Mother's Day

This passage discusses the history of the Mother's Day holiday.

Lexile Level: 470L

Categories: History People & Places

We honor our mothers every May. We thank our mothers for their hard work and love. The story behind Mother's Day starts during the Civil War. A woman named Anna held work days for women in her community. Their husbands were fighting in the war. The women cleaned up water sources. They stopped the spread of diseases. They did lots of dirty work usually done by men. Anna died in 1907. Her daughter had the same name. The younger Anna was very sad. She wanted to honor her mother. Her mother once asked for a day to celebrate women. Anna wrote letters to important people. She called for churches to hold services to honor mothers. These services were held on the second Sunday of May. Churches in forty-five states began this tradition. The government made Mother's Day an official holiday in 1914.