MAY 17 = Brown - vs - the Board of Education

"Does segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race, even though the physical facilities and other 'tangible' factors may be equal, deprive the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities? We believe that it does... Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored children. The impact is greater when it has the sanction of the law, for the policy of separating the races is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the negro group." 

So wrote the Supreme Court of the United States of America on today's date, May 17, in 1954. This ruling, in the case of "Brown versus the Board of Education" written by the Chief Justice, Earl Warren was the beginning of the end of legalized racial segregation in schools in the United States of America. And with this ruling that the old system of "Separate but equal" violated the Equal Protection clause of the 14'th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, a watershed moment was reached in the struggle for racial equality in the United States  This occurred as the ruling began to be applied in other legal and political areas, and laws preserving racial segregation began to fall.

Plessy -vs- Ferguson Legalizes Racial Segregation

In 1896, the Supreme Court ruled that Homer J. Plessy was not within his rights when refusing to sit in a "Colored only" section of the east Louisiana Railroad in New Orleans, Louisiana.  In a decision that encoded racial segregation into law, the high Court, lead by Chief Justice Melville Fuller ruled 7 to 1, that Louisiana Judge John Ferguson had ruled correctly that the railroad company had a right to regulate it's trains as it wished. And this meant that as long as it provided accommodations for it's Black customers that were "separate but equal" to those offered to it's white customers, it was acting within the law.  This lead over the years to the legalized racial segregation of everything from lunch counters to drinking fountains to public transportation to schools.  

Oliver Brown Challenges the System.

In 1951, Oliver Brown, a back man who was  an Assistant Pastor at his local church attempted to enroll his daughter, Linda (right) in Sumner Elementary School in Topeka, Kansas.  Sumner had been an all-white school.  He wished to do this not only because Sumner was a better school than Monroe Elementary - an "All-colored" school where Linda would normally have gone -  but because it was closer.. a mere six blocks from her home as opposed to Monroe, which was a bus ride of several miles.  Linda Brown Thompson later recalled her impressions of this event:

" We lived in an integrated neighborhood and I had all of these playmates of different nationalities. And so when I found out that day that I might be able to go to their school, I was just thrilled, you know. And I remember walking over to Sumner school with my dad that day and going up the steps of the school and the school looked so big to a smaller child. And I remember going inside and my dad spoke with someone and then he went into the inner office with the principal and they left me out . . . to sit outside with the secretary. And while he was in the inner office, I could hear voices and hear his voice raised, you know, as the conversation went on. And then he immediately came out of the office, took me by the hand and we walked home from the school. I just couldn't understand what was happening because I was so sure that I was going to go to school with Mona and Guinevere, Wanda, and all of my playmates."

The Supreme Court Hears "Brown versus the Board of Education"

This brought about a law suit filed by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to overturn the Plessy -vs- Ferguson decision.  In his suit, which consolidated several such suits being filed around the country, Brown's NAACP appointed lawyers lead by Thurgood Marshall (pictured center, above), who would himself be appointed to the high Court in 1967, argued that Topeka's Black and White schools were not equal to each other and never could be. Therefore, they violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14'th Amendment, thus making them and the entire "separate, but equal" regime unconstitutional.  And as stated at the top of this posting, the court agreed. In their decision, the court further said: 

"A sense of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn. Segregation with the sanction of law, therefore, has a tendency to [retard] the educational and mental development of negro children and to deprive them of some of the benefits they would receive in a racial[ly] integrated school system... We conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of "separate but equal" has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. Therefore, we hold that the plaintiffs and others similarly situated for whom the actions have been brought are, by reason of the segregation complained of, deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment." 

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_v._Board_of_Education

http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2008/02/brown-v-board-o.html

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/rights/landmark_brown.html

+ 137.

MAY 16 = Button Gwinnett Goes Down

“Both pistols were discharged at nearly the same time. Gwinnett was shot in the leg immediately above the knee, the bone being broken, and he fell to the ground. He exclaimed ‘My thigh is broken!’ McIntosh was shot through the thick of the leg and not thinking his antagonist was worse wounded than himself, asked if his opponent had had enough or was for another shot, to which Gwinnett replied, Yes, if they would help him up. To this the seconds objected, declaring that both had behaved like gentlemen and men of honor. The General was lead up to his fallen antagonist, and both shook hands.”

