05/08/2022
Mother’s have been honored and celebrated throughout the ages, but in the United States, Mother’s Day has only been an official holiday since Woodrow Wilson signed a Congressional Resolution setting aside the 2nd Sunday in May as a National Mother’s Day.
In 1858 Ann Marie Reeves Jarvis organized a ‘Mother’s Work Day’ in order to improve sanitation. She organized women during the Civil War to work for better sanitation on both sides and in 1968 she worked to reconcile neighbors on both sides of the Civil War.
In 1870, Julia Ward Howe (who wrote “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”) wrote ‘The Mother’s Day Proclamation” as a call to unite women for peace. She celebrated the !st Mother’s Peace Day on June 2 honoring peace, motherhood and womanhood. In subsequent years, the observance was held on the 2nd Sunday in June in Boston and a number of cities. This observance lasted for about 10 years.
In May 9, 1905, Ann Reeves Jarvis passed away in Philadelphia. On May 12, 1907, Anna Reeves, her daughter, handed out white carnations in honor of her mother and all mothers at the Andrews Methodist Church in Grafton, W.V. (a church where her mother had taught Sunday school). On May 10, 1908, Mother’s Day was also observed in Philadelphia at a Memorial Service in the Wanamakers Auditorium. White Carnations were her mother’s favorite flowers.
In May of 1913, the House of Representatives passed a resolution requesting the President, his cabinet, the members of both Houses and all officials of the federal government wear a white carnation on Mother’s Day. On May 7, 1914, a resolution was passed by both Houses that the 2nd Sunday in May be designated Mother’s Day, and on May 9, 1914 President Wilson signed the resolution making Mother’s Day a national holiday.