Thanksgiving's Complex Legacy in Maine

Maine, one of the places that claims to have hosted the First Thanksgiving, is rejecting the label and striving to include Indigenous voices and a more accurate portrayal of Native peoples' history in its events. Other places, such as Plymouth, Virginia, Texas, and Florida, also lay claim to hosting the First Thanksgiving, each with their own historical events. The national American holiday of Thanksgiving emerged during the Civil War and was influenced by a movement led by Sarah Josepha Hale. Maine's previous claim to Thanksgiving supremacy in 1964 was denounced as historically inaccurate, and today there is no monument or mention of Thanksgiving at the site of the Popham Colony.