Labor day facts

Blogger: Janet Kobobel Grant

Labor Day means many things to us Americans. But this article provides a brief history of the naming of this day and the reason it was instituted.

In reading about the history of Labor Day, I realized its foundations were built on the back of civil unrest. Who knew that a three-day weekend we see as signaling the end of summer, sales (!), tucking away our white shoes (you can read about how the idea of not wearing white after Labor Day began here), and wolfing down barbecue, actually arose out of violence, disgruntled workers, and the Federal government’s decision to quell the protests?

Now that I’ve done a little research about Labor Day, I’m mindful that this isn’t just a day of quiet in our usually tumultuous, computer-driven work week, but a day whose genesis is in the struggle for workers to overcome hardships borne in an economic depression.

I would urge you, regardless how you’re going to spend today, to keep this important fact in mind, a fact that was as true in the year Labor Day was declared as it is now: This is the last holiday until Thanksgiving.

Labor on! Or not.