Celebrate Mother’s Day in the spirit of Julia Ward Howe

Spread the message, “War is never a solution.”

Most people think that Mother’s Day was a holiday invented by Hallmark to sell more cards. But, in fact, Mother’s Day for Peace was instituted in 1870 by Julia Ward Howe as a response to the carnage of the Civil War. She called on women to come together to commemorate their dead and find “the means whereby the great human family can live in peace…” This Mother’s Day, take a lively stroll with CODEPINK WOMEN FOR PEACE and the GRANNY PEACE BRIGADE, lead by a marching band. Bring your mothers, lovers, partners, friends, children, and grandparents. Share the original meaning of Mother’s Day by handing out leaflets bearing Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day Proclamation to the mothers and others that we pass along the way. We will make several stops to read the proclamation. We will definitely join the Raging Grannies and Their Daughters as they break into song along the route.

Meet: at Columbus Circle (59th St. & Broadway) by the statue
When: Sunday, May 11, at 11 a.m. (we will step off 11:15) Stroll for as long as you wish.

Route: up Broadway to 66th Street, right to Columbus Avenue, up Columbus, through the flea/farmer’s market at 77th Street, to the Columbus Avenue Mother’s Day Art Fair around the American Museum of Natural History. We will read the proclamation on the steps of the museum, and then go through the park. We’ll finish at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Bring: banners, signs of peace, noisemakers (not whistles) if you wish.
Attire: pink and/or festive

We will supply leaflets and a small strolling band.

Mothers Day 2007 – Photo: Sarie Teichman