Explore origins and traditions behind America’s Thanksgiving holiday, from 1621 to today. Discover how proclamations, parades, and football turned harvest feasts into a national celebration.
The 1621 harvest feast commonly called the “First Thanksgiving” was held at which colony?
Jamestown
Roanoke
New Amsterdam
Plymouth
Which Native people joined the 1621 feast with the Pilgrims?
The Wampanoag
The Powhatan
The Iroquois
The Cherokee
Who proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving in 1863 during the Civil War?
Abraham Lincoln
Ulysses S. Grant
James Buchanan
Andrew Johnson
Which law fixed Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday in November?
An 1863 executive order in context
The 1789 Judiciary Act in context
The 1918 Standard Time Act in context
A 1941 joint resolution signed by FDR
Which city’s event is recognized as the oldest Thanksgiving Day parade in the U.S.?
Detroit
Philadelphia
New York City
Chicago
Macy’s first Thanksgiving parade in New York City was held in which year?
1927
1924
1919
1931
Which NFL team launched its Thanksgiving game tradition with a 1934 matchup?
Chicago Bears
Dallas Cowboys
Detroit Lions
Green Bay Packers
Which president made the modern annual turkey ‘pardon’ an official tradition in 1989?
Ronald Reagan
John F. Kennedy
George H. W. Bush
Harry S. Truman
Which writer’s decades-long campaign helped make Thanksgiving a national holiday?
Louisa May Alcott
Sarah Josepha Hale
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Emily Dickinson
Green bean casserole, now a classic side, was first created in 1955 by which test kitchen?
Campbell’s
Betty Crocker
Kraft
Good Housekeeping
Starter
Nice start—revisit early feasts, proclamations, and parade origins.
Solid
You know the traditions—fine-tune years, firsts, and who-did-what details.
Expert!
Holiday historian—you connect origins, laws, and long-running customs.
