Labor Day Origin: Workers Were Shot And Jailed So You Could Have A Day Off.

Most people know Labor Day as the end of summer -- barbecues, sales, and the last Monday off before fall. Almost nobody knows the actual story behind it. The story of workers who labored 12 to 16 hours a day, 7 days a week, including children as young as 5. The story of the Haymarket Affair of 1886 -- where a bomb was thrown at police during a labor rally and workers were executed for it.

The story of the Pullman Strike of 1894 -- where over 30 workers were killed when the federal government sent troops to break a strike. And the story of President Grover Cleveland, who signed Labor Day into federal law not to honor workers -- but to try to save his own political career after ordering those workers killed. In this episode, XO, AZ, and CDA go through the full documented history of how Labor Day was born -- and what workers actually sacrificed to make it happen.

Keywords: Labor Day origin history, why is Labor Day a holiday, Pullman Strike 1894, Haymarket Affair 1886, Peter McGuire Matthew Maguire Labor Day founder, working conditions 19th century, child labor history, Eugene Debs Pullman Strike, Grover Cleveland Labor Day, first Labor Day parade 1882, Knights of Labor history, Past Present Pushback podcast

U.S. Department of Labor -- Labor Day history -- dol.gov/general/laborday

HISTORY.com -- Labor Day origin -- history.com/articles/labor-day

AFL-CIO -- Labor Day history and labor movement -- aflcio.org

Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters history -- Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture -- nmaahc.si.edu

Encyclopedia Britannica -- Haymarket Affair -- britannica.com/event/Haymarket-Affair