This is an account of the duel which took place on today’s date, May 16 in 1777 between Button Gwinnett (above) and Lachlan McIntosh, the “General” referred to by historian D.J. Drewien. The name of McIntosh may be familiar to you, largely because of its coincidental relationship to the famous fruit, and by extension the computer company, on one of whose products I wrote this account. The name of Button Gwinnett is likely less familiar to you unless like me, your mind is cursed with the consistency of fly paper (for those of you too young to recall what THAT is… look it up!),  and stuck to it is a staggering amount of miscellaneous data, mostly useless. I recall reading about Button Gwinnett in the Guiness Book of World Records years ago. It referred to his signature as being highly valuable. My next encounter with Mr. Gwinnett’s signature came in the superb 1958 film “The Last Hurrah” in which Gwinnett is described as:

“…a colonial gentleman who is known to have signed only one document in his life…. The Declaration of Independence .”   To which the character of Mayor Frank Skeffington, played by Spencer Tracy chimes in “And as they say in show business: ‘what do you do for an encore’?”

Button Gwinnett - America's (Almost) Forgotten Founding Father

Well it is time to give Button Gwinnett his due recognition as one of our country’s founding fathers. He was born in Down Hatherly, Gloucestershire, England, and was baptized in Gloucester in 1735. While still living in England, Gwinnett was married and began a career in trading commodities. In the 1760s, he moved to South Carolina, first to Charleston , before moving on to Savannah, Georgia, wherein he established himself as a trader by 1765. He entered politics in 1769, being elected to the Commons House of Assembly. Gwinnett established a residence on St. Catherine's Island, Georgia, in 1770, leaving commerce for farming. It was in this field that he developed a strong contempt for the wealthy and powerful "city Whigs" of Savannah, and this had a strong influence on his political thinking. Those "country Whigs", who made up most of Gwinnett’s political constituency were primarily less prosperous coastal dwellers like himself and back-country farmers. When first made commander of Georgia s Patriot forces, Gwinnett was forced to resign by the outcry of "city Whigs." Nevertheless, Gwinnett was elected to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia wherein he affixed his famous and rare signature to the Declaration of Independence. Gwinnett returned to Georgia immediately after signing the declaration, and determined to take control of Georgia politics, he became speaker of the legislature, guided the Georgia Constitution of 1777 into existence and took over as governor when Archibald Bulloch died suddenly in office.

Governor Gwinnett Gets Into Trouble With General McIntosh

As the new head of governmental affairs in Georgia, including the state military. Gov. Gwinnett began to use his position to thwart the efforts of Brigadier General Lachlan McIntosh (below),  one of those “city Whigs”whom he had come to so detest from his farming experiences.

McIntosh had been appointed by the Continental Congress over Georgia's Continental Battalion, but as the governor of the state, Gwinnett thought he should be in command of it himself. Gwinnett therefore took an active role over the continental army in Georgia which caused dissension in the ranks. Governor Gwinnett took over the planning of an expedition to Florida and would have led the troops himself, but was kept from going by state business. Instead, he appointed one of McIntosh's subordinates as the commander of the expedition. This blew up in Gwinnett’s face when the expedition failed, and his bid for election to the governorship failed. Gwinnett was charged with malfeasance in the debacle, but was cleared. But McIntosh publicly denounced the Button man, and this lead the duel described above by Mr. Drewien, They met at the small town of Thunderbolt, near Savannah, and fought on May 16, 1777, at a distance of only 12 feet. Both were severely wounded, Gwinnett mortally. He died three days later from gangrene which he contracted from the shattered bone in his leg. Lachlan McIntosh survived and continued to serve his country. Mr. Gwinnett died on May 19, 1777 at the age of 45.

