In the United States Mother's Day was first suggested in 1872 by Julia Ward Howe (she wrote the words to the Battle hymn of the Republic) as a day dedicated to peace. She held an organized Mother's Day meeting in Boston, Massachusetts every year.
It wasn't until 1907 when Anna Jarvis, from Philadelphia, began a campaign to establish a national Mother's day. Anna Jarvis persuaded her mother's church in Grafton, West Virginia to celebrate Mother's Day on the second anniversary of her mother's death, the second Sunday of May. In the next year Mother's Day was also celebrated in Philadelphia. Anna Jarvis and some of her supporters began to write to ministries, businessman, and politicians to establish Mother's Day. In 1910, the governor of West Virginia established the second Sunday in May as a day dedicated to mother's, and a year later almost every state dedicated this day to mother's. In 1914, Woodrow Wilson made an official announcement establishing Mother's Day as a national holiday around the country. Since then, Mother's Day was and is celebrated on the second Sunday of May
However, the earliest tributes to mother's were celebrations of the mother goddesses of the Greeks and Romans. Later, Christians also held this holiday honoring Mary, the mother of Jesus.
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Created: 8 May 2003
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