The first Monday of September is known as a day for picnics and parades, rest and relaxation.  The name of this day?  Labor Day.  If the oxymoronic name and observation of the holiday confuses you, I’m not surprised. Sure, paper-mâchéing parade floats and cutting watermelon is technically labor, but I’ve never seen a person punch a time card before setting up a folding chair on the lawn. 

 

So how did this day of fun ever get a name like Labor Day?

 

While the men and women of today view Labor Day as a free day, the end of summer, or the beginning of football season, men and women of 1800s saw the first Monday of September as just another day in their 12 hours-a-day/ 7 days-a-week work schedule.  And don’t forget the children (a.k.a. cheap labor), who were allowed to enjoy the same long hours as their adult co-workers.

 

After spending half of one’s day at work without weekends, it’s no shock that someone finally said, Hey, when do we get a vacation? To which someone probably replied, What’s a vacation?

 

In 1882, a New York City labor union organized an unpaid day off of work, wanting to provide “a day off for the working citizens” in order to improve morale and lift spirits.  The city planned a street parade and festival for the people.  After all, these over-worked American laborers were the fuel of the country.  A parade of 10,000 workers marched from city hall to Union Square. A tradition was born.

 

During the next twelve years, many states would adopt the tradition of a labor-free day.  In 1894, a month after a major railway workers’ strike in Chicago, which ended violently after federal troops were dispatched, Congress made Labor Day an official holiday.  Strikes still occur today. Unfortunately, they usually don’t end in new holidays.

Labor Day has maintained many of the same traditions – picnics, cookouts, parades, fireworks, and rallies.  Though prominent men and women give speeches today as they did when the holiday tradition began in the 1880s, the tone and mood of the labor force changed with the advent of labor laws.

 

Starting in the early 1900s, labor laws assured workers things like work-hour restrictions, working contracts, and minimum wage.  These things are standard and backed by the law in today’s working world.  The right to strike and boycott is also protected under such laws, which I bet the railway strikers in Chicago wished was around when they were face to face with armed federal troops.

 

So this Labor Day, when you load up your hamburger, cannonball into the pool, or simply sleep in late, keep in mind the hard workers in years past who embodied the strength of American productivity.