Mother’s Day began as a call to activism and maternal reverence—but over a century later, its founder would barely recognize the floral-and-chocolate spectacle it has become.
At a Glance
- Founded by Anna Jarvis in 1908 to honor her mother’s public health activism
- Declared a national holiday by President Woodrow Wilson in 1914
- Jarvis later condemned its commercialization and spent her life fighting it
- The holiday now generates billions in spending, overshadowing its activist roots
Birth of a Compassionate Tradition
In 1908, Anna Jarvis organized the first Mother’s Day observance in Grafton, West Virginia, to honor her mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, a Civil War-era community organizer who created Mothers’ Day Work Clubs to combat unsanitary conditions. Anna’s vision was deeply personal and rooted in public health and service—not profit. As 6ABC Philadelphia explains, she wanted the day to foster reflection and gratitude rather than consumerism.
President Woodrow Wilson formalized the holiday in 1914, designating the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day. But within a few short years, companies like John Wanamaker’s department store had already begun using it as a sales hook—an outcome that outraged Jarvis.
A Battle Against Commodification
As the holiday became a goldmine for florists, candy makers, and greeting card companies, Jarvis launched a crusade to reclaim its original meaning. She publicly lambasted commercial entities and organized boycotts. “Candy! You take a box to Mother—and then eat most of it yourself. A pretty sentiment,” she once quipped, as reported by Lifehacker.
Watch a reflection: The history and commercialization of Mother’s Day.
Jarvis’s campaign included lawsuits and public demonstrations. In one instance, she was arrested for protesting a Mother’s Day fundraiser organized by the American War Mothers. Her passionate, if quixotic, fight consumed her life and finances.
Remembering the Genuine Intentions
Jarvis died in 1948, blind and broke in a sanitarium, with her medical expenses ironically covered by people in the greeting card industry she had so vehemently opposed. As Lifehacker notes, her famous criticism of the holiday’s direction cut deep: “A maudlin, insincere printed card or ready-made telegram means nothing except that you’re too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone else in the world.”
While today’s Mother’s Day generates more than $30 billion in U.S. retail spending, its founder’s wishes remain a poignant reminder of the gap between intention and execution.
Perhaps the best way to honor your mother this year isn’t with store-bought sentiment—but with the personal, heartfelt gestures Anna Jarvis had once imagined.
