Mother’s Day – Sunday, May 11
Honoring mothers
Mother’s Day – Sunday, May 11
Our celebration of Mother’s Day is due in large part to Ann Jarvis and her daughter. In 1858, Ann, a young Appalachian homemaker, organized Mother’s Day Work Clubs to teach local women how to improve sanitation to decrease infant mortality. After the Civil War, she organized events at which mothers gathered with former Union and Confederate soldiers to facilitate reconciliation.
When Ann Jarvis died in 1905, her daughter, Anna, decided to commemorate her mother’s social activism. Because she believed that American holidays were biased in their focus on male achievements, she wanted to establish a holiday spotlighting the contributions of women. She sought support from many prominent men, including President William Taft, former President Theodore Roosevelt and former Philadelphia merchant John Wannamaker.
By the second Sunday of May, in 1907, the Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia, the church where Ann Jarvis had taught Sunday School, held a Mother’s Day service that her daughter had arranged. That same day a special service was held at the Wannamaker Auditorium in Philadelphia, which could seat no more than a third of the 15,000 people attending. This custom spread to churches in 45 states and in Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Mexico and Canada. After the governor of West Virginia proclaimed Mother’s Day in 1912 and the governor of Pennsylvania did so in 1913, President Woodrow Wilson signed a Congressional Resolution in 1914 officially establishing the celebration of Mother’s Day on the second Sunday of May.
Mother’s Day continues to be celebrated as a holiday that recognizes the beneficence of mothers and those women who assume this caregiving role. On May 11 we again pay tribute to our mothers and the many ways their sacrificial love supports us, our families and our communities. The month of May is also dedicated to the selfless work of teachers and nurses. Like mothers, they teach, heal and inspire.
My mother lived to be 96. I credit her with teaching me the interpersonal and softer skills that complemented the lessons I learned from my father about the value of education and the importance of hard work. She was totally supportive of me as a young person and, later, in my professional career. Her unconditional love and life lessons continue to serve me well.
