Labor Day - What Is It And Why Do We Celebrate It?

meone were to ask you the question, "What isclass. The first Monday in September was chosen
Labor Day?" could you really answer it? I doubtfor the date of the parade, and the Knights
many of us really know anything about thedecided to hold all future parades on that day.
holiday other than the fact that it is the firstFrom then on the Knights designated the first
Monday in September and is the official end ofMonday in September as Labor Day.
summer. It used to signal the beginning of theSimilarly, the Socialist Party held a celebration in
new school year, but with more schools returninghonor of the working class on May 1st , a date
to classes in middle or late August that is nothat became known as May Day. It was
longer the case, though the beaches and othercelebrated by both Socialists and Communists,
summer activities continue throughout Labor Daythus in the United States, the first Monday in
weekend.September was selected in order to disassociate
The tradition of celebrating Labor Day as aitself from any identification with Communism.
national holiday is over one hundred years old.Toward the end of the last decade of the
From its original conception as a labor union1800’s, labor organizations to lobby state
celebration, it has grown to be symbolic of thelegislatures to observe Labor Day as an official
end of summer activities. It began in 1882 in Newstate holiday. In 1887, the first states declared it
York as a parade by the Knights of Columbus toa state holiday: Oregon, Colorado, New York,
give credit for the contributions to New York lifeMassachusetts, and New Jersey. In 1894,
of working class citizens. In 1884, a large paradeCongress passed a law that designated Labor Day
organized by the Knights to celebrate the workingas an official national holiday.