Sarah Josepha Hale: She Wrote "Mary Had a Little Lamb"… Then Gave America Thanksgiving

You probably know her little poem: "Mary had a little lamb."

But the woman who wrote it gave America something much bigger.

It took her seventeen years and hundreds of letters.

This is the story of Sarah Josepha Hale.

Editor.

An editor is the person who decides what goes into a magazine or a newspaper.

For forty years, she was the editor of America's most popular women's magazine.

Widow.

A widow is a woman whose husband has died.

She became a widow with five young children.

Lobby.

When you lobby people in power, you try to persuade them to change something.

The past is lobbied.

Year after year, she lobbied the country's leaders.

Proclamation.

A proclamation is an official public announcement, often from a king or a president.

Five days later, Lincoln signed a proclamation.

Perseverance.

Perseverance means continuing to try, even when something is difficult or takes a very long time.

Her perseverance changed the American calendar.

Now, one pattern: urge, plus a person, plus to, plus a verb.

We use it when we strongly ask someone to do something important.

"Please act now," she wrote to the President.

She urged the President to act.

Ready?

Let's begin.

In 1822, Sarah Josepha Hale lost her husband.

She was left with five children and very little money.

So she picked up her pen and started writing to support her family.

Her poems and stories sold well.

In 1830, she published a book of poems for children.

One of them began: "Mary had a little lamb."

Seven years later, she became the editor of Godey's Lady's Book, which soon became America's most popular women's magazine.

In those days, Thanksgiving was a harvest holiday in some states, but each state chose its own date, and some had no Thanksgiving at all.

Sarah loved the day.

She dreamed of the whole country giving thanks together, on the same Thursday.

So in 1846, she began to lobby.

Every autumn, in her magazine, she urged readers to support one national Thanksgiving.

She wrote to governors and members of Congress, one letter after another.

She also wrote to four presidents: Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan.

None of them said yes.

But she didn't give up.

Slowly, more and more states chose the last Thursday in November.

Then, in 1861, the American Civil War began, and the country was divided.

Sarah believed that one shared day of thanks could help people feel like one family again.

In her magazine, she urged Americans to give thanks together.

By 1863, she was seventy-four years old.

On the twenty-eighth of September, she sat at her desk and wrote to President Abraham Lincoln.

She urged the President to act: please make the last Thursday in November a national Thanksgiving, for every state, every year.

Would he answer?

Five days later, on the third of October, Lincoln signed a proclamation.

It named the last Thursday in November a national day of Thanksgiving.

After seventeen years of letters, the answer was yes.

In her magazine, Sarah celebrated the news.

And since then, every American president has made a Thanksgiving proclamation, every single year.

She kept working as an editor until she was eighty-nine.

She also helped women raise $30,000 to finish the Bunker Hill Monument in Boston.

Today, people call her the Mother of Thanksgiving.

Now, Americans celebrate Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November, with family, food and thanks.

Many of them don't know her name.

But her perseverance gave them the day.

Let's review.

For forty years, she was the editor of America's most popular women's magazine.

She became a widow with five young children.

Year after year, she lobbied the country's leaders.

Five days later, Lincoln signed a proclamation.

Her perseverance changed the American calendar.

And remember: she urged the President to act.

Sarah Josepha Hale's story teaches us: a good idea needs patience and many, many letters.