Sadie Hawkins Day is an American folk event and pseudo-holiday originated by Al Capp’s classic hillbilly comic strip Li’l Abner (1934–1977).
This inspired real-world Sadie Hawkins events, the premise of which is that women ask men for a date or dancing.
“Sadie Hawkins Day” was introduced in the comic strip on November 15, 1937; the storyline ran until the beginning of December.
The storyline was revisited the following October/November, and inspired a fad on college campuses. By 1939, Life reported that 201 colleges in 188 cities held a Sadie Hawkins Day event.
In Li’l Abner, Sadie Hawkins was the daughter of Mayor Hekzebiah Hawkins, one of Dogpatch’s earliest settlers and the “homeliest gal in all them hills”.
She grew frantic waiting for suitors until she reached age 35 and was still a spinster, and her father was worried about her living at home for the rest of her life. In desperation, he called together all the unmarried men of Dogpatch and declared it “Sadie Hawkins Day”.
A foot race was decreed with Sadie pursuing the town’s eligible bachelors. If Sadie caught one of them, he would be forced to marry her.
She was specifically interested in a handsome boy named Adam who was already in a courtship with Theresa, whose father was the area’s largest potato farmer.
Unlike Sadie, Theresa had a number of courtship offers.
