Mother’s Day is widely celebrated today with flowers, cards, and family gatherings, but its beginnings were rooted in activism, public health campaigns, and calls for peace. Long before it became a commercial holiday, several determined women envisioned it as a movement to improve society and honor the sacrifices of mothers.
One of the earliest known Mother’s Day observances dates back to 1887 in Henderson, Kentucky, in the US, where teacher Mary Towles Sasseen organized a classroom celebration dedicated to honoring mothers.
She later promoted the idea nationally through pamphlets and educational conferences, encouraging schools to observe the day, preferably on April 20, her mother’s birthday.
Schools in states such as Ohio adopted the idea, though Sasseen died in 1906 before a national holiday was established. Decades later, Kentucky lawmakers officially recognized her contribution, calling her the originator of the Mother’s Day celebration concept.
Still, the movement that ultimately led to the national holiday is most strongly associated with three women: Ann Reeves Jarvis, Julia Ward Howe, and Anna Jarvis.
Ann Reeves Jarvis, often referred to as “Mother Jarvis,” spent much of her life campaigning for healthier living conditions in Appalachian communities. During the mid-19th century, she formed Mothers’ Day Work Clubs in West Virginia to educate women on sanitation and childcare, hoping to reduce the region’s alarming infant mortality rates.
Her activism expanded during the American Civil War, when she encouraged women to provide humanitarian assistance regardless of political loyalties. After the war, she promoted a Mothers’ Friendship Day aimed at healing divisions between former Union and Confederate families.
At around the same time, poet and reformer Julia Ward Howe, best known for writing “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”, was also advocating for peace.
Following her volunteer work with the U.S. Sanitary Commission during the Civil War, Howe issued what became known as the “Mother’s Day Proclamation” in 1870. In it, she urged mothers worldwide to unite against war and violence, arguing that women who raise children understand the true human cost of conflict better than anyone else.
Howe’s peace-centered version of Mother’s Day was commemorated in Boston and other cities for nearly three decades before fading away in the years before World War I.
The modern holiday gained momentum in the early 1900s through the efforts of Anna Jarvis, daughter of Ann Reeves Jarvis. Following her mother’s death in 1905, Anna dedicated herself to creating a national day honoring mothers and the personal sacrifices they make within the home and family.
Determined to fulfill her mother’s wish for a memorial recognizing mothers’ contributions to humanity, Anna launched an extensive campaign using letters, telegrams, public speeches, and printed materials. She financed much of the campaign herself.
In May 1907, she held a memorial service for her mother at a Methodist church in Grafton, West Virginia, where Ann Reeves Jarvis had once taught Sunday school. A year later, another service was held there on May 10 to celebrate all mothers, living and deceased.
The event inspired the now-familiar tradition of observing Mother’s Day on the second Sunday of May.
The movement quickly gained political support. Philadelphia officials endorsed the celebration locally, and soon other states followed. Eventually, Representative J. Thomas Heflin and Senator Morris Sheppard introduced a congressional resolution calling for a nationwide observance.
In 1914, Woodrow Wilson officially proclaimed the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day in the United States. Early observances were marked by church services and quiet reflection honoring mothers, both living and dead.
Ironically, Anna Jarvis later became deeply frustrated with how commercialized the holiday had become.
She opposed the growing industry around greeting cards, flowers, and fundraising campaigns, believing the original spirit of the day had been lost. Despite her tireless efforts to establish the holiday, she spent her later years battling its commercialization and died in 1948 in declining health.
Today’s Mother’s Day carries traces of all these women’s visions — remembrance, peace, public service, and appreciation for motherhood in its many forms.