Who Do We Thank for Thanksgiving: Sarah Josepha Hale & Abraham Lincoln Story for Kids

We're all about to celebrate Thanksgiving, but many Americans don't actually know the history of how it became an official holiday. More than 240 years after the Pilgrims and Native Americans shared that first Thanksgiving meal, it was American writer Sarah Josepha Hale, the author of “Mary Had a Little Lamb” who – believing we should give thanks to God as a nation even in the midst of war – influenced President Abraham Lincoln to declare Thanksgiving a national holiday.