History of Labor Day
Jonathon Andrews
This year Labor Day is on Monday, September 6, 2021. Many people think of Labor Day as the end of summer vacation which it is, but it was created for a different reason entirely: to celebrate workers and their achievements.
During the late 19th century, the average American worked 12-hour days and seven days a week to earn a basic living. This was also a time when children at the age of 5 were working in mills, factories and mines across the country. These children were paid a fraction of the wage the adults were receiving at the same job.
Working conditions were very unsafe. Workers of all ages didn’t have access to fresh air, clean bathrooms or breaks. The poor and recent immigrants were exposed the most to these awful conditions.
As manufacturing became the primary source of jobs in the United States, labor unions became more important and vocal. They soon started to create strikes and rallies to protest against the poor working environments and to compel employers to modify their hours and wages.
Many of these organized events became violent, including the Haymarket Riot of 1886 where several police officers and workers were killed in Chicago. The first Labor Day was held on Tuesday, September 5, 1882 in New York City. It consisted of 10,000 workers taking unpaid time off to march from City Hall to Union Square. This was the first Labor Day parade.
Not long after this idea of “a workingmen’s holiday” to be celebrated on the first Monday of September caught on. A lot of states passed legislation recognizing it, although Congress didn’t acknowledge it until twelve years later when the lack of workers’ rights was put into the public eye.
Employees of Pullman Palace Car Company in Chicago went on strike starting May 11, 1894 to protest wage cuts and union representatives being fired. On June 26th, the American Railroad Union, proposed a boycott of all Pullman railway cars. This affected railway traffic all across the nation. In an attempt to break this strike the federal government sent soldiers to Chicago, but this led to riots that killed dozens of workers.
Labor Day was made a legal holiday by Congress, in attempt to repair the relationship between the government and the American workers. President Grover Cleveland signed it into law on June 28th, 1894.
History.com Editors. (2010, April 13). Labor day 2021. History.com. https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/labor-day-1.
