GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN (November 18, 2003) - Members of the Aquinas College Jane Hibbard Idema Women's Studies Center and the American Colonies History class will present "Women of the First Thanksgiving" on Tuesday, November 25 from 12:30-1:30 p.m. in the Aquinas Wege Student Center, Loutit Room. The show will provide information on the Mayflower journey and what life was like in the New World. The event is free and the public is welcome.

Learn out about Susannah White Winslow, the first English mother and first English bride of the New England colonies through the students' "talk show." Another "talk show" participant will be Eleanor Billington. Billington and Winslow were two of only five adult women to survive the first winter, and two of only four who were still alive to partake in the famous 1621 Thanksgiving. The students? "talk show" conversations will reveal the roles of women in the new colony, preparing the first Thanksgiving feast, and the cultural aspects of the lives of Native American women during that time.

Any questions, please call Anna Bates, Ph.D., Aquinas Assistant Professor of History, at (616) 632-2835 or the Women Studies Center at (616) 632-2979.