Anna
Jarvis, daughter of Anna Reeves Jarvis,
who had moved from Grafton, West Virginia, to
Philadelphia, in 1890, was the power behind the official
establishment of Mother's Day
- swore at her mother's
gravesite in 1905 to dedicate her life to her
mother's project, and establish a Mother's Day to
honor mothers, living and dead
- a persistent rumor is
that Anna's grief was intensified because she and
her mother had quarreled and her mother died before
they could reconcile
- in 1907 she passed out
500 white carnations at her mother's church, St.
Andrew's Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton, West
Virginia -- one for each mother in the congregation
- May 10, 1908:
the first church -- St. Andrew's in Grafton, West
Virginia -- responded to her request for a Sunday
service honoring mothers
- 1908: John Wanamaker,
a Philadelphia merchant, joined the campaign for
Mother's Day
- also in 1908: the
first bill was presented in the U.S. Senate
proposing establishment of Mother's Day, by Nebraska
Senator Elmer Burkett, at the request of the Young
Men's Christian Association. The proposal was killed
by sending it back to committee, 33-14.
- 1909: Mother's Day
services were held in 46 states plus Canada and
Mexico
- Anna Jarvis gave up
her job -- sometimes reported as a teaching job,
sometimes as a job clerking in an insurance office
-- to work full-time writing letters to politicians,
clergy members, business leaders, women's clubs and
anyone else she thought might have some influence
- Anna Jarvis was able
to enlist the World's Sunday School Association
in the lobbying campaign, a key success factor in
convincing legislators in states and in the U.S.
Congress to support the holiday
- 1912: West Virginia
became the first state to adopt an official Mother's
Day
- 1914:
the U.S. Congress passed a Joint Resolution, and
President Woodrow Wilson signed it, establishing Mother's
Day, emphasizing women's role in the family (not
as activists in the public arena, as Howe's Mother's
Day had been)
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