julia ward howe

Happy Mother’s Day! This is the weekend people acknowledge and celebrate motherhood, whether you have one, are one, want to be one, or just appreciate moms. There are days to honor women and mothers all over the world, but the one in the United States has a fascinating history. Mother’s Day, in its original incarnation in the US, actually started as a way to stop wars.  In the late 1800s, Julia Ward Howe was so horrified by the Civil War’s effects on individuals and families that she wrote a poem exhorting women to keep their husbands from fighting, and pushed for a Mother’s Day of Peace. This was ultimately unsuccessful, but a generation later, Anna Jarvis successfully petitioned the American government to dedicate one day a year to mothers.  It was signed into law in 1914. Today, we just want…