Although we should be doing it every day, Mother’s Day officially recognizes moms and the positive contributions that they make to society.
In the United States, one of those contributions, led by peace activist Ann Jarvis in 1868, was to reunite families and friends that had been divided during the Civil War by creating a “Mother’s Friendship Day.” Ann had previously organized Mother's Day Work Clubs to combat unsanitary living conditions and teach young mothers how to safely care for their children. She died before she could expand her efforts into an annual memorial for mothers but her daughter, Anna, took on the task in 1905, the year her mother died.
Around the same time, peace activist, suffragette and “Battle Hymn of the Republic” writer, Julia Ward Howe, called upon mothers of all nationalities to band together to promote the “amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.” Howe felt that mothers should gather to prevent the cruelty of war and the waste of life since mothers alone bear and know the cost.
Anna Jarvis wanted to honor these efforts and to set aside a day to honor all mothers because she believed a mother is "the person who has done more for you than anyone in the world."
In 1914, Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation designating Mother's Day, held on the second Sunday in May, as a national holiday to honor mothers.
