Pullman strikers outside Arcade Building in Pullman, Chicago. The Illinois National Guard can be seen guarding the building during the Pullman Railroad Strike in 1894.
Labor Day celebrates the labor movement of the late 19th century and pays tribute to the social and economic achievements of workers in America during that time. It became an official holiday in 1894, but the observation likely goes back a little further, to 1882, when about 10,000 workers assembled in New York City for a parade. Word spread, and by 1894 more than half of the states (there were only 46 of them at the time) observed a “workingmen’s holiday” at some point throughout the year.
In 1887, Oregon became the first state to designate Labor Day as an official public holiday.
Congress voted to make Labor Day an official federal holiday as a way of appealing to unions following the deadly Pullman Strike of 1894 in Chicago (shown in above photo). Since most states already celebrated it on the first Monday of September, President Grover Cleveland signed a bill on June 29, 1984, designating that as Labor Day as opposed to May 1, when several countries around the world celebrate International Workers' Day.
People are also reading…
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
