Labor Day

The word "labor" can evoke a variety of responses. It suggests work ranging from menial tasks to essential jobs. It also describes the agony of childbirth. It also denotes the worker's delight: a three-day weekend.

I grew up in a large city two blocks from the countryside. When I was seven, my Aunt Edna took my sister and me to the ol' homestead in Minnesota while our father traveled to Pennsylvania to get married, four years after the death of our mother. This launched annual trips from Michigan to the farm for me for several years where gradually I learned how to work. I was taught to milk cows by hand (my share was usually five), haul hay, feed the pigs and chickens, fix fences and cultivate corn. I gradually learned what labor meant.

Labor Day, the first Monday of September, originated in New York City. It was first celebrated on Tuesday, September 4, 1882 in accordnace with the Central Labor Union, on Wednesday in 1883. It was selected as a Monday celebration in 1884 and by 1885 it was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country. In 1894, President Grover Cleveland, a foe of organized labor, was politically pressured into signing a Labor Day Law designating it officially as the first Monday in September. Gradually it was recognized throughout the country.

May Day, the International Workers' Day, celebrated in some 80 countries on May 1, no doubt had some influence on the choice of September in the United States. Since the Socialist Party had designated May 1 as the International Day of the Worker, and because there was resistance to the labor movement allegedly exploiting workers, September probably was chosen to separate the two celebrations.

Today, Labor Day usually signals the end of summer, the beginning of autumn and back to school throughout the land (plus Pro and public football). Now and then there may be events held by labor organizations and appearances by political candidates (usually affecting labor). However, it is more likely to be a time for families with children heading off to school, celebrations including picnics, barbecues, parades, fireworks and art shows. And it marked the end for fashionable women wearing white.

Finally, but virtually forgotten, the American Federation of Labor adopted in 1909 the Sunday preceding Labor Day as Labor Sunday "dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement." Its future? Who knows?