What is Labor Day?

Happy Labor Day!

Mon Sep 5, 2022

Happy Labor Day!

If you don't have a holiday called "Labor Day" in your country, maybe you have a "Worker's Day" or something similar.

We celebrate this day (the first Monday in September) as the national holiday for workers and the official last day of summer.

Many people go on vacation for this three-day weekend and then school starts for children very soon if it hasn't already!

But what is Labor Day and how did it get to be a national holiday here in the U.S.?

According to History.com, 
"Labor Day pays tribute to the contributions and achievements of American workers and is traditionally observed on the first Monday in September. 

It was created by the labor movement in the late 19th century and became a federal holiday in 1894. Labor Day weekend also symbolizes the end of summer for many Americans, and is celebrated with parties, street parades and athletic events."

But it wasn't that easy...workers in the late 1800's had bad working conditions and worked long 12 hour days, and even children as young as 5 years old were workers in mills, factories and mines across the country, earning a fraction of what adults earned!

So...after some railroad strikes and some riots that showed the government how unhappy the workers were, on September 5, 1882, 10,000 workers took unpaid time off to march from City Hall to Union Square in New York City, holding the first Labor Day parade in U.S. history.

And the president, Grover Cleveland, put the new "Labor Day" holiday into law soon after that.

So now we can celebrate and enjoys the last days of summer before the fall starts!
For more about Labor Day, visit this link -
https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/labor-day-1

Laurel Archer
A North Carolina-based teacher and lover of language and reading. She loves to find fun ways to teach English and connect with people all over the world.

Happy Labor Day!

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