The history of Labor Day as a federal holiday is inseparable from one of the bloodiest labor conflicts in American history. In 1894, President Grover Cleveland signed legislation making the first Monday in September a national holiday, but this gesture came amid federal troops crushing a railroad strike in Chicago that left approximately 30 people dead. The roots of the holiday trace back more than a decade earlier to New York City, where on September 5, 1882, between 10,000 and 20,000 workers participated in the nation’s first Labor Day parade. Organized by the Central Labor Union, the march began at…
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