Each year in the United States, Mother’s Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of May. This year, it falls on May 11. For many, the day is filled with cards, flowers, and time spent with family, especially their mothers. But the origins of this heartfelt holiday are rooted in more than just commercial tradition, they go back to the post-Civil War era and reflect deep social and political intentions.
The story begins with two women: Ann Reeves Jarvis and Julia Ward Howe.
During and after the Civil War, Jarvis sought to improve public health and parenting through the formation of “Mothers’ Day Work Clubs,” which taught women how to care for their families. As these clubs expanded, she organized “Mothers’ Friendship Day,” an event designed to bring together mothers from both sides of the war, the Union and the Confederate, in hopes of fostering reconciliation amongst the two sides. It also helped to unite women who were dealing with the horrors of the war as wives and mothers.
Around the same time, a woman named Julia Ward Howe took action.
Howe is known for writing the “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” When Jarvis was organizing her groups, Howe wrote the “Mother’s Day Proclamation.” Her aim was to rally mothers around the cause of world peace. She proposed a “Mother’s Peace Day,” to be observed annually on June 2nd, hoping mothers would unite in opposition to war and violence.
Our modern Mother’s Day most directly stems from the daughter of one of these women.
After Ann Reeves Jarvis died in 1905, her daughter Anna Jarvis was determined to create a formal day to honor all mothers. With financial backing from John Wanamaker, a prominent Philadelphia department store owner, she organized the first official Mother’s Day celebration in 1908 at a church in Grafton, West Virginia. Wanamaker held a simultaneous celebration at his store in Philadelphia.
The event was so successful that Anna Jarvis began campaigning to make Mother’s Day a national holiday. Her efforts paid off in 1914 when President Woodrow Wilson officially declared the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.
Jarvis originally envisioned the holiday as a quiet, personal observance.
She pictured a day to attend church and spend time with one’s mother while wearing a white carnation. But as the holiday gained popularity, it quickly became commercialized. Businesses began promoting flowers, chocolates, and greeting cards as essential gifts. Disillusioned by this shift, Jarvis fought against the commercialization of the holiday she helped create. By 1920, she was actively opposing its new direction and even attempted to have it removed from the calendar. She died in 1948, still dissatisfied in what the holiday had become.
Despite its commercial aspects, Mother’s Day has also been used as a platform for social activism.
In 1968, Coretta Scott King led a Mother’s Day march for disadvantaged women and children. In the 1970s, feminist groups used the day to advocate for equal rights and better childcare access. Whether celebrated with heartfelt gifts, peaceful reflection, or political action, Mother’s Day remains a powerful reminder to honor the women who raised us.
