The History of Mother's Day

President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation on May 9, 1914, asking Americans to give a public expression of reverence to mothers through the celebration of Mother's Day. Carnations have come to represent the day as they were distributed at one of the first commemorations honoring the mother of the founder of Mother’s Day.

Anna Jarvis, a Grafton, West Virginia native, is credited with conceiving and launching the campaign that resulted in the creation of a national day honoring mothers in the United States. Legislative actions and annual Congressional proclamations documented in the Congressional Record praise her tireless efforts to create a lasting commemoration to her mother, Anna Reeves Jarvis, as well as to all mothers, living and deceased.

After her mother’s death on May 9, 1905, Anna Jarvis was determined to fulfill her mother’s hope that a Memorial Mother’s Day be established to recognize the important roles that mothers play in the family, church, and community. Anna Reeves Jarvis embodied the attributes of many nineteenth-century women who believed that mothers, and in fact all women, could be a powerful force in their communities. Mrs. Jarvis acted upon her beliefs and created Mother’s Day Work Clubs that tackled local problems such as poor sanitary conditions and epidemic diseases. When the Civil War came to Grafton, these clubs turned to nursing soldiers on both sides of the conflict and trying to stave off division in the community.

Other women appealed to the organized force of mothers for various causes—for example, Julia Ward Howe, who had worked with the widows and orphans of Civil War soldiers. When the Franco-Prussian War erupted in 1870, Mrs. Howe issued her declaration, Appeal to Womanhood throughout the World urging mothers to unite for the cause of peace. Woman suffrage was another important cause of the time. Mothers such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Elizabeth Smith Miller, as well as Julia Ward Howe, were pivotal in organizing women to rally for their right to vote.

Anna Jarvis’ efforts to honor her mother’s accomplishments encompassed all of these women, as step by step, from local recognition in Grafton in 1908, to the state of West Virginia’s proclamation in 1910, the national holiday became reality.