LABOR DAY
Of course we know this holiday is to honor all of us who labor, however it is not widely known this holiday originally began in the late 1800s a with the purpose to recognize the value of common working folks in society, as well as the start of the struggle for the 8-hour work day.
....and there was indeed a long road & fight to actually have this day honor the everyday worker.
For example, originally the only ones who received a day off on Labor Day were federal workers! It wasn't until the 1930s and many strikes over the course of 40+ years that this holiday was finally recognized for all workers. Apparently it took those in Washington D.C. almost a half a century to grant this holiday for the rest of the workers in the nation. (A note, for us to consider, that the "living in a bubble" attitude found in our nation's capital was not a recent development).
May 1st was chosen as Labor Day in the USA to commemorate the Haymarket Affair in Chicago - a peaceful strike to support an eight hour work day at the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company on the West side of Chicago that erupted into a riot when an unidentified person threw a bomb into the crowd, killing seven police officers and at least four civilians, with several dozen seriously injured.
The Haymarket Affair - 1886
John Peter Altgeld (1847 - 1902)
Ironically, the non-union workers who were hired to replace those participating in the strike were given an 8 hour work day! Eight union leaders were arrested & tried for inciting a riot - and despite lacking evidence - all eight were convicted, with four being executed, one committing suicide and the others sentenced to prison (in 1893, Illinois Governor John P. Altgeild pardoned the remaining three convicted men, citing the lack of justice).
Globally, the communist countries around the world ibegan the International Workers Day around the same time - 1889 - transformed the historical May 1st celebration to mark the beginning of summer into "Worker's Day" - and still continue to do so to this day.
Oregon was the first state to make Labor Day an official public holiday in 1887, and in 1894 Congress passed a bill recognizing the first Monday in September to make it an official federal holiday. (The holiday was moved to September so as to distance the date from the Haymarket Affair that occurred in May - therefor not commemorating it as originally intended - so it would fall into obscurity, which apparently has occurred. The official reason given by the federal government was that the US needed a holiday between July 4th and Thanksgiving. Yea, right.
As we celebrate a holiday for all of us workers, let's also remember those who stood up, fought & died for an 8 hour work week.