--- description: Mother's Day actually has a somewhat sordid past, rife with conflict and controversy. title: The Dark Facts You Didn't Know About the History of Mother's Day image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdbd12af67ce6be03/69868ecd810bbb0cb9c91838/1280x720-1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The Dark Facts You Didn't Know About Mother's Day by [TIME Video](/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 10, 2014 3:25 PM CUT  FPG/Getty Images by [TIME Video](/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 10, 2014 3:25 PM CUT Mother’s Day hasn’t always been about flowers, handwritten cards and spending time with mom — it actually has a sordid past rife with conflict and controversy. In the late 1800s to early 1900s, Mother’s Day (in its various forms) was organized for reasons ranging from [lowering infant mortality](http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/05/140508-mothers-day-nation-gifts-facts-culture-moms/ "undefined"), promoting peace and honoring a [religious observance](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/07/mothers-day-history%5Fn%5F5280493.html "undefined") inspired by the mother of Anna Jarvis, who is now recognized as one of the two main founders of the holiday. The video above details how the history of Mother’s Day took a strange turn, eventually leaving Jarvis broke and childless in a sanitarium. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/95051/mothers-day-dark-history/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/95051/mothers-day-dark-history/"},"headline":"The Dark Facts You Didn't Know About Mother's Day","datePublished":"2014-05-10T15:25:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:46:07.840Z","description":"Mother's Day actually has a somewhat sordid past, rife with conflict and controversy.","url":"https://time.com/95051/mothers-day-dark-history/","keywords":["History","holiday","Mother's Day"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdbd12af67ce6be03/69868ecd810bbb0cb9c91838/1280x720-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Video","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-video/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdbd12af67ce6be03/69868ecd810bbb0cb9c91838/1280x720-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Ann Jarvis","caption":"","creditText":"FPG/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/95051/mothers-day-dark-history/","name":"The Dark Facts You Didn't Know About Mother's Day"}}]}] ```