Button Gwinnett's Signature Winds Up Being Bigger than John Hancock's


As to the man’s signature, well it was not quite accurate to say that he only signed the Declaration. Nevertheless, Button Gwinnett's signature is considered among the most valuable of historical autographs in the world, valued only behind those of Julius Caesar and William Shakespeare. And Gwinnett's signature is by far the most valuable American autograph, selling for as much as $150,000. This is because collectors attempting to obtain a complete set of the autographs of all 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence have more than a bit of a challenge with Mr. Gwinnett as less than 30 examples of his signature are known to exist, since he was not well known before signing the Declaration and died shortly after.  So in spite of the fact that John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress signed his name so large (in his words: "So that fat {King}George can read it without his glasses!"), Button Gwinnett still wins the prize for the most valuable signature of the 56 signers, in spite of being such an obscure figure.  Funny, how history works out sometimes, ISN'T IT???

READERS!! If you would like to comment on this, or any "Today in History" posting, I would love to hear from you!!  You can either sign up to be a member of this blog and post a comment in the space provided below, or you can simply e-mail me directly at:  krustybassist@gmail.com  I seem to be getting hits on this site all over the world, so please do write and let me know how you like what I'm writing (or not!)!!


Sources:

http://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com/button-gwinnett.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Button_Gwinnett

"Button Gwinnett: A Historiography of the Georgia Signer of the Declaration of Independence" 
by D.J. Drewien, Rose Dog Books, Pittsburg, PA., 2007













+ 225.
+ 139.
+ 144.

SPECIAL = Santa Maria is Located....

The article directly below was is taken from the "The Independent" website of Thursday, May 15, 2014.  The web address for the article itself is:

 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/exclusive-found-after-500-years-the-wreck-of-christopher-columbuss-flagship-the-santa-maria-9359330.html

Exclusive: Found after 500 years, the wreck of Christopher Columbus’s flagship the Santa Maria

BY DAVID KEYS  ARCHAEOLOGY CORRESPONDENT  Tuesday 13 May 2014

More than five centuries after Christopher Columbus’s flagship, the Santa Maria, was wrecked in the Caribbean, archaeological investigators think they may have discovered the vessel’s long-lost remains – lying at the bottom of the sea off the north coast of Haiti. It’s likely to be one of the world’s most important underwater archaeological discoveries.

“All the geographical, underwater topography and archaeological evidence strongly suggests that this wreck is Columbus’ famous flagship, the Santa Maria,” said the leader of a recent reconnaissance expedition to the site, one of America’s top underwater archaeological investigators, Barry Clifford.

“The Haitian government has been extremely helpful – and we now need to continue working  with them to carry out a detailed archaeological excavation of the wreck,” he said.

So far, Mr Clifford’s team has carried out purely non-invasive survey work at the site – measuring and photographing it.

Tentatively identifying the wreck as the Santa Maria has been made possible by quite separate discoveries made by other archaeologists in 2003 suggesting the probable location of Columbus’ fort relatively nearby. Armed with this new information about the location of the fort, Clifford was able to use data in  Christopher Columbus’ diary (pictured below) to work out where the wreck should be.

An expedition, mounted by his team a decade ago, had already found and photo- graphed the wreck – but had not, at that stage, realized its probable identity.

It’s a current re-examination of underwater photographs from that initial survey (carried out back in 2003), combined with data from recent reconnaissance dives on the site (carried out by Clifford’s team earlier this month), that have allowed Clifford to tentatively identify the wreck as that of the Santa Maria.

The evidence so far is substantial. It is the right location in terms of how Christopher Columbus, writing in his diary, described the wreck in relation to his fort.

This next portion is information gathered by B.T. Bolten :

The Santa María was built in Castro-Urdiales, Cantabria, and launched in 1460. She was a type of ship called a "Nao" or a "carrack".  (Pictured above: a model of the Santa Maria) These were basically round ships developed by the Portuguese in the 15'th Century for ocean-going voyages.  Such ships had high rounded sterns with large aftercastle, forecastle and bowsprit at the stem.  They were three-masted ships with a Main, Fore and a Mizzen Mast. On the Mizzen (rear) mast, they tended to carry a lanteen (or a triangular shaped) sail, because the sailors likely found the large square sails difficult to handle. The Santa Maria was a medium-sized vessel of this type, at a  total length of about 58 ft. and weighing about 150 metric tons... so she really was not very large. She had 39 men listed as being in her crew, including Columbus himself.  Her wreck occurred on Christmas Day, December 25, in 1492.

