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The Antiwar Origins of Mother’s Day

Harvard.edu

Poet and pioneer Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910)

In 1870, Julia Ward Howe responded to the horrors of the Civil War by issuing her “Mother’s Day Proclamation,” calling on women around the world to rise up and oppose war in all its forms.

It would be decades before Americans officially began celebrating Mother’s Day, and much of the original spirit of the proclamation has since been lost.

The Brave New Foundation, Code Pink and No More Victims are leading a movement to restore that spirit to the day, and for that we applaud them.

Watch Mother’s Day for Peace:

Related Links

No More Victims
This organization works to find medical sponsorships for injured Iraqi children.

Advertisement

Mother’s Day for Peace
The coalition working to restore the antiwar spirit of Mother’s Day.

Iraq Coalition Casualty Count
This site tracks casualties and injuries among U.S. forces.

Faces of the Fallen
Portraits of fallen soldiers from the Washington Post.

More on Julia Ward Howe
More information on the Mother’s Day Proclamation and Julia Ward Howe.

The Nation’s Take on Mother’s Day
The Nation magazine has been around since the Civil War—here’s its take on the proclamation inspired by that conflict.

Beyond the “Battle Hymn”
About.com Women’s History on the amazing Julia Ward Howe and the history of Mother’s Day.

Harvard on Howe
Harvard University’s biography of Howe.

Mother’s Day Gets Official
On May 9, 1914, President Wilson made it official.

Listen to the Truthdig interview with NoMoreVictims.Org’s Cole Miller.

Mother’s Day Proclamation (1870)
by Julia Ward Howe

Arise then ... women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
“We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.”

From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: “Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.”
Blood does not wipe our dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace ...
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God—
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

TAGS: holiday howe mother's day no more victims peace politics

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By GrammaConcept, May 14, 2007 at 9:35 pm #

“It is my conviction that nothing enduring can be built on violence”...-Gandhi

“Be the change you wish to see in the world”...-Gandhi

God Is Love, war is hell…Strive On…Strive On…..-GrammaConcept

I am honored to be in such company within the warm, upward motion of this evolved thinking…...

Thank You to Truthdig, and to all the makers of this powerful and moving video for providing this Wonderful, educational opportunity, and for presenting so beautifully the POV of SOOOO many…........ We will all be back….....Strive On, Please.

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By cann4ing, May 14, 2007 at 9:08 pm #

Far too often statistics—American dead measured in the thousands, Iraqi death measured in the hundreds of thousands, four million Iraqis displaced (including 2 million now refugees in other countries)—inure us from the true measure of suffering.

On this Mother’s day—a day of peace—the banner headline in my local paper read, “Five troops dead, three missing in Iraq attack.”

I stopped to think of how scared my mother said she was the entire time I was serving in Vietnam. I stopped to think of Cindy Sheehan. I stopped to think of how, for the mothers of those five dead soldiers, “Mother’s Day” will never again serve as a day of celebration, but instead will prove a life-long reminder of their unbearable grief.

Each day that the so-called “leading Democrats” play politics by coming up with variable schemes to fund this illegal occupation is a day where more will die; where mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and spouses will learn of permanent loss; lasting grief.

It is past time for the People to join in supporting H.R. 1234 (Kucinich). Not one more cent for war and war-profiteers. Not one more day. Troops home, now!

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By PatrickHenry, May 14, 2007 at 8:20 pm #

Ms. Howe’s statement was obviously made before “Your mama wears combat boots” became a reality.

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By sharon ash, May 14, 2007 at 3:33 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

The seeds for peace which Julia Ward Howe planted in 1870 have not died. They will never die, for deep in the heart of the vast majority, is a desire for peace. There is a very strong effort taking place in our country to nuture the seeds of peace and make them grow. And, it has a real chance to bloom. To learn more please visit: http://www.dopcampaign.org then, find a way that you can be a part of making this a reality. Thanks!

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By Michael Boldin, May 14, 2007 at 2:54 pm #

Definitely something for all of us to learn here. Violence and force does not solve problems. It didn’t back then, and it doesn’t today.

Only when we change course in this country can we ever have peace and prosperity.

At minimum, we must stop waging aggressive wars, killing innocent people, propping up dictators, overthrowing governments and the like.

That would be a start. Some further reading:

“A Foreign Policy for America”
http://www.populistamerica.com/a_foreign_policy_for_america

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By Verne Arnold, May 14, 2007 at 7:46 am #

Shame on me…I never knew this.

God…what a human!!!

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