The First Thanksgiving: By Jean Leon Gerome Ferris

This year, the United States celebrates Thanksgiving Day on November 25. This holiday commemorates the 3-day feast hosted by the Pilgrims at Plymouth Colony in 1621. Thanksgiving has officially been observed since 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day to be held on the last Thursday in November.

Traditionally, Thanksgiving involves feasting on turkey, potatoes, and pumpkin pie and watching football.

The first Thanksgiving Day football game was the 1876 Intercollegiate Football Association championship. The first National Football League (NFL) Thanksgiving Day game was in 1920 when the Akron Pros defeated the Canton Bulldogs 7-0. The Bulldogs’ star player was Jim Thorpe.

The first-ever radio broadcast of an NFL game was the Thanksgiving Day game between the Detroit Lions and the Chicago Bears on November 29, 1934; this began Detroit's tradition of playing on Thanksgiving. By 1940, 83 percent of all U.S. households had a radio.

The first televised Thanksgiving Day football game aired on November 22, 1956 when the Green Bay Packers defeated the Detroit Lions 24-20. The 1950 Census tells us that less than 10 percent of all households owned a television in 1950. However, by 1960, 87 percent of households owned at least one television.

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