Nicole Gilbert with daughters Courtney and Morgan
1870 ; a local Mother ’ s Day in Albion , Mich ., inspired by temperance activist Juliet Calhoun Blakely ; and efforts to organize a Mothers ’ Day in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Mary Towles Sasseen and Frank Herring .
But the Mother ’ s Day we know today is a direct descendant of an event organized by Ann Jarvis ’ s daughter , Anna .
Ann Jarvis died in 1905 , and in May 1908 , with the financial backing of John Wanamaker , Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia organized the first official Mother ’ s Day celebration at her late mother ’ s church ,
Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton , W . Va . The same day also saw thousands of people attend a Mother ’ s Day event at one of Wanamaker ’ s retail stores in Philadelphia , according to History . com .
“ Following the success of her first Mother ’ s Day , Jarvis — who remained unmarried and childless her whole life — resolved to see her holiday added to the national calendar ,” the History . com article reads . “ Arguing that American holidays were biased toward male achievements , she started a massive letter writing campaign to newspapers and prominent politicians urging the adoption of a special day honoring motherhood .”
By 1912 many states , towns and churches had adopted Mother ’ s Day as an annual holiday , and in 1914 President Woodrow Wilson officially established the holiday as the second Sunday in May .
The site of Jarvis ’ s first Mother ’ s Day celebration , Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church , was incorporated as the International Mother ’ s Day Shrine on May 15 , 1962 , as a shrine for all mothers .
But Anna Jarvis did not enjoy her victory for long .
16 MoultrieScene MAY 2022