From barbecues to getaways to shopping the sales, many people across the U.S. mark Labor Day — the federal holiday celebrating the American worker — by finding ways to relax.
The holiday with activist roots is celebrated on the first Monday of September, creating a three-day weekend that marks the unofficial end of summer.
Over 17 million passengers and crew were expected to be screened for air travel from Thursday through Wednesday, according to the Transportation Security Administration, with Friday being the day with the most travelers. AAA said that according to its booking data, top destinations for the weekend include Seattle, New York and Orlando, Florida.
Here’s what to know about Labor Day:
Labor Day’s origins date to the Gilded Age
Activists first sought to establish a day to pay tribute to workers in the late 1800s.
The first Labor Day celebration in the U.S. took place in New York City on Sept. 5, 1882, when some 10,000 workers marched in a parade organized by the Central Labor Union and the Knights of Labor.
Workers’ quality of life was declining as they transitioned from artisan to factory jobs, while factory owners’ quality of life was “just skyrocketing,” said Todd Vachon, an assistant professor in the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations.
In the years that followed, a handful of cities and states adopted laws recognizing Labor Day. President Grover Cleveland signed a congressional act in 1894 making it a federal holiday.
That was the same year that workers for the Pullman Palace Car Company went on strike after the railcar-maker cut wages without reducing rent in the company-owned town where workers lived near Chicago, Vachon said. Over 12 workers were killed after Cleveland sent federal troops to crush the strike, he said.
Cleveland’s move to establish Labor Day as a federal holiday is seen by some historians as a way for him “to make peace” with the working class, Vachon said.
Labor Day has become the unofficial end of summer
Travelers crowd airports and highways for end-of-summer escapes, and backyard chefs prepare cookouts for family and friends.
Barbecuing has been a part of Labor Day celebrations from the start, said Robert F. Moss, food writer, culinary historian and author of “Barbecue: The History of an American Institution.”
He said it was already such an entrenched tradition in the U.S. that when the labor movements developed in the late 19th century, it was a natural way to celebrate as large groups gathered. In the 20th century, the holiday’s barbecues moved more toward gatherings of friends and family in backyards, he said.
“It still has a lot of that same communal sense, gathering around the grill, eating together,” he said.
How the labor movement has evolved over the decades
When Labor Day became a federal holiday in 1894, unions in the U.S. were largely contested and courts would often rule strikes illegal, leading to violent disputes, Vachon said. It wasn’t until the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 that private sector employees were granted the right to join unions.
Later into the 20th century, states also began passing legislation to allow unionization in the public sector. But even today, not all states allow collective bargaining for public workers.
In recent years, Vachon said, there’s been a resurgence in labor organizing, activism, interest and support.
The connection between fashion and Labor Day
The adage that one shouldn’t wear white after Labor Day is a “rule” that’s broken with fashionable results, but where did it originate?
Fashion experts say it likely goes back to the Gilded Age — the same period that spawned Labor Day. The cool, white frocks worn by wealthy New Yorkers summering in places such as Newport, Rhode Island, would be packed away upon their return to the city with its dirt-packed streets.
Christy Crutsinger, a professor in merchandising and digital retailing at University of North Texas, heard the adage from generations of women in her family. But “the fashion world’s not working that way anymore,” she added.
“People think it, say it, but don’t abide by it,” she said.
Still, fashion is on the mind of many around Labor Day, thanks to back-to-school shopping and a switch by many business people from a more relaxed summer dress code, said Daniel James Cole, adjunct assistant professor in fashion history at the Fashion Institute of Technology and co-author of “The History of Modern Fashion.”
The holiday, he said, “is kind of this hinge” between summertime dress and fun to going “back to more serious pursuits.”
