Labor Day (This is the version for students who missed. I also added a summary at the top and a few subtitles. I might want to use it in the future but add highlighting, and return the photo attributions about Detroit and Texas from the other version.)

Note: This material came from online (wikipedia and other places). I’ve removed the source hyperlinks to save space and make it easier to skim, but I have a version with sources available upon request.

Summary

Our Labor Day holiday was brought to pass through strikes and riots from workers who wanted an 8-hour work day and also were upset about various injustices in the workplace. They wanted workers to not be abused and to have more respect and rights. One riot that is especially famous is the Haymarket Affair (or Riot), which occurred in May. Much of the world was inspired by this and made their Labor Day May 1st. However, when our government decided to make a holiday to celebrate Labor, they decided to make it in September, using a Knights of Labor (a labor union) parade from September as the inciting event, mostly because they didn’t want it in May, celebrating a riot. It should also be known that the Pullman Strikes—and the government’s overly strict reaction to the strikes as well as the public support of the strikers—influenced the government’s decision to try and please Americans in support of the Laborers. And, particularly since it was a voting year, the President and Congress decided to set up Labor Day as a national holiday. More information on the Haymarket Affair and the Pullman strikes, as well as other holiday information, follows.

The Haymarket affair (also known as the Haymarket riot or Haymarket massacre) on Tuesday 4 May 1886 in Chicago, began as a rally which became violent and was followed later by internationally publicized legal proceedings. An unknown person threw a bomb at police as they marched to disperse a public meeting in support of striking workers. The bomb blast and ensuing gunfire resulted in the deaths of seven police officers and an unknown number of civilians. Eight anarchists were tried for murder. Four were put to death, and one committed suicide in prison.

The Haymarket affair is generally considered to have been an important influence on the origin of international May Day observances for workers

The May Day holiday [which most of the world celebrates as Labor Day] was inspired by an infamous workers’ strike in 1886 that started in Chicago, spread to other major industrial cities across the country, and eventually led to the establishment of an 8 hour work day. The Knights of Labor, though, one of the most important labor groups at that time, had already organized a labor parade 4 years earlier in 1882 that was held in early September.

While the rest of the world admired the Chicago riots and were inspired to move towards making May Day a holiday, President Grover Cleveland feared the day and thought that commemorating it would not only spark more riots but strengthen the threatening socialist movement. Therefore, he favored the Knights of Labor, encouraged their annual September parade, which in 1894 became the federal holiday known as Labor Day!

Pullman Strikes
Pullman, Illinois was a company town, founded in 1880 by George Pullman, president of the railroad sleeping car company. Pullman designed and built the town to stand as a utopian workers' community insulated from the moral (and political) seductions of nearby Chicago.
The town was strictly, almost feudally, organized: row houses for the assembly and craft workers; modest Victorians for the managers; and a luxurious hotel where Pullman himself lived and where visiting customers, suppliers, and salesman would lodge while in town.
Its residents all worked for the Pullman company, their paychecks drawn from Pullman bank, and their rent, set by Pullman, deducted automatically from their weekly paychecks. The town, and the company, operated smoothly and successfully for more than a decade.
But in 1893, the Pullman company was caught in the nationwide economic depression. Orders for railroad sleeping cars declined, and George Pullman was forced to lay off hundreds of employees. Those who remained endured wage cuts, even while rents in Pullman remained consistent. Take-home paychecks plummeted.
And so the employees walked out, demanding lower rents and higher pay. The American Railway Union, led by a young Eugene V. Debs, came to the cause of the striking workers, and railroad workers across the nation boycotted trains carrying Pullman cars. Rioting, pillaging, and burning of railroad cars soon ensued; mobs of non-union workers joined in.
The strike instantly became a national issue. President Grover Cleveland, faced with nervous railroad executives and interrupted mail trains, declared the strike a federal crime and deployed 12,000 troops to break the strike. Violence erupted, and two men were killed when U.S. deputy marshals fired on protesters in Kensington, near Chicago, but the strike was doomed.
On August 3, 1894, the strike was declared over. Debs went to prison, his ARU was disbanded, and Pullman employees henceforth signed a pledge that they would never again unionize. Aside from the already existing American Federation of Labor and the various railroad brotherhoods, industrial workers' unions were effectively stamped out and remained so until the Great Depression.
It was not the last time Debs would find himself behind bars, either. Campaigning from his jail cell, Debs would later win almost a million votes for the Socialist ticket in the 1920 presidential race. /
In an attempt to appease the nation's workers,
Labor Day is born
The movement for a national Labor Day had been growing for some time. In September 1892, union workers in New York City took an unpaid day off and marched around Union Square in support of the holiday. But now, protests against President Cleveland's harsh methods made the appeasement of the nation's workers a top political priority. In the immediate wake of the strike, legislation was rushed unanimously through both houses of Congress, and the bill arrived on President Cleveland's desk just six days after his troops had broken the Pullman strike.
1894 was an election year. President Cleveland seized the chance at conciliation, and Labor Day was born. He was not reelected.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/september96/labor_day_9-2.html

More Info. on the International Labor Day, May 1st

May Day (May 1), otherwise known as International Workers Day, was the original Labor Day that even today most of the world celebrates. Yes, that means, that if we were sipping espresso in Europe right now, we’d have the day off from work!! Seriously though, May Day is a global celebration commemorating the social and economic achievements of the labor movement with worldwide parades, speeches and demonstrations (what our labor day should be rather than a national day to BBQ).

