“This article is dedicated to my mother, Mrs. Gwendolyn C. Brown, and all of the other women that have been blessed by God to be mothers.”
Dedication of a day to mothers is relatively new to the United States. It was not until 1908 that the first such special day was held, but the tradition of setting aside a time for the public expression of love for mothers dates back to the ancient Greek empire. The early Christians in honor of the Virgin Mary continued it in pagan Rome and later. In England, an ecclesiastical decree expanded the holiday to include all mothers.
Perhaps because many of the early settlers in the United States were not members of the established Church of England, they did not bring this celebration with them.
It was not until the early 1900’s that Miss Anna Jarvis succeeded through a national letter-writing crusade in establishing a new tradition. On Sunday, May 10, 1908, Miss Jarvis’ mother was honored at a special service for which Anna donated 500 white carnations to be worn by everyone in attendance. From that gesture stems the custom of wearing flowers to honor one’s mother. In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the second Sunday in May “a public expression of love and reverence for mothers of this country.”
In 1943, a stamp of the painting of Whistler’s mother was issued as a tribute to all mothers, past, and present.
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