Millions of Americans celebrate Labor Day weekend by traveling and visiting family. Make time to learn about the holiday’s origins, traditions, and themes with our ebook: “The Meaning of Labor Day.” Our ebook features short stories, speeches, and songs from authors like Jack London, Walt Whitman, and Mark Twain, and labor activists like Samuel Gompers and Mother Jones.
Throughout the 19th century, labor leaders celebrated Labor Day as an unofficial holiday with parades and picnics dedicated to winning support for labor reforms. Beginning in 1885, a number of American cities made Labor Day an official holiday, with the cause eventually gathering support in state legislatures. By 1894, Labor Day became a national holiday, signed by Grover Cleveland into law.
“The Meaning of Labor Day” ebook includes stories, speeches, and poetry on the American labor movement and American working life. Read Jack London’s harrowing account of child labor, Walt Whitman’s poem on the nature of work, the classic fence-painting passage from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, and much more.
For more on the national holidays, review “The American Calendar” project, with free ebooks for each of the holidays.
Click here to sign up for our newsletter.Distinguished scholar-teachers Amy and Leon Kass demonstrate how short stories, speeches, and songs can be used to enhance civic education and how a pedagogical approach that stresses learning through inquiry can make primary sources come alive for students of all ages.
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