Do you know why we celebrate Mother’s Day? It is to give tribute to the reason why we’re here. But do you know who started this celebration? It’s because of Anna Jarvis.
Anna Jarvis is not even a mother. She is never married and had no children. But she is recognized as the ‘Mother of Mothers Day’.
Anna Jarvis was born in the tiny town of Webster in Taylor County, West Virginia. She was the daughter of Ann Maria Reeves Jarvis. The family moved to nearby Grafton, West Virginia in her childhood. She graduated from what is now Mary Baldwin College in 1883.
After the death of her mother in 1905, Anna Jarvis resolved to honor her mother. Anna Jarvis began her efforts to help Mother’s Day gain commercial and political support. Anna organized Mother’s Day Work Clubs in West Virginia with the objective of improving sanitary conditions and improving infant mortality rates in her area.
By 1911, Mother’s Day was celebrated in almost every state of the Union. And in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson made the official announcement proclaiming Mother’s Day as a national holiday that was to be held each year on the second Sunday of May.