Today is Labor Day — to some people, this is kind of the official end of summer. In some ways, I guess that’s kind of true, because Labor Day has become all about BBQs, beaches, ballgames, shopping and things like that. It’s also a big weekend for travel — I just read that almost 60% of Americans planned to “get out of town” for Labor Day weekend. There a lot of college football games scheduled and many/most people will participate in some kind of a cookout.
But Labor Day didn’t start out to be a relaxing, late-summer weekend.
The holiday grew out of the organized labor movement in the late 19th century — in September, 1882, the unions of New York City decided to have a parade to celebrate their members being in unions, and to show support for all unions. From what I’ve read, the event attracted at least 20,000 people and the workers had to give up a day’s pay to attend. It seems like there was also a lot of beer involved with the event.
Well, this inspired other unions in other regions to have parades, and by 1887, Oregon, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and Colorado made Labor Day a state holiday.
No one’s exactly sure who should get credit for that first “Labor Day Parade” in New York City. Depending on who you talk to, two people get credit for that event. Matthew Maguire, a machinist, and Peer McGuire, a carpenter — both are sometimes listed at the organizer. The two men were from rival unions, and in 2011, Linda Stinson, a former U.S. Department of Labor historian said she didn’t know which man should be credited — partially because people over the years confused them because of their similar-sounding names.
In 1894, President Grover Cleveland signed an act establishing Labor Day as a federal holiday — by then, most states had already passed laws establishing a Labor Day. But Senator James Henderson Kyle of South Dakota introduced S.730 to make Labor Day a federal legal holiday on the first Monday of September. It was approved on June 28, 1894.
Today, there are fewer parades on Labor Day and the day is set aside to honor organized labor — and — it marks the perceived end of the summer season.
So today we celebrate labor and those that work to make our country great. Some say that “work” is a four-letter word — and that’s true, but Confucius said, “Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
Happy Labor Day.
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