Did you know Mother's Day began as a peace movement?
Anne Reeves Jarvis brought mothers together with Confederate and Union soldiers after the Civil War to promote reconciliation. And abolitionist and suffragist Julia Ward Howe wrote a proclamation in 1870 imploring mothers to unite and promote world peace.
Anna Jarvis, Anne Reeves Jarvis' daughter, campaigned for Mother's Day to become an official U.S. holiday in 1914. She wanted the day to be about children celebrating the sacrifices their mothers made for them. As Mother's Day became more and more commercialized, Anna became disgusted with its divergence from her original intent and spent the remainder of her life protesting it.
What if we returned to Mother's Day as a peace movement?
What if, instead of individualizing and stereotyping, we united through letter writing and community organizing, art and advocacy — to create systemic change that supports all caregivers?
What kind of world would this be? What kind of community could we create?
The mothers working to make that world already exist. A few doing that work right now:
Written by The Mamaya team
This Mother's Day and every day, Mamaya Health is here for mothers — in every season, at every stage. Connect with a Mamaya therapist →
