PHOTO OF THE DAY: DAYS OF LABOR
This photo was made at Vermeer Manufacturing in Freeman in April of 2019 as photographers from South Dakota State University converged on the community for the “Day in the Life of Freeman” project — a story of the day told through a multimedia format. The image of a welder at work is an appropriate one on Labor Day, one of the oldest federal holiday observed in the United States.
Below is the editorial published in the Aug. 27 issue of The Courier.
Noting the rich context behind Labor Day
When it comes to federal holidays observed in the United States, they don’t come much older than Labor Day.
The day set aside to honor the social and economic achievements of the American workforce has been observed in one way, shape or form for more than 140 years and is always celebrated the first Monday in September, as it was again this week.
While it doesn’t carry the same weight and meaning as other federal observances — like Thanksgiving, Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day — it does hold power in that it was created to pay tribute to how the American system was built on the backs of hard-nosed workforce.
Here’s a history that comes from the United States Department of Labor.
Observed the first Monday in September, Labor Day is an annual celebration of the social and economic achievements of American workers. The holiday is rooted in the late nineteenth century, when labor activists pushed for a federal holiday to recognize the many contributions workers have made to America’s strength, prosperity, and well-being.
Before it was a federal holiday, Labor Day was recognized by labor activists and individual states. After municipal ordinances were passed in 1885 and 1886, a movement developed to secure state legislation. New York was the first state to introduce a bill, but Oregon was the first to pass a law recognizing Labor Day, on February 21, 1887. During 1887, four more states — Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York — passed laws creating a Labor Day holiday. By the end of the decade Connecticut, Nebraska and Pennsylvania had followed suit. By 1894, 23 more states had adopted the holiday, and on June 28, 1894, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday.
The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883.
By 1894, 23 more states had adopted the holiday, and on June 28, 1894, President Grover Cleveland signed a law making the first Monday in September of each year a national holiday.
Many Americans celebrate Labor Day with parades and parties – festivities very similar to those outlined by the first proposal for a holiday, which suggested that the day should be observed with – a street parade to exhibit “the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations” of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families. This became the pattern for the celebrations of Labor Day.
Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the economic and civic significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.
American labor has raised the nation’s standard of living and contributed to the greatest production the world has ever known and the labor movement has brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy. It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pays tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation’s strength, freedom, and leadership — the American worker.”
Jeremy Waltner | Editor & Publisher
