This is how Mother's Day was born

edition.cnn.com

Keep reading for FREE

The idea of Mother's Day

Suffragist and writer Julia Ward Howe first suggested the idea of Mother's Day in the United States in 1872.

Howe was a pacifist and saw the holiday as a chance to unite women and rally for peace. For several years, she held an annual Mother's Day meeting in Boston.

187 reads

The creation of a holiday

West Virginia activist Anna Jarvis is credited with creating the Mother's day holiday that is celebrated today.
In 1908, she campaigned for a national observance of the holiday in honor of her mother, who was a community health advocate.
However, Jarvis later became disillusioned by how floral and greeting card companies commercialized the holiday and said she regretted starting it.
It became an official US holiday in 1914 when President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the second Sunday in May as a day of "public expression of our love and reverence for the mothers of our country."

105 reads