Another random but fun fact about May Day: it falls halfway between the equinox and the solstice - so we’re almost into summer!

Australia 1856/Chicago 1886

May Day holiday has ancient origins, and it can relate to many customs that have survived into modern times. Many of these customs are due to May Day being a cross-quarter day, meaning that (in the Northern Hemisphere where it is almost exclusively celebrated) it falls approximately halfway between the spring equinox and summer solstice.

More Information on the American Labor Day in September

Symbolically, Labor Day represents the end of summer, and many pools close on Labor Day.

More than 100 years after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers. Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those "who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold."

But Peter McGuire's place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.

September is the month of the hurricanes, and the ultimate ones at that. According to meteorology professors at Florida State University, the first week of September is the premium time for the most severe storms to wreak their havoc on coastal communities.
And they should know. For many, Labor Day has become the holiday of the hurricanes, and there is significant evidence to support that myth. In fact, the first Category 5 storm to ever hit the United States happened on Labor Day 1935 in the Florida Keys, and it wouldn't be the last. On the heels of the nameless storm two more Category 5's, Camille and Andrew would scream through the southeast.
In an article published by the Kansas City Star, Florida State University meteorology professor T.N. Krishnamurti explained one possible reason for the bevy of hurricanes in September is due to the ending of monsoon season in Asia. These global winds move south over Africa and often fuel storms in the Atlantic Ocean, he said.

State Traditions/Celebrations

The Louisiana Shrimp and Petroleum Festival in the Louisiana State is a traditional Labor Day festival born during the 1930’s. The Gulf Coast Seafood Producers & Trappers Association organized this for the first time, to honor the ocean workers—shrimpers, oystermen, crab fishermen to frog and alligator hunters and dock workers. Louisiana comes alive every year with activities revolving around the Festival. With water events, arts and crafts exhibitions, fireworks and culinary shows, the Louisiana Labor Day celebration is all about the tradition being carried forward year after year.

The Labor Day weekend in Seattle, Washington, is animated by the Bumbershoot Art Festival held at the Seattle Center. Since its golden days in the 1970’s, the place is a conglomeration of artists from around the world—writers, poets, dancers, musicians, actors and even acrobats take the center stage on the occasion of Labor Day. With over 20 stages spread across the Center, the Labor Day celebration in Seattle definitely takes a creative edge over the rest.

The Kansas City Irish Festival marks its Labor Day with parades attended by artists, dancers and musicians. The labor force of the Kansas City boasts of the Irish lineage—workers who had contributed to the making of railroads, stockyards and packing houses. Kansas City Labor Day also heralds autumn with the Renaissance Festival—now in its 26th year—displaying medieval history of valiant knights, damsels-in-distress, minstrels and jesters. Other Labor Day attractions include fire-eating shows and comedies.

In Cleveland, Ohio, the Labor Day celebration necessarily takes a gastronomical flavor with the Taste of Cleveland Festival whetting everyone’s appetite on Labor Day. The spread is as good as the Labor Day table can be—Mediterranean, Italian, Greek, Indian and European—you’ll find it all here. The festival gets spicier with a contest called the ‘Best of the Fest’. This has been a popular tradition in Ohio, being held at the Cleveland's Tower City Amphitheater from 1996. The culinary festival is a celebration of the cultural diversity of North-East Ohio—food is only a delicious aspect of it.

McPherson’s notes: Another area (I think in California) has a moustache contest, such as for the longest or craziest moustaches. (See picture in the powerpoint.)

Fashion Rules Associated with Labor Day (white & hats)

Popular fashion etiquette dictates that white should not be worn after Labor Day.[3] Originally it was white shoes that were taboo— white or "winter white" clothing was acceptable.[4] The custom is fading: "Fashion magazines are jumping on this growing trend, calling people who 'dare' to wear white after Labor Day innovative, creative, and bold. Slowly but surely, white is beginning to break free from its box, and is becoming acceptable to wear whenever one pleases. In the world of western attire, it is similarly tradition to wear a straw cowboy hat until Labor Day. After Labor Day, the felt hat is worn until Memorial Day."[5]

Acting Director of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology Valerie Steele notes that in the late 19th century and the 1950s, more people were entering the middle classes. These nouveau-riche folks were often unaware of the standards of high society, so they were given specific codified rules to follow in order to fit in.

Several sites quoted a charming refrain about G.R.I.T.S. -- girls raised in the South. This bit of folklore states, "Southern girls know bad manners when they see them," and a clear sign of bad manners is wearing white shoes before Easter or after Labor Day.