Labor Day 2023 is Monday, September 4. Check out these EVPL resources to help you celebrate!
What is Labor Day?
For many, Labor Day is a Monday in September that allows for a long weekend, no school, and end-of-summer barbeques. But why is this day an important holiday in American history?
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Labor Day became an official national holiday in 1894, after years of celebrations by labor organizations, activists, and individual states. Many times filled with parades and festivities, the first Labor Day celebrations were meant to praise the American worker. Labor Day acknowledges American workers and their contributions to the nation’s economy and prosperity.
More importantly, Labor Day is a nod to the achievements of labor unions and victories over workers’ rights. Employment in the U.S. has been a long-fought battle of fighting for fair and equitable treatment and pay. It is a time to stand up and advocate for workers’ rights and recognize the sometimes brutal history of employment in America.
EVPL has an array of movies, books, audiobooks, and more for your Labor Day celebrations. Whether you want to learn more about labor history, find a new recipe for your Labor Day cookout, or watch a movie about the funny quirks in everyday work, we have lots of choices available with your library card.
Special Event
Come and enjoy the movie Norma Rae at EVPL Oaklyn!
Tuesday, September 05 | 3:00 – 5:00 pm
Movie Description: A poor, uneducated textile worker in a small Southern town joins forces with a labor organizer to establish a union at her mill. (Rated PG; 118 minutes)
Books
- A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement and the Bombing that Divided Gilded Age America by James Green
- Dolores Huerta: Labor Organizer by Meg Gaertner
- The Edge of Anarchy: The Railroad Barons, the Gilded Age, and the Greatest Labor Uprising in America by Jack Kelly
- Fannie Never Flinched: One Woman’s Courage in the Struggle for American Labor Union Rights by Mary Cronk Farrell
- A History of America in Ten Strikes by Erik Loomis
- The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
- Marching to the Mountaintop: How Poverty, Labor Fights and Civil Rights Set the Stage for Martin Luther King Jr’s Final Hours by Ann Bausum
- Mother Jones: Labor Leader by Connie Colwell Miller
Cookbooks
Find a new recipe for your Labor Day cookout or picnic
- American Table: The Foods, People, and Innovations That Feed Us by Lisa Kingsley, in collaboration with Smithsonian Institution (Book)
- How to Grill Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Flame-Cooked Food by Mark Bittman
- Midwest Made: Big, Bold Baking from the Heartland by Shauna Sever
- The Picnic: Recipes and Inspiration from Basket to Blanket by Marnie Hanel, Andrea Slonecker, Jen Stevenson
- Rodney Scott’s World of BBQ: Every Day Is a Good Day by Rodney Scott & Lolis Eric Elie (Book)
Movies
- Nine to Five
- North Country
- The Office Series
- Office Space
- Union Maids: Women Activists Share their Experiences
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References
- U.S. Dept. of Labor. (2023). History of Labor Day. DOL. https://www.dol.gov/general/laborday/history
