The mother of Mother's Day - Anna Jarvis

In 1907, long before feminism was even a word, Anna created Mother’s Day in the USA, to celebrate the importance of women and their work inside the home.

On May 10, 1907, the first Mother’s Day celebration was held at Anna Jarvis’s mother's church, St. Andrew's Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton, Virginia, USA.

Anna had gained recognition for the day by sheer determination and hard work. At a time when women were not granted equality or power outside the home, Anna wrote innumerable letters to influential people and distributed endless pamphlets to advertise her cause. Her strength of purpose was founded on inspiration by her deceased mother.

Mrs. Ann Marie Reeves Jarvis (Anna’s mother) had helped develop "Mothers Friendship Day" to assist in the healing of the USA after the Civil War. So after the death of her mother, Anna Jarvis dedicated her life to her mother's cause - establishing Mother's Day to "honor mothers, living and dead". At the original 'Mother's Day' ceremony, Anna passed out more than 500 white carnations, one for each mother in the congregation. A white carnation was worn to honor deceased mothers and a red one to honor a living mother. Anna chose the white carnation because to her, it represented the purity of a mother's heart.

With the encouragement and financial support of a Philadelphian philanthropist, the Mother’s Day movement grew. In 1912 West Virginia became the first state to adopt an official Mother's Day, and in 1914 a resolution signed by President Woodrow Wilson established Mother's Day throughout the USA. Despite the success of Mother’s Day celebrations, Anna was very concerned with the increasing commercialization of the day. Her holiday was meant to be a "noble and true" celebration, but Anna felt that it had been exploited for profit. However, the very involvement of Anna Jarvis and other female activists brought the role of mothers and homemakers into the public eye. And women gained positive exposure, acknowledgment, and public admiration.

The resolve and resilience of Anna Jarvis and her mother towards their causes and beliefs are truly inspiring. It is a great irony that the woman who worked so hard for recognition of all women couldn't become a mother herself. But through her work, Anna Jarvis earned the title of the "Mother of Mother's Day". A title as grand as her beautiful cause.