By Margaret Brackett

Contributing Columnist

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Labor Day was created to honor the workforce of our country and is observed annually on the first Monday in September to pay tribute to the contributions and achievements of American workers. It also symbolizes the end of summer for many Americans and is celebrated with parties, parades and athletic events.

The labor movement established Labor Day in the late 19th century and became a federal holiday in 1894. It originated during one of American labor history’s most dismal chapters. In the late 1800s at the height of the Industrial Revolution in the United States, the average person worked 12-hour days and seven-day weeks to eke out a basic living.

Despite restrictions in some states, children as young as five or six years toiled in mills, factories and mines across the country earning a fraction of their adult counterparts’ wages. People of all ages, particularly the very poor and recent immigrants, often faced extremely unsafe working conditions, with insufficient fresh air, sanitary facilities.

As manufacturing increasingly replaced agriculture in American employment, labor unions, which first appeared in the late 18th century, grew more prominent and vocal. They began organizing strikes and rallies to protest poor conditions and compel employees to renegotiate hours and pay.

Many of these events turned violent during this period, including the infamous Heymaler Riot of 1886, in which several Chicago policemen and workers were killed. Others gave rise to longstanding traditions: On September 5, 1882, 10,000 workers took unpaid time off to march from City Hall to Union Square in New York City, holding the first Labor Day parade.

The idea of a “workingmen’s” holiday celebrated on the first Monday in September caught on in other industrial centers across the country, and many states passed legislation recognizing the holiday until 12 years later, when a watershed movement in American labor history brought worker’s rights squarely into the public’s view.

On May 11, 1894, employees of the Pullman Palace Car Company in Chicago went on strike to protest wage cuts and the firing of union representatives.

On June 26, the American Railroad Union called for a boycott of all Pullman railway cars, crippling railroad traffic nationwide. To break the strike, the federal government dispatched troops to Chicago, unleashing a wave of riots. In the wake of this massive unrest and an attempt to repair ties with American workers, Congress passed an act making Labor Day a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.

Labor Day continues celebrations in cities and towns across the United States with parades, firework displays and other public gatherings. The Labor Day weekend is one of the deadliest periods for impaired driving deaths.

City and county law enforcement agencies will be out in the effort to crack down on impaired driving and reduce roadway fatalities. Supporting these heroes who keep us safe on the roads is a critical part of MADD’s campaign to Eliminate Drunk Driving.

Newberry County dates for 2015 Labor Day Sobriety Awareness, Target Zero Campaign, are Aug. 24 to Sept. 7. Sobriety Checkpoints are scheduled for weekends of Aug. 28-29 and Sept. 4-5.

Margaret Brackett is from Newberry. Her columns appear weekly in The Newberry Observer.