Washington, D.C. — Democracy Forward President and CEO Skye Perryman authored a new op-ed in Ms. Magazine, reflecting on the origins of Mother’s Day as a protest movement rooted in opposition to war, injustice, and political violence – and connecting that history to the current threats facing democracy, voting rights, families, and communities across the country.
In the piece, titled “The First Mother’s Day Was a Protest,” Perryman traces the holiday’s roots to abolitionist and suffragist Julia Ward Howe, who called for an international movement of mothers to oppose the devastation of war following the Civil War. The op-ed argues that the spirit of collective action and civil resistance that defined the first Mother’s Day remains urgently relevant amid attacks on democratic institutions, escalating political extremism, threats to voting rights, and harmful immigration policies impacting children and families.
Perryman reflects on the Trump-Vance administration’s attacks on democratic institutions and civil liberties, stating that people in America are again facing a moment where silence in the face of injustice carries profound consequences. She shared Democracy Forward’s work challenging unlawful immigration policies, attacks on reproductive freedom, censorship, and civil participation in protecting communities and the rule of law.
Perryman shared that the first Mother’s Day honored people who used their voices collectively “to oppose injustice and to take action in their own communities,” and calls on people in America to recommit to protecting children, democracy, and shared freedoms. The piece highlights the role mothers, caregivers, and everyday people continue to play in movements defending democratic values and resisting authoritarianism.
“The only way this crisis will become a catalyst for change is if we commit not just to rebuilding our nation, but to reimagining it as a nation that can hold all of us and to demand that our leaders drive bold change to achieve true democracy and true change for the next generation,” wrote Perryman.
Read the full op-ed here.
