Note: This item is a crosspost from our sister site, Polktoday.com, and written by Jess Sims. -KtE
The time for honoring our fathers has come. Father’s Day 2022 is this Sunday, June 19. This holiday comes just before the summer solstice on June 24.
Celebrated annually on the third Sunday in June, this Sunday is the perfect time to show the father figure in your life just how much you appreciate him.
But how much do you know about the history of Father’s Day? It hasn’t always been a holiday forever, you know… and it wasn’t always as widely celebrated like it is today.
In 1907, a coal mining disaster in West Virginia occurred on December 6, killing 361 men. 250 of those men were fathers. A young woman named Grace Golden Clayton suggested to her local pastor that a commemoration service be held to honor them.
Clayton chose the date of July 5, 1908, as it was the Sunday closest to her own father’s birthday.
As this event was local and occurred immediately after Independence Day celebrations, no national attention was received.
The founding of the official American national holiday is credited to Sonora Smart Dodd, who heard a sermon in church about Mother’s Day, and decided that fathers needed recognition for their efforts as well. She spoke to the local ministerial society about a day of honoring fathers. She suggested her own father’s birthday on June 5, but the alliance settled on the third Sunday of the month.
The first Father’s Day was celebrated on June 19, 1910, in Spokane, Washington.
Though there were many attempts to organize national attention for Father’s Day commemoration across the country, the first bill proclaiming it as a national observance wasn’t signed into law until 1972 under Richard Nixon.
There are many other cultural traditions around the world that celebrate the honor of fatherhood, but no matter how you celebrate– with your dad, uncles, cousins, grandfathers, or any other father figures in your life– we hope you show them just how much they are appreciated.
We also hope everyone (fathers or not) enjoy this holiday weekend to the fullest. Want to send in Father’s Day BBQ or outing photos to be featured on Polk Today? Send them to kevin@polk.today.
