Mothers' Day Origins

It’s not what you think

Happy Mothers’ Day all you moms, grand moms and great grand moms. We would be nowhere without you. Literally. And may the appreciation last longer than a day.

Today while reading “Letters from an American” by Heather Cox Richardson, I learned that Mothers’ Day actually had a beginning that had little to do with an appreciation of motherhood the way we think of it today. The first declaration was by Julia Ward Howe an anti-war activist who worked to establish a “Mothers’ Peace Day”.

Read this piece in “Plough” for the history I was never taught. And after I read Heather’s letter today, I needed to make a comment on her substack page. I think we need to do more than appreciate women once a year. Here is my comment:

”If there was ever a time when “men” have demonstrated their inadequacy as leaders, it is now. If there was ever a time when “men” made clear their ignorance and moral hypocrisy, it is now. If there was ever a time when “men” should throw in the towel and let women take charge (no, not you, Amy) it is certainly now.

For eons we “men” have embarrassed ourselves with wars and oppression of every imaginable type. It has not gone well and it is getting worse. Patriarchs have dominated and failed for much too long. It is time for capitulation. It is time for Mothers of many colors to rule.
signed,
Old White Guy”

Letters from an American

May 7, 2022

I told this story here two years ago, but I want to repeat it tonight, as the reality of women’s lives is being erased in favor of an image of women as mothers…. If you google the history of Mother’s Day, the internet will tell you that Mother’s Day began in 1908 when Anna Jarvis decided to honor her mother. But “Mothers’ Day”—with the apostrophe not in…

4 years ago · 7227 likes · 312 comments · Heather Cox Richardson

https://www.plough.com/en/topics/culture/holidays/mothers-day/the-original-mother-s-day-proclamation

https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/julia-ward-howe