Mother’s Day has
several different mothers. One was Julia
Ward Howe, a 19th century suffragette, pacifist, and abolitionist. In 1870, Howe advocated for the formation of an
international group of mothers who would fight for world peace. In 1873, Howe
campaigned for a Mother’s Peace Day to be celebrated annually on June 2.
Howe, the author of the lyrics to the Battle Hymn of the
Republic, was not alone. Others advocated that women, especially mothers, were uniquely
positioned to solve the intractable problems related to war and peace.
Although Howe was initially unsuccessful, her efforts
bore fruit when Anna Jarvis of West Virginia, inspired by her own mother’s work
with Howe during the Civil War, called for an official Mother’s
Day holiday. She was ultimately successful,
and in 1914 President Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation designating the
second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.
The initial promise
of an official holiday honoring mothers was not fulfilled in the way Jarvis had
hoped. By the 1920s, she believed that the
manufacturers of greeting cards and candy, as well as flower sellers, had
corrupted and commercialized her earlier vision. She was arrested for
protesting and picketing at a candy makers’ convention and an assembly of war
mothers. She organized boycotts of
Mother’s Day, threatened lawsuits, and made her dissatisfaction with the event
very clear.
It is quite possible that Jarvis would have appreciated the more
subdued Mother’s Day that we just celebrated during the COVID19 self-isolation period. With fewer elaborate brunches in upscale
restaurants, more homemade cards, and drive-by or socially distanced gatherings,
yesterday may have been closer to the original vision of Jarvis and Howe.
A larger question, of course, is whether women and mothers are better suited to lead the world. I would argue that since men have made a hash of things for many generations, it is indeed time to let women give it a try. They cannot do any worse.
Check out Wikipedia for additional information about these two strong women.
