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## June 2021

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### U.S. Census Bureau History: Mother's Day and Father's Day

Americans have celebrated Mother's Day for more than a century! President Woodrow Wilson designated thesecond Sunday in May as "Mother's Day" on May 9, 1914.American dads waited 58 additional years to get their own national day of recognition.  President Richard Nixonsigned a proclamation on May 1, 1972, recognizing the nation's dads on the third Sunday of June.

Americans have celebrated their moms on Mother's Day every year since 1914.  Dads had to wait a little longer for their special day, but they were finally rewarded with a national celebration beginning in 1972.  As the American family has changed in the decades since the first Mother's Day and Father's Day, the U.S. Census Bureau has adapted its censuses and surveys to collect data that better represents the role of mothers and fathers in married, same-sex, and unmarried partner households, as well as single-parent households and households where grandparents are the primary caregiver for grandchildren.

Three years after her mother's death on May 9, 1905, Anna Jarvis commemorated Ann Maria Reeves Jarvis by commissioning a special service at the Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton, WV.  As hundreds attended the service on May 10, 1908, Jarvis delivered an impassioned speech to a Philadelphia, PA, crowd urging support for the national observation of a mother's day holiday.  Following a letter writing campaign that encouraged newspapers, businesses, and politicians to support the holiday, President Woodrow Wilson designated the second Sunday in May as "Mother's Day" on May 9, 1914.

Jarvis chose the white carnation as a symbol of her campaign claiming that, "just as the carnation held its petals close to its stem, a mother holds her children close to her heart."  She gratefully accepted the support of many businesses for her national mother's day campaign, especially florists who donated thousands of white carnations to Mother's Day rally participants.  However, once Mother's Day became a national holiday, florists, confectioners, greeting card publishers, jewelers, and other merchants seized upon the opportunity to boost profits with promotions, sales, contests, and prizes.  Jarvis denounced the commercialization of the holiday.  She spent the final years of her life demanding that Mother's Day be removed from the calendar or, at the very least, returned to the simple celebration of Mother's Day among families, without the intrusion of business interests.

Jarvis was unsuccessful in her bid to remove Mother's Day from the calendar.  In fact, the popularity of the holiday helped garner support for the creation of a national day honoring American fathers.  Months after the first Mother's Day celebration, West Virginians held a July 5, 1908, service in Monongah, WV, for the fathers killed in the December 6, 1907, Monongah Mine Disaster.  On June 19, 1910, the state of Washington celebrated the first state-sponsored observation of Father's Day.  President Woodrow Wilson participated in Spokane, WA's ceremonies in 1916.

Anticipating a second month of increased holiday sales, retailers enthusiastically supported the national celebration of both Mother's Day and Father's Day, despite efforts to cancel them or merge the two days into a single, cost-saving "Parents Day" during the Great Depression.  By the end of World War II, Americans viewed the observance of Father's Day as not just a day to honor the nation's dads, but as a patriotic celebration of the husbands and fathers who fought in the war.  Fifty-eight years after the first national observance of Mother's Day, President Richard Nixon honored American fathers with a national holiday when he signed a May 1, 1972, proclamation observing the third Sunday of June as Father's Day.

In the decades since Mother's Day and Father's Day became national holidays, efforts have been made to recognize all parents, guardians, and caregivers that make up American families.  For example, Ronald Reagan made the March 21 observance of Single Parent Day a national holiday in 1984; Jimmy Carter honored the nation's grandparents with a special day beginning in 1979; President William Clinton observed Parents' Day as a national holiday in 1995; National Stepfamily Day has been celebrated on September 16 since 1997.  Beginning in 1998, President Clinton included all biological, adopted, foster, and step parents in his Mother's Day and Father's Day proclamations.  President Barack Obama included same-sex parents in his 2009 presidential proclamation observing September 28 as National Family Day.

