For more than 125 years, Americans have celebrated Labor Day on the first Monday of September. It always signaled the unofficial end of summer, the dreaded return to school for kids, a time for great retail sales and initiation of the debate on whether or not you can wear white afterwards.
Well of course this year, Labor Day, like just about everything else will be a little different.
The origins of Labor Day have been somewhat lost over time. Historians credit Peter J. McGuire, co-founder of the American Federation of Labor, as the first to propose a holiday celebrating workers. If you’re interested in some extensive research on the subject, you’ll find plenty of people that don’t believe it was McGuire — so do your research and take your pick. The story that I’m sticking with for today is that McGuire brought up the idea in an 1882 meeting of the New York Central Labor Union, saying workers should lead a parade to “publicly show the strength and spirit de corps of the trade and labor organizations.”
It’s a fact that the first U.S. Labor Day was celebrated in 1882 — on Tuesday, September 5. The celebration was planned by the New York City Central Labor Union. The Labor Day “parade” consisted of about 10,000 workers that took unpaid leave and marched from City Hall past Union Square uptown to 42nd street, and ended in Wendel’s Elm Par at 92nd street and 9th Avenue for an organized picnic, complete with speeches and a concert. There is still (until this year) an annual Labor Day parade in New York City.
So what are we celebrating? The contributions and achievements of millions of men and women who are in the U.S. workforce. That seems like a good reason for a cold beer or glass of wine.
Happy Labor Day.
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