US vs. Canada spelling… sigh…
Both countries celebrate it on the first Monday September as a tribute to the working men and women.
Who started Labor Day?
Like most cultural events, there is still some doubt over its origination. 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 working men and women.
However many believe that it was Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, who founded the holiday as recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York.
Whoever the source was, what we do know is that the Central Labor Union adopted the Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.
The First Labor Day
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.
In 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a “workingmen’s holiday” on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.
In the USA, governmental recognition first came through municipal ordinances passed during 1885 and 1886. The first state bill was introduced into the New York legislature, but the first to become law was passed by Oregon on February 21, 1887. By 1894, 23 other states had adopted the holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28 of that year, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.
I remember growing up, we didn’t start school until AFTER Labor day, and we always got out in late May. Of course we also went to school from 8AM-4PM, seven periods a day. We had six classes, and a one hour study hall or PE/sport (if you played a sport, last period was always the ‘sport’, usually followed by one or more hours of ‘practice’).
Talking with a friend who is a teacher, apparently with the ‘new’ layouts, they only get about 80 hours of ‘dedicated’ instruction a semester now, of which they get ‘maybe’ 65-70 actual hours. And we wonder why the kids can’t spell, read, or do simple math… sigh…
Anyhoo, enjoy your day off, unless you’re military, police, fire, EMS, hospital, and… and…
Schools weren’t air conditioned back in those days. When I started my junior year we moved to a new building that was “climate controlled” meaning the windows couldn’t be opened. Naturally the AC wasn’t working yet so it was miserable in those classrooms. The fans were not enough.
I recall the official start of the school day as 8:15 AM and the end being after 3 but before 4 PM. This was fairly rural and one might get home (via bus) before 4:30. School started after Labor Day… but eventually that changed – to everyone’s consternation. The only remotely sane reason would have been to figure that a few “snow days” would otherwise push the school year well into June. As it was, there were always a few days (miserable hot ones, of course) in June. Hunting Season wasn’t an officially recognized school holiday… but it seemed the Thanksgiving break (USA) was a bit extended, or pre-extended.
Math? – Most kids (and adults for that matter) these days can’t even do simple arithmetic. Start throwing fractions or anything beyond beyond addition, subtraction, multiplication or long division even and their eyes start glazing over. And don’t even expect them to count out your change…………….
Jim- Oh yeah…
Orvan- We didn’t have snow days… LOL I do remember us getting the holidays, but I don’t remember long breaks over T-day or Christmas. And hunting season may not have been official, but… 🙂
Gomez- I know… sigh…
Snow days? Can’t remember school closed by snow or the buses not rolling except once. 1955 NW Colorado got hit by a blizzard that filled all the roads bank to bank.
Somehow my grandkids seem to be getting a decent education. Think it is as much the parents as the schools but the schools they have/are attending do ok.
WSF- LOL, that was back in the day, different folks in charge! Agree, the parents HAVE to step up these days!!!
I remember deer days. You got three days when you had a note from Dad. Or you could be excused three days during late harvest, again with a note from Dad. You couldn’t get both. Very rare that we had more than one snow day in a year. But that was long ago…..
For some reason mississippi starts school mid august, it used to be early august. I think historically it may have had to do with the kids having to help with the harvest. Thinking back to the lack of snow days in my youth( I’m a Michigander, my cousins are mississippians), I went to catholic school, the nuns lived next door, they were always able to get to school.
Roughly the same vintage, same kind of non a/c schools. I would have given anything all through those miserable years if they did like the Navy did and told us up front that we could take a test at any time during the course and if we passed it by demonstrating comprehensive knowlege of the subject we could be excused from that class for the rest of the term/semester. Naturally these new morons would screw that up and insist that you go to mandatory study or some bs.