May 10, 1913

Mother’s Day was born on May 10, 1913 when U.S. Rep. James Thomas Heflin of Alabama introduced Resolution 103, requesting President Woodrow Wilson, members of his cabinet, the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives and other federal officials to wear white carnations or “some other white flower” to honor mothers. Heflin said that mothers are “the greatest source of our country’s strength and inspiration.” The tradition of wearing white carnations – and later, red carnations – spread across the nation. With the positive response to the 1913 resolution, Heflin introduced formal legislation a year later, designating the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day. After quickly passing the House and being directed through the Senate, the bill went to Wilson’s desk on May 8, 1914 and became law the same day.

Read more at the United States House of Representatives.

James Thomas Heflin (1869-1951) practiced law in LaFayette, Alabama, before becoming that city’s mayor. He also served in the Alabama House of Representatives and was Alabama Secretary of State. Heflin served in the U.S. Senate from 1920 to 1931. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Birmingham Public Library Archives)

Portrait of J. Thomas Heflin, published between 1905-1945. (Harris & Ewing, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)

U.S. senator from Alabama James “Cotton Tom” Heflin, front and center, poses with a group of cotton farmers on the steps of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., in 1912. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, Library of Congress)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.