Labor Day isn’t only a reminder to stop wearing white, it is also a marker of the Industrial Revolution.
Professor of history James Connolly said Labor Day is a creation of the Labor Movement, founded on the idea of organizing laborers into an economic and political force in response to the Industrial Revolution.
P. J. McGuire, the first Vice President of the American Federation of Labor, proposed the idea of a Labor Day celebration in New York, according to a 1921 copy of the Bridgemen’s Magazine, a monthly publication produced in Indianapolis by the International Association of Bridge, Structural and Ornamental Ironworkers.
“McGuire was one of the labor leaders in New York City,” Connolly said. “A group of them proposed to have a celebration in September in 1882 that was designed to honor the contribution that workers have made to the country.”
Due to the rise in factory production and mass producing everyday items, many artisans feared losing their business. Also, the factory jobs were difficult, dangerous and didn’t pay very much, Connolly said.
“There was a sense that we needed to reassert the role of workers in our economy and in our society,” Connolly said. “That gave rise to the demand for celebrations of workers, of which Labor Day was one.”
The union approved McGuire’s proposal and held a parade through the streets of New York City in 1882, where the union was headquartered at the time, according to the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations.
Connolly said Labor Day is on Monday because workers would randomly take Mondays off to protest the rigid schedule.
“In a factory where you have assembly line work, everyone needs to be there at once,” Connolly said. “Everybody shows up at 6 a.m. Everyone leaves at 4 [p.m.] or whatever it was … so they would do things, they would take days off collectively.”
These Mondays became known as “Saint Mondays,” Connolly said. Many of the workers were Catholic and so these days built upon the idea of the Catholic “Saint Days” such as All Saints Day or Saint Valentine’s Day.
Even though the first celebration was in New York, Oregon was the first state to establish Labor Day as an official holiday on Feb. 21, 1887.
Thirty states, including Indiana, already celebrated Labor Day as a state holiday when Congress established Labor Day a federal holiday on June 29, 1894.
Contact Hannah Gunnell with comments hrgunnell@bsu.edu.
Read More
Retired high school teacher holds presentation about history of Berlin Wall
By Emma Matlock / 2 hours agoTom Schwartz, a retired Bluffton High School Teacher, talks about the art on the Berlin Wall on April 15, 2024.
Warm and sunny before evening storms
By Olivia Smithers / 2 hours agoWeather Forecaster Olivia Smithers tracks possible thunderstorm this evening.
Fatal accident along McGalliard Road and Tillotson Avenue
By Staff Reports / 3 hours agoA police chase that began in neighboring Henry County the morning of April 18 ended in Muncie at the McGalliard Road and Tillotson Avenue intersection, according to a press release from the Muncie Police Department (MPD).
