Staff writer
At a Thanksgiving concert Thursday, 110 Marion Elementary School kindergarten, first, and second grade students told the story of the first Thanksgiving, and the lady who saved it.
The concert began with a history of the “Star Spangled Banner,” and the singing of the song.
Kindergarteners shared the story of the first Thanksgiving, where many pilgrims were saved after the Native American Squanto showed them how to grow corn and live off the land. Several songs were sang including “One Little, Two Little, Three Little Indians,” and “Thanksgiving Day will Soon be Here.”
First- and second-grade students shared the story of Sarah Hale, editor of “Godey’s Lady’s Book,” and author of “Mary had a Little Lamb,” who wrote numerous letters and met with presidents and government leaders from 1825 to 1863 in an effort to make Thanksgiving a national holiday.
The holiday was first celebrated in 1789 when President George Washington issued a Thanksgiving Day proclamation to commemorate the first Pilgrim celebration. President Thomas Jefferson who called the holiday a “kingly practice” later discontinued the holiday.
President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the fourth Thursday in November to be the National Thanksgiving Day in 1963. Congress later ratified the holiday in 1941.
First and second graders also sang songs like “Gather Round,” “For All the Blessings of the Year,” “Thanksgiving Day,” “All Things Bright and Beautiful,” “Turkey in the Straw,” and “My Country Tis of Thee.”
Anita Hancock directed the concert and Wanda Williams was the accompanist.