Souces:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Mar%C3%ADa_(ship)

"Fighting Ships" by Richard Hough, Putnam's Sons, New York, 1969

MAY 14 = Lewis and Clark Begin.....

"Rained the fore part of the day. I determined to go as far as St. Charles, a French village seven
leagues up the Missouri, and wait at that place until Captain Lewis could finish the business which he was obliged to attend to at St. Louis,, and join me by land from that place (24 miles). I calculated that if any alterations in the loading of the vessels or other changes were necessary, they might be made at St. Charles."

- Captain William Clark, May 14, 1804

So begins one of the earliest entries in the Journals of Lewis and Clark.  It was on this day, May 14 in 1804 that Captains Lewis (above left) and Clark (above right) began their truly epic journey across the entire western part of our country along with 33 men who constituted their group called "the Corps of Discovery."

Thomas Jefferson and the Louisiana Territory

President Thomas Jefferson had effectively doubled the size of the United States with his "Louisiana Purchase" in 1803.  So he prevailed upon his own private secretary, Merriweather Lewis to lead a band of intrepid explorers on a journey of exploration of this vast, and largely un-explored chunk of the North American continent to basically see what was there.  Officially the Corps was to explore the area and map

its topo- graphy, its features (rivers, mountains, etc.), to note the flora and the fauna to be found growing there, as well as the wildlife, and also to find out and (hopefully) make friends with whatever indigenous tribes they found along the way.  But what Jefferson was really hoping to find was a water route across the continent. So with 33 men in his group, and with Captain Clark helping him to organize the whole thing, Lewis traveled to St. Louis to set things up, leaving Capt. Clark to actually begin the journey. Here is part of Clark's journal entry for the day before:

"Boats and everything complete, with the necessary stores of provisions and such articles of merchandise as we thought ourselves authorized to procure - though not as much as I think necessary for the multitude of Indians through which we must pass on our road across the continent."

-  Captain Clark, River Dubois opposite the mouth of the Missouri River, 13 May 1804

They were indeed about to travel on foot, horseback, and boat ALL the way across the unknown interior of the continent which was the brand new country, the United States of America, and other than some educated guess work, they had no idea what they were going to find.  And they certainly did not know what sort of people they would find along the way, let alone whether they would turn out to be friendly to these strange new visitors to their world. So naturally Clark was concerned about what they would do when they met them. What they would find, and whom shall be the subject of future "Today in History"

postings.  For today though, Clark made a late start, but a start never- theless:

"I set out at 4 o'clock, P.M., in the presence of many of the neighboring inhabitants and proceeded under a gentle breeze up the Missouri to the upper point of the first island, 4 miles, and camped on the island."  

- Captain Clark, 14 May 1804


Sources:

"The Journals of Lewis and Clark" by Merriwether Lewis and William Clark, Shamrock Eden Publishing. Kindle Edition

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_and_Clark_Expedition

SPECIAL = A Quote from "Washington's Spies"

I wrote a review of the superb book "George Washington's Secret Six" back on January 29 of this year which can be found at:

http://historysstory.blogspot.com/2014/01/special-george-washingtons-secret-six_29.html

In the course of that review I wrote that little had been written about this subject of the network of spies which the Father of our Country managed to set up in British-occupied New York City during the War for American Independence. As I said in the amended version of that review a couple of days ago, I was at that time unaware of the book

"Washington's Spies" by Alexander Rose, which is the basis for the TV Series "Turn" which is currently being broadcast on the AMC Cable TV Network.  So as I said in the amendment, I am currently reading Mr. Rose's book and should have a review of it, likely comparing and contrasting it with Mr. Killmeade's book, as well as perhaps saying something about how well it transfers to our living room TV screens. Look for that on this Blog at some point in the future.

