In 2026, November 26 is Thanksgiving Day in the United States — and every year it is Constitution Day in India and the anniversary of Casablanca's premiere.
Next: Thursday, November 26, 2026.
U.S. Thanksgiving is held on the fourth Thursday of November, so its date moves every year. In 2026 the fourth Thursday is November 26, which makes this the Thanksgiving countdown for 2026; it next falls on November 26 again in 2037. Fittingly, the first national Thanksgiving under the U.S. Constitution, proclaimed by President George Washington, was also observed on Thursday, November 26, 1789. In 2027 Thanksgiving will be on November 25.
India observes Constitution Day (Samvidhan Divas) on November 26, the date in 1949 when the Constituent Assembly adopted the Constitution of India. The constitution came into force on January 26, 1950, now celebrated as Republic Day. The government made November 26 an official observance in 2015, the 125th birth anniversary year of B. R. Ambedkar, who chaired the constitution's drafting committee; it had previously been marked as National Law Day.
Casablanca had its world premiere at the Hollywood Theater in New York City on November 26, 1942. Warner Bros. rushed the opening to capitalize on publicity from the Allied landings in North Africa earlier that month, and the film went into general release on January 23, 1943. Starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, it won three Academy Awards — Best Picture, Best Director for Michael Curtiz and Best Screenplay — and it is regularly ranked among the greatest films ever made.
At the request of Congress, President George Washington proclaimed Thursday, November 26, 1789, a national day of thanksgiving. His proclamation asked Americans to give thanks for, among other blessings, the peaceable establishment of the new constitutional government. Thanksgiving did not become an annual national holiday until Abraham Lincoln's proclamation in 1863.
Abolitionist and women's-rights advocate Sojourner Truth died at her home in Battle Creek, Michigan. Born into slavery in New York around 1797 as Isabella Bomefree, she walked to freedom with her infant daughter in 1826 and took the name Sojourner Truth in 1843. Her 1851 speech at the Ohio Women's Rights Convention in Akron is famous as "Ain't I a Woman?" — although that wording comes from a version published by Frances Gage in 1863, which differs from contemporary reports. In 1864 she met President Abraham Lincoln at the White House.
Archaeologist Howard Carter and his patron Lord Carnarvon made a small breach in the sealed doorway of Tutankhamun's tomb in Egypt's Valley of the Kings and became the first people known to look inside in more than 3,000 years. Asked by Carnarvon whether he could see anything, Carter is reported to have replied, "Yes, wonderful things." The nearly intact tomb became the most famous archaeological discovery of the 20th century.
Charles M. Schulz, creator of Peanuts, was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He drew 17,897 published Peanuts strips between October 2, 1950, and February 2000, introducing Charlie Brown, Snoopy and their friends. At its peak the strip ran in about 2,600 newspapers in 75 countries and 21 languages.