From Jone Johnson Lewis,
Your Guide to Women's History.
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The earliest Mothers' Day or Mothers' Work Days (plural "mothers") began in 1858 in West Virginia

• Anna Reeves Jarvis, a local teacher and church member and mother of Anna Jarvis, wanted to work for improved sanitation in her town

• during the Civil War, she extended the purpose of Mothers' Work Days to work for better sanitary conditions for both sides in the conflict

• after the Civil War, she worked to establish a reconciliation between people who had supported the two sides in the war

Mother's Day: What You Need to Know

• Ancient Celebrations of Mothers and Motherhood
• Mothering Sunday in Britain
• Mothers' Work Days
• Julia Ward Howe's Mother's Day
• Anna Jarvis and Mother's Day
• Carnations, Anna Jarvis, and Mother's Day
• International Mother's Days Today
• Mother's Day Statistics
• Mother's Day Proclamations
• Famous Mothers
• Quotes on Mothers and Motherhood
• Ideas for Mother's Day (in the spirit of the originals)
• Motherhood in History
• Mother's Day - Index

Text copyright 1999-2005 © Jone Johnson Lewis