But, in addition to cluing you in to the fact that this is coming up, I wanted to give you an absolutely outrageous excerpt from Mr. Rose's book.  He is here speaking of the odd conglomeration of people which had collected in New York City as a result of the fact that it was under British occupation, and was therefore cut off from the rest of the American Colonies.  Read the whole paragraph if you have the time, but definitely read the part which I have highlighted at the very end. I promise you will be blown away!! It really is pretty amazing.   Read and believe:

"New York’s inhabitants were compressed into a tiny area, an inverted triangle measuring half a square mile. There were about 25,000 residents in 1776—including 3,137 free, freed, and enslaved blacks, as well as Scots, Irish, Germans , Jews (some 300 ), Spaniards , and 

Portuguese— but this figure did not account for soldiers. In May 1776, 8,767 American troops were deployed in and around the city; by August, there were no fewer than 20,375 American and 34,614 British servicemen in the area, all demanding food, fuel, and shelter.  Within the month, the vast majority of civilians had fled the fighting, leaving just 5,000 living in the spookily deserted city. (Among those who remained, whoever’s soldiery was in town, were the 500 hopeful prostitutes plying their trade in what was known as “Holy Ground”— it was land owned by the Church of England— that occupied the area later occupied by the World Trade Center .) "

That's all (for now) folks!!!!!!!!  See you soon!!

Sources:

"Washington's Spies" by Alexander Rose, Bantam Books, New York, 2006, p. 91

MAY 11 The Dustbowl Hits Washington D.C.

"Bennett took his case to law- makers on Capitol Hill. As he was about to testify, he learned that a great dust storm was heading towards the east coast. The storm had already deposited 12 million pounds of dust on Chicago — four pounds for each person in the city — and was poised to descend on the nation’s capital. Bennett used every stalling tactic he could, managing to keep the committee in session until the dark gloom settled on Washington. 'This, gentleman,' he announced, 'is what I have been talking about.' For the first time Easterners smelled, breathed, and tasted the dust blowing off the Southern Plains."

- From "Surviving the Dustbowl", PBS, 1998.

On today's date, May 11 in 1934, a huge storm sent millions of tons of topsoil flying from across the dry and parched Great Plains region of the United States into the eastern cities of the country and right into Washington DC as Hugh Bennet was trying to make Congress see the necessity of soil conservation legislation to save the "Dustbowl" areas of the the United States.  It couldn't have been better timed.

The "Garden of Eden" Turns to Dust 

The land of the Great Plains was covered by miles upon miles of prairie grass, when it was settled by Americans in the mid 1800's.  This seemingly rich and fertile land held moisture in the earth and kept most of the soil from blowing away even during the many dry spells through which the region would suffer.  But by the 20'th Century much of that grass land had been plowed under, and the U.S. entry into World War I in 1917 created a huge demand for wheat. Farmers began to push their fields to their limit, plowing under more and more grassland with the newly invented tractor, which chewed up huge amounts of land at unheard of rates as compared to what the horse drawn plows had been able to manage. Still advertisements for land painted the picture of a veritable "Garden of Eden", able to produce endless amounts of grain into an endless future of prosperity. Farmers did not realize that this fertile period was just part of a centuries-old cycle of rain and drought.  During the 1920s, wheat production increased by 300 percent, causing a glut in the market by 1931. But in 1931, the drought cycle began as a severe dry-spell spread across the region. As crops died, wind began to carry dust from the over-plowed and over-grazed lands, which could no longer hold steady to the land from which it had been plowed. The number of dust storms reported jumped from 14 in 1932 to 28 in 1933.  Huge black clouds of dust would rage across the plains for days on end, swallowing up entire farms and leaving the once fertile fields a mass of parched dry and lifeless clay.

"It kept getting worse and worse, and kept getting darker and darker.  The whole house was vibrating like it was going to blow away.  And I started trying to see my hand, and bringing my hand up closer and closer and closer.... I finally touched the end of my nose, and I still couldn't see my hand! That's how black it was."

- Melt White (above), Dalhart, Texas.

