What is Labor Day and why do we celebrate it?
Labor Day, opens a new window is a public holiday in the United States that honors the contributions and achievements of American workers. It is observed on the first Monday in September each year and often marks the unofficial end of summer. Celebrations may feature people enjoying barbecues, parades and a long weekend. Labor Day recognizes the social and economic achievements of workers and celebrates the labor movement and its role in securing rights like fair wages, safe working conditions and reasonable work hours.
Consider this poem by Bertolt Brecht.
Questions From A Worker Who Reads by Bertolt Brecht
Who built Thebes of the 7 gates?
In the books you will read the names of kings.
Did the kings haul up the lumps of rock?And Babylon, many times demolished,
Who raised it up so many times?In what houses of gold glittering Lima did its builders live?
Where, the evening that the Great Wall of China was finished, did the masons go?Great Rome is full of triumphal arches.
Who erected them?Over whom did the Caesars triumph?
Had Byzantium, much praised in song, only palaces for its inhabitants?Even in fabled Atlantis, the night that the ocean engulfed it,
The drowning still cried out for their slaves.The young Alexander conquered India.
Was he alone?Caesar defeated the Gauls.
Did he not even have a cook with him?Philip of Spain wept when his armada went down.
Was he the only one to weep?Frederick the 2nd won the 7 Years War.Who else won it?
Every page a victory.
Who cooked the feast for the victors?Every 10 years a great man.
Who paid the bill?So many reports.
So many questions.
Learn more about how American workers came together to champion labor laws including fair wages, safe working conditions, reasonable work hours and more.
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