You can learn more about the American family using census data and records.  For example:
                        - According to the 2014  Survey of Income and Program Participation —the most recent year for which data are available—approximately  75 million  of the 121 million men aged 15 and over were fathers.  Roughly 25 percent of these men were also grandfathers.  Data from the 2014 Current Population Survey found that  43.5 million  women aged 15 to 50 had given birth to 95.8 million children.
                        - Besides our own moms and dads, many Americans fondly recall favorite parents from American television and radio programs.  Examples may include,  George Burns  and  Gracie Allen  of the  Burns and Allen  radio show and television's  George Burns and Gracie Allen Show ; Ray and Debra Barone from  Everybody Loves Raymond ; Dr. Alex and Donna Stone from the  Donna Reed Show  played by  Carl Betz  and  Donna Reed ; the widowed father of three boys played by  Fred MacMurray  on  My Three Sons ; James and Florida Evans of  Good Times  played by John Amos and  Esther Rolle ; Howard and Marion Cunningham of  Happy Days  played by  Tom Bosley  and Marion Ross; Robert Reed and  Florence Henderson  who played  The Brady Bunch's  Mike and Carol Brady;  The Cosby Show's  Clair and Cliff Huxtable; Ward and June Cleaver of  Leave it to Beaver  played by  Hugh Beaumont  and  Barbara Billingsley ; Ricky and Lucy Ricardo of  I Love Lucy's  played by  Desi Arnaz  and  Lucille Ball ; Herman and Lily Munster of  The Munsters'  played by  Fred Gwynne  and Yvonne De Carlo; and Charles and Caroline Ingalls of  Little House on the Prairie's  played by  Michael Landon  and Karen Grassle.
                        - The American Community Survey reported that there were  122,802,852  occupied housing units in the United States in 2019.  The majority of these were 2-person households ( 42,095,164 ), followed by 1-person households ( 34,752,631 ), and households with 4 or more people ( 27,157,017 ).
                        - Of the  122,802,852  occupied housing units in the United States in 2019,  79,594,270  reported being family households and  58,370,842  of these were headed by a married couple.  The majority of these married couple households were aged 35 to 64 ( 35,883,794 ), followed by couples aged 65 and older ( 21,223,428 ), and aged 15 to 34 ( 8,061,525 ).
                        - Will you be giving a greeting card to a family member to celebrate Mother's Day, Father's Day, or Grandparent's Day?  If so, you are helping to support one of the nation's  112  (NAICS 511191) greeting card publishers and  20,286  gift, novelty, and souvenir stores (NAICS 453220), which includes stores selling greeting cards.  During the pay period that included March 12, 2019, the  County Business Patterns  series found that these two industries employed  16,914  and  143,945  people, respectively.
                        - Popular Mother's Day gifts include flowers, jewelry, and candy.  In 2017, the economic census found that the nation's  12,660  florists (NAICS 4531) employed  58,134  people and had sales of almost  $4.8 billion ;  21,283  jewelry establishments (NAICS 448310) employed  117,950  and had sales of nearly  $29.5 billion ; and the nation's  3,441  confectionery and nut stores (NAICS 445292) employed  23,097  and had sales of more than  $2.3 billion  that year.
                        - Some of the most common gifts given to dads on Father's Day include neckties, sporting goods, and books.  The 2017 Economic Census found that  6,819  men's clothing stores (NAICS 448110) employed  52,930  and had sales of approximately  $9 billion .  Sporting goods stores (NAICS 448110) employed  236,032  at  21,415  establishments, and reported sales of more than  $44.5 billion .  The nation's  6,531  book stores (NAICS 451211) employed  85,006  and had sales of nearly  $10 billion  in 2017.
                        - In addition to the traditional gifts of flowers, candy, and neckties given to mothers and fathers, the  National Retail Federation    reported that consumers spent $29.9 billion on gift cards in 2018.  Some of the favorite gift cards purchased by consumers that year were to the  253,868  full-service restaurants (NAICS 722511) and  4,133  department stores (NAICS 452210) identified by the  County Business Patterns  series.
                        - In 2019, the American Community Survey estimated that there were  21,223,428  single-parent households in the United States.  Of these households,  6,167,908  were headed by men and  15,055,520  were headed by women.  Each year, single parents are recognized for their hard work and dedication to their children on National Single Parent Day, marked as a national observance for the first time by President  Ronald Reagan  in a  proclamation  on March 21, 1984
                        - The U.S. Census Bureau's  America's Families and Living Arrangements tables  reported on same-sex couples for the first time in 2019.  Collected as part of the Current Population Survey's Annual Social and Economic Supplement, the tables show that the United States is home to  543,000  same-sex married couple households,  469,000  same-sex unmarried partner households, and that  191,000  children were living with same-sex parents.
                        - Grandparents play an important—often primary role—as caregivers for their grandchildren.  The Census Bureau first asked about grandparents as caregivers for their grandchildren during the 2000 Census, and in 2019, the American Community Survey found that  2,335,355  grandparents had primary responsibility for their grandchildren.  In recognition of the special relationship between grandparents and grandchildren, President Jimmy Carter issued a  proclamation  on September 6, 1979, designating September 9, 1979, and the first Sunday of September  after the Labor Day holiday thereafter, as National Grandparents Day.

