Anna Jarvis campaigned for years to make Mother’s Day an official holiday, which Congress passed in 1914. However, she fought a losing battle to keep the holiday from being commercialized and died alone, blind, and penniless. Mother’s Day has become highly profitable, with consumer spending projected to reach $23.6 billion in 2017.
In the late 1800s, Sunday school teacher Ann Reeves Jarvis was passionate about teaching women how to care for their children. Deeply religious, she often prayed that there would be a day set aside to honor hardworking mothers. After her death in 1905, her daughter Anna Jarvis campaigned tirelessly to fulfill that wish. Over many years, he lobbied prominent personalities such as author Mark Twain, President Theodore Roosevelt and dozens of US governors to declare the second Sunday in May – the Sunday closest to the anniversary of the death of his mother – like Mother’s Day. On May 8, 1914, Congress passed a law making Mother’s Day an official holiday. However, it didn’t take long for Jarvis’s idea to be co-opted by other causes and become a highly lucrative business opportunity for the floral and greeting card industries, among others. For the rest of her life, Jarvis fought a losing battle to keep Mother’s Day as she originally intended it and to keep the holiday from being commercialized.
A Love-Hate Relationship With Mother’s Day:
Anna Jarvis threatened lawsuits, wrote letters to politicians, issued bitter press releases, staged protests, and even fought with Eleanor Roosevelt to try to keep her idea of Mother’s Day pure.
Jarvis even claimed legal copyright of the holiday, always signing letters “Anna Jarvis, founder of Mother’s Day.” But the battle was a lost cause and the childless woman who dedicated her life to honoring her motherhood died in a sanatorium at the age of 84: alone, blind and penniless.
Mother’s Day has become one of the most profitable US holidays. Consumer spending in 2017 was projected to reach a record $23.6 billion, the National Retail Federation estimated.
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