Letters from an American

Mothers' Day

May 11, 2026·8 min·5-min readnarrativehistory
Podzilla Summary (5 min)
TLDR
Mother's Day was not originally a sentimental holiday to honor individual mothers, but a radical, peace-driven political movement founded by Julia Ward Howe in 1870 as a response to the horrors of war and women’s exclusion from power. The episode reveals how the holiday’s forgotten origin

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Mentions

Books, people, and resources mentioned in this episode.

People

Julia Ward HoweHeather Cox RichardsonAnna JarvisElizabeth Cady Stanton

Books

Battle Hymn of the Republicby Julia Ward Howe

Topics

American HistoryCivil Rights HistoryHistorical FiguresUs Politics

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