President William Clinton signed the national observance of National Parents' Day into law on October 14, 1994.  The holiday celebrates the crucial role parents play as the "stewards of the future, shaping thehearts and minds of the next generation of leaders, thinkers, and workers.In addition to Parents' Day, many countries and some U.S. states also celebrate National Family Day.  National Family Day is celebrated on the fourth Monday of September and encourages families of alltypes and sizes to spend quality time together. Photo courtesy of the Social Security Administration.Did you know?
On October 14, 1994, President William Clinton signed the national observance of National Parents' Day into law, and it was celebrated for the first time on July 28, 1995.Inspired by the American observation of National Parents' Day, the United Nations designated June 1 of each year as the "Global Day of Parents," beginning in 2012.
View larger imageGrandparents
The Census Bureau first asked about grandparents as caregivers in 2000.  That year, 5,396,969 grandchildren under the age of 18 lived with a grandparent, and 2,882,224 of those grandparents were the primary caregivers for a grandchild.More recently, the American Community Survey reported that in 2019, 7,048,339 grandparents lived with a grandchild under the age of 18, and 2,335,355 of that total were the primary caregiver for at least one of their grandchildren.In recognition of the special role that grandparents play in their grandchildren's lives, the United States has celebrated National Grandparents Day on the first Sunday after Labor Day since 1979.The next observance of the holiday will be September 12, 2021.
View larger imageFor the RecordGrace Clayton organized the nation's first Father's Day celebration for the men killed in the December 1907 Monongah Mine Disaster.  The event held on July 5, 1908, went largely unnoticed outside of Fairmont, WV, though.Inspired by Anna Jarvis' Mother's Day campaign, Sonora Smart Dodd began her own drive for a holiday honoring dads.  Her June 19, 1910, Spokane, WA event honoring her father William J. Smart—a widowed Civil War veteran responsible for the family farm and six children—was the start of a decades-long campaign to create a national father's day holiday.President Lyndon Johnson issued a 1966 proclamation designating the third Sunday in June as "Father's Day."  Eight years later, President Richard Nixon created a permanent, national /www.census.gov/history/pdf/1972-fathersdayproclamation.pdf">Father's Day holiday.This year, Americans observe Father's Day on June 20, 2021.Photo courtesy of the State of Wisconsin.**Visit *https://www.census.gov/history* every month for the latest Census History Home Page!**~~~~[an error occurred while processing this directive]  This symbol  indicates a link to a non-government web site.  Our linking to these sites does not constitute an endorsement of any products, services or the information found on them. Once you link to another site you are subject to the policies of the new site.CONNECT WITH US**********- Information Quality
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Measuring America's People, Places, and Economy
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