| Mother ’ s Day |
A change of
Heart
Mother ’ s Day founder fought commercialization of the holiday
“ Those clubs later became a unifying force in a region of the country still divided over the Civil War ,” reads an article on the subject at History . com . “ In 1868 Jarvis organized ‘ Mothers ’ Friendship Day ,’ at which mothers gathered with former Union and Confederate solders to promote reconciliation .”
Other precursors to Mother ’ s Day were the “ Mother ’ s Day Proclamation ,” a call for world peace written by abolitionist and suffragette Julia Ward Howe in 1870 ; a local Mother ’ s Day in Albion , Mich ., inspired by temperance activist Juliet Calhoun Blakely ; and efforts to organize a Mothby Kevin C . Hall
while salutes to motherhood go back at least to ancient Greece and Rome , the modern Mother ’ s Day was the invention of one Pennsylvania woman — who went on to fight against the very holiday that she helped put on the national calendar .
The story begins with Ann Reeves Jarvis of West Virginia , an activist in the mid-1800s , who helped start Mothers ’ Day Work Clubs to teach local women how to properly care for their children .
90 April | May 2022 Thomasville Scene