"The Dustbowl" Uproots Families Over Five States 

The drought encompassed roughly a five state area running from the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles up to western Kansas and eastern Colorado and New Mexico.  A newsman travelling through the area surveyed the damage which the dust storms had wrought and dubbed the area "the Dustbowl". The dust storms forced thousands of families from these areas to uproot and migrate to California, where they were derisively called "Okies"-- regardless of what state they were from. In fact their plight became the subject of the best selling novel, "the Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck. These transplants (one of whom, Florence Thompson, is pictured at the top of this posting in an iconic photo from the Dustbowl by photographer Bill Ganzel) found life out West to be just about as difficult as what they had left. In many ways it was worse, as jobs were scarce and pay was very low during these, the worst years of the Great Depression. It was during this darkest period of the drought that Hugh Bennet and a huge storm created the perfect storm to force action to be taken in Washington DC to save the soil and to bring relief to the suffering farmers of the great Plains.

Hugh Bennet and the Perfect Storm

In 1933 Bennett (left) was made director of the newly formed Soil Erosion Service, which was working to fight the erosion caused by dust storms primarily by changing farming methods. “...Americans have been the greatest destroyers of land of any race or people, barbaric or civilized,” he said, adding that there was a need  for “a tremendous national awakening to the need for action in bettering our agricultural practices.”  Bennet's criticisms of Dust Bowl farming techniques raised the ire of farmers, but he saw his reforms as absolutely necessary to save the topsoil of the area and to avoid similar problems with future cultivation efforts. The storms had been decreasing in frequency but increased in intensity, culminating in the most severe storm yet in May 1934. Over a period of two days, high-level winds caught and carried some 350 million tons of silt all the way from the northern Great Plains to the eastern seaboard.  Bennett gained the support of Congress with the help of this perfectly timed storm from the plains that hit Washington, D.C. on today's date, May 11 of 1934, while he was testifying before a congressional committee, resulting in the events described at the beginning of this posting. Having to experience a debilitating dust storm first hand in the Capital clarified the situation for the legislators. Congress put its weight behind the Soil Conservation Act of 1935, which focused on improving farming techniques. This Act began the enforce federal regulation of farming methods, including crop rotation, grass-seeding and new plowing methods. This worked to a point, reducing dust storms by up to 65%.  Still the drought continued:

"The impact is like a shovelful of fine sand flung against the face," Avis D. Carlson wrote in a New Republic article. "People caught in their own yards grope for the doorstep. Cars come to a standstill, for no light in the world can penetrate that swirling murk... We live with the dust, eat it, sleep with it, watch it strip us of possessions and the hope of possessions. It is becoming Real."  

It was only with the arrival of more sustained relief in the form of regular rain showers in the Fall of 1939 that the long and terrible chapter of "The Dustbowl" finally drew to a close.

"There’d be lightning back in the Northwest, you’d see flickering lightning and Dad would say, 'That’ll be in here about 2 o’clock in the morning.' But the rain was so welcome and they smelt so good I’d lay and listen to them pitter patter on the side of the old house at night and we’d really sleep. Cause it was a wonderful feeling."

- Melt White

READERS!! If you would like to comment on this, or any "Today in History" posting, I would love to hear from you!!  You can either sign up to be a member of this blog and post a comment in the space provided below, or you can simply e-mail me directly at:  krustybassist@gmail.com  I seem to be getting hits on this site all over the world, so please do write and let me know how you like what I'm writing (or not!)!!


Sources:

http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/index.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/transcript/dustbowl-transcript/

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/dustbowl/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grapes_of_Wrath

+ 516.
+ 127.

MOTHERS DAY

Pictured above is my own mother, Norma Irwin McDermott Bolten, 1924 -2012.


“Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, ‘Woman here is your son,’ and to the disciple ‘Here is your mother.’ From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.”

- The Holy Bible, John 19: 25 – 27.

The setting aside of “Mothers Day” has it’s antecedents in the ancient world. The ancient Greeks celebrated a holiday in honor of Rhea, the mother of the gods. The Romans celebrated a holiday in honor of Cybele, a mother goddess, March 22-25. These celebrations, as did any number of Roman holidays, became sufficiently notorious that the followers of Cybele wound up being banished from Rome. And in the British Isles and Celtic Europe, the goddess Brigid, and later her more proper successor St. Brigid, were honored in the spring with a Mother's Day, which celebrated the giving of the first milk of the ewes. And there are “Mothers Days” throughout the world in virtually every country. But in America, “Mothers Day” originated with the effort of a devoted daughter to make sure that children would not become so entangled with their own lives that they would forget their mothers.

