How the employees of the Pullman Palace Car Company shaped Labor Day!

For many the celebration of Labor Day markets the end of summer as well as a three day weekend for many. In some part of the country it also marks the return to school. But did you know that the history of Labor Day even has its roots in the railroad industry?

Let us first look at the fact back in the late 1800’s, not that long ago in the grand scheme of things, the American Worker spent 12 hours a day and sometimes 7 days a week working just to survive. And despite states having restrictions you could even find children as young as 6 in mills, factories and mines across this great country.

As many found their way to this great country in hopes of a better future, the lower class and immigrants often worked in unsafe conditions. Thus the onset of Labor Unions began and as they organized and expanded so did strikes, rallies and protests of the working conditions. Some of these protest even produced violence like the Haymarket Riot of 1886.

Congress was slow to legalize a working holiday until workers from the Pullman Palace Car Company in Chicago went on strike on May 11, 1894 to protest wage cuts and the firing of union representatives.

Although George M. Pullman hired thousands of African American Men after the Civil War, many former slaves, it wasn’t as glorious a win as you would have thought. His main purpose was these men had experiences serving white elites as they traveled across the country in his new Luxurious sleeping railroad cars. Many of these workers were underpaid, dealt with constant racism on the Job as well as worked long hours with little break.

“He was looking for people who had been trained to be the perfect servant,” the historian Larry Tye, author of Rising from the Rails: Pullman Porters and the Making of the Black Middle Class, told NPR in 2009. “He knew they would come cheap, and he paid them next to nothing. And he knew there was never a question off the train that you would be embarrassed by running into one of these Pullman porters.”

On June 26 of that same year the American Railroad Union, led by Eugene V. Debs called for a boycott of all Pullman Railway Cars, thus crippling railroad traffic nationwide. As the government tends to do, they got involved by trying to break the strike as they sent federal government troops to Chicago, which set off violent riots resulting in the death of more than a dozen workers.

So a few days later, after a wave of massive unrest, Congress tried to repair ties with the American Worker by passing the legal holiday, Labor Day. President Grover Cleveland signed it into law on June 28, 1884.

So as you celebrate Labor Day this year, remember all the hard working men, women and children who worked long hours in ungodly conditions for years before finally rising up. Remember the Americans who decided to take a stand, and some giving their own life so you can have your BBQ the first Monday of each September. And most of all remember the railroad workers from the Pullman Palace Car Company who have been sighted as the inspiration that finally launched Congress passing this Nationwide Holiday.

Stay safe out there this holiday weekend…and as always…Happy model railroading everyone!