What is Labor
Day?
by Rachel
Keller
Until I began
teaching my own children the significance behind holidays, I had never really
stopped to consider why we celebrated Labor Day. Although it originated as a
holiday from the work week, it has since come to symbolize the end of summer
vacation and very few know of its origins.
When I was a young girl, Labor Day meant the end of summer
vacation. The following day, school began for me and many other school-age
children. Seldom, did my dad have that day off, so it was just another vacation
day filled with last-minute preparations for the start of school. I hardly
rested from my work on that day.
Now that I have my own family, Labor Day is a time of family togetherness for
us. It is usually the first vacation from the beginning of another school year
(although I have chosen to home school on that day before). Until I began
teaching my own children the significance behind holidays, I had never really
stopped to consider why we celebrated Labor Day. Although it originated as a
holiday from the work week, it has since come to symbolize the end of summer
vacation and very few know of its origins.
The first Labor Day parade occurred on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, when 20,000
workers marched up Broadway with banners that stated "Labor Creates All
Wealth" or "Eight Hours for Work; Eight hours for Rest; Eight Hours
for Recreation!" The parade was the reaction of disillusioned Americans
upset with the 12- to 14-hour workdays in dangerous factories and underground
mines. The next year, on September 5, 1883, the Central Labor Union celebrated
the second Labor Day holiday.
It was not until two years later that the Central Labor Union proposed that the
first Monday in September be a "workingmen's holiday." As the labor
organizations grew, so did the idea of a Labor Day holiday. In September of
1892, union workers in New York City took a day without pay to parade around
Union Square in support of a Labor Day holiday that would occur midway between
Independence Day and Thanksgiving.
Finally, in 1894, President Grover Cleveland, in an effort to boost his
presidential campaign, signed legislation making the first Monday in September a
national holiday honoring labor. Despite his attempt at appeasement, Cleveland
still lost his bid for reelection.
Today, Labor Day lives on in America, not as a day to honor rest from labor
(though many people have that day off), but as a day of celebration to mark the
end of the summer season and the beginning of a new season. For many, it is the
last family vacation trip of the year. For our family, it is usually a day to
get caught up on work that needs to be done, and maybe (if we finish) some time
at the park.
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Copyright 2001 by Rachel Keller