Anna Jarvis, and Mothers Day

Miss Anna Jarvis (below), was born in 1864 and went to school in Grafton, West Virginia. Her mother’s address made it difficult for Miss Anna to attend Mary Baldwin College, but she was quite determined

to get a higher education, so she did in fact go away to school for a time. Upon her graduation, she did indeed return to Grafton as a certified public school teacher. Unfortunately, Miss Anna’s dear mother passed away on today’s date, May 9 in 1905. Anna had been a superbly attentive daughter all of her life, nevertheless, her mother’s passing left her stricken with guilt for all of the time she might have spent with her mother but didn’t, all of the things she might have done with her, but did not, and a host of other such sad regrets. Two years later, Anna came up with an idea: she invited some friends to her home in Philadelphia on the second Sunday in May which was the anniversary of her mother’s passing, and told them that she thought that there should be a nationally recognized annual day of celebration of Mothers everywhere called “Mothers Day.”

The Idea of "Mothers Day" Catches On!

The idea was a huge success with Miss Anna’s friends. Her friend John Wanamaker (below), who was the country’s largest clothing merchant

offered financial backing.  And in 1908, she wrote to the superintendent of Andrews Methodist School wherein her late mother had once taught a religion class, suggesting that his church in Grafton would be an excellent place for this celebration in her mother’s honor, with all mothers present receiving recognition. So on May 10, 1908 the first Mothers Day service was held in the United States and in attendance were 407 children along with their mothers. In his sermon for that occasion, the good Reverend made the subject of his sermon the Biblical verse quoted at the beginning of this posting. And at the conclusion of the service, Miss Anna presented each child and their mother with a flower which was her mother’s favorite – the carnation.

Anna Jarvis' Unhappy End

The idea of Mothers Day caught on immediately, and in spite of some difficulties in the U.S. Congress (some things never change!), it was finally approved. On the date May 8, in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation officially designating the second Sunday in May as “Mothers Day”. Regrettably, Miss Anna did not finish her days so happily. She had a love affair which ended poorly, and in considerable disillusionment over this, she vowed never to marry, and wound up viewing the day which she had been so instrumental in getting proclaimed as a very personal mockery. The increasing degree of commercialization which inevitably began attaching itself to “Mothers Day” only made her unhappiness worse. She went so far as to initiate several lawsuits against companies which sought to profit from the day. These lawsuits failed, and Anna Jarvis died childless and alone in 1948.

My Own Mother

As many of you may be aware, I lost my own wonderful mother, Norma on March 10 of 2012.  That's her above on the left with friends at Findley Market in Cincinnati during the 40's.  Nothing can ever replace the confidence which she had in me, no feeling can ever replace the knowledge that here was one person who cared about me deeply and constantly. And I thank God every night in my prayers for that wonderful, sweet and magical time in my life in which she and my father created for me and my siblings a world wherein all was safe, and Mom & Dad would always love us and take care of us...  everything would always be alright.  It was something that all too many kids must grow up without, and I am supremely lucky that I did not have to.  I think of all of these things especially now that I will have to pass Mothers Day without being able to put my arms around her and give her a hug.  I can only say to you my readers:  MAKE SURE that you  get your mom something special, or do something sweet for your Mom this Mothers Day, before you find yourself hearing, as I now must,  all of those little reminders from TV hosts and radio commentators or whoever else to do something special for your Mom and you can only think as I now must think: "I only wish that I could!"  But above all, be thankful for all of the years that you have had with her, and remember to be happy, as I always am that her sweetness will always be a happy and comforting memory. Thanks Mom, and Happy Mothers Day!!


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Sources =


"Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things" by Charles Panati, Harper & Row Publishers,
New York, 1987.

http://womenshistory.about.com/od/mothersday/a/early.htm

http://www.myhero.com/go/hero.asp?hero=JARVIS

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wanamaker

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