Throughout the history of Labor Day, which is an American
National holiday, it takes place the first Monday of September.
Some call it is the unofficial end to summer. Labor Day's true
meaning is to honor the everyday working people. The people whose
sweat build and maintain the heart of United States. Today Labor
Day is as normal as baseball, apple pie and fireworks on the fourth of July,
but this was not always so.
In 19th century America, the industrial revolution was in full
bloom, and people were needed en masse to feed the machines of mass
production. Millions responded, coming from the farms by the promise of
the American dream, a trust in the commonwealth. The people wanted
a secure year-round income in an environment sheltered from the often
harsh elements. What they found was a life toiling
twelve and fourteen hours a day in dingy and sometimes dangerous
conditions in factories and underground mines.
From the late 1700s into the mid 1800s working people increasingly
joined together in trade unions that would bargain collectively for the
benefit of all members. A day to praise the efforts of the everyday
people was first suggested around 1880 by Peter J. McGuire, founder of
the United Brotherhood of Carpenters. However, the first Labor Day
holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City
by the Knights of Labor. It celebrated the working man on
that date. The idea of celebrating the everyday working man began to
spread with the growth of labor organizations. By 1885 Labor Day
was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.
This holiday is to exhibit to the public "the strength and esprit
de corps of the trade and labor organizations" of the community. Labor day is also a festival for the recreation and amusement of the
workers and their families. Parades, festivals , barbeques, this became
the pattern for the celebrations of Labor Day. Speeches by prominent men
and women are given to emphasis the economic and civic significance of
the holiday.
In the l880's labor organizations began to lobby various state
legislatures for recognition of Labor Day as an official state holiday.
The first states to declare it a state holiday in, 1887, were Oregon,
Colorado, New York, Massachusetts, and New Jersey. In 1894, Congress
passed a law recognizing Labor Day as an official national holiday.
Labor Day has come to be recognized in the United States not only as a
celebration of the working class, but also as the unofficial end
of the summer season. In the northern half of the U.S. the summer
vacation season begins with Memorial Day and ends with Labor Day. |