities and nation who braved new paths in order to lead all of us forward. Let us always be reminded of our blessings as a people, but this year, let us also take time to reflect on the vast-but-sometimes-overlooked contributions of women to that shared national identity.