Are you doing a unit study on the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving? Look at these primary source documents and ask your kids questions that relate to them. Some in our culture are trying to take God out of Thanksgiving to make it a secular holiday, but if you read the primary source documents you can see how truly dedicated the Pilgrim's were to God and how Thanksgiving was about giving thanks to God for their bountiful harvest. I'm very disturbed at the rewriting of history that some people are trying to do, that's why it is important to go back to the original documents and discover history for ourselves.
The Mayflower Compact
Complete Mayflower Passenger List
Journals of the Pilgrims, covering the time period from the arrival of the Mayflower through the end of 1621.
Peace Treaty with Massasoit, 1621
Edward Winslow's letter -This letter tells us about the first Thanksgiving, it also tells us that they thanked God for their harvest.
Native American documents from the collections of Pilgrim Hall Museum
The First Thanksgiving Proclamation June 20, 1676
Continental Congress Thanksgiving Proclamation 1782
George Washington's 1789 Thanskgiving Proclamation
Abraham Lincoln's 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation
