What I Didn't Know About Mother's Day

Even before Anna Jarvis, there was the Mother of The Mother of Mother's Day in the U.S., Julia Ward Howe.  She wrote the Battle Hymn of the Republic in 1861.  She was an abolitionist and advocate of women's right to vote.  As a peace activist she wanted mothers around the world to "protest what [she saw] as the futility of their Sons killing the Sons of other Mothers."   Even  though  her marriage was repressive she managed to get her voice heard.  What a fascinating woman!  Read her Mother's Day Proclamation.  Written in 1870, it is heartbreakingly relevant today.