Although Labor Day, the last summer holiday, signals the start of a new school year and the traditional day to stop wearing white shoes, its history lies in the efforts of 19th century labor activists to honor American workers with a day of celebration.
In the late 1800s American workers were fighting for the eight-hour workday and better working conditions. The Great Railroad strike of 1877 and the Haymarket Riot of 1866 were only two of many protests for worker rights nationwide. According to the Maine AFL-CIO, there were 21 strikes in Maine in
1866 alone. Labor activists and their unions began advocating for a holiday to celebrate the contributions workers were making to the country’s growing prosperity.
It is unclear who first proposed the holiday, but the U.S. Department of Labor credits Matthew Maguire, secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York where the country’s first parade took place in 1882. In August 1886, more than 3,000 Mainers came to Peaks Island for a day of rest and recreation organized by the Knights of Labor. In 1887 Oregon became the first state to pass a law recognizing Labor Day. Maine became the ninth state in 1891. The U.S. Department of Labor records that 31 states had adopted the holiday by 1894. That year President Grover Cleveland signed the law making the first Monday in September an annual federal holiday.
Since then the country has celebrated Labor Day with parades, picnics, and speeches by civic leaders. Putting away white shoes after the first Monday in September may be a relic of a bygone era, but honoring those who get up the next day and go to work is still an American tradition.