Let ’s remember what Labor Day isreallyabout .
1.Labor Day’s origins are shrouded in blood. Back in the 1800s, Labor unions were also considering making May 1 the holiday honoring workers — it’s a worker’s holidayinternationally, and they had set a strike for an eight-hour workday on that day. However, the US government chose to support a September version of the holiday instead, specifically so that May 1 would not be a US labor holiday. Why did they want to avoid this? First of all, they wanted to keep their workers from even more solidarity with international workers fighting for the same rights. Also…remember that strike I mentioned on May 1? It didn’t end well.#
The Haymarket rally (which itselfwas in partto protest police violence that had killed two workers the night prior)became a riot whensomeone threw a bomb at police — eight labor activists were blamed (even though they all had alibis), and four of them were hanged (with a fifth dying by suicide the night before he was meant to be hanged). The trial and subsequent hangings were controversial due to the lack of evidence and even prompted the men to be viewed as martyrs, inspiring other labor workers to rise up. The US wanted to avoid commemorating this event and emboldening workers to fight even harder for their rights.#
2.The Texas Revolution isoften sanitizedin history books, particularly in Texas. One of the main causes of the revolution was not a patriotic desire for freedom from Mexico but instead to preserve slavery. Mexico had outlawed the practice, which upset Texans, whose main industry was cotton. Many of themythsof the battle of the Alamo, in particular, are untrue: There was no line drawn in the sand, Davy Crockett did not go down fighting, and they certainly did not fight until the last man — up to half of the soldiers fled as they lost. The supposedly “brave” fighters died essentially defending slavery.#
3.The US didn’t just obliterate the native population of people when they settled in the US — they also caused the near-extinction of someanimals, such as the buffalo. Therewerebetween 30 and 60 million buffalo in the early 1800s, but as settlers expanded west (and built their first transcontinental railroad) over the next century, the number of buffalos dwindled down to less than 1,000. This greatly impacted the Native Americans, who relied on the buffalo for food and hides.#
4.Relatedly…you may know about theWounded Knee Massacre, but in case you don’t, let me teach you some history. In the late 1890s, the Lakota people had been robbed of much of their land (and the buffalo that used to roam there), forced onto reservations they needed permission to leave, and hit with droughts and epidemics. A movement/religion called the Ghost Dance began, in which the Lakota believed the United States and its white colonists would one day disappear.#
Fearing an uprising, the US Government sent troops (the largest military deployment since the Civil War) to arrest the movement’s leaders. One Sioux chief fled with a group of Lakota, heading for another reservation in the state. Troops found them, arrested the chief, and began to confiscate weapons. Fighting broke out, and the soldiers shot at the camp, killing at least 150 (and possibly up to 300) — including the chief, who was already arrested and was so sick he could barely move. Only 25 American soldiers were killed, mostly from friendly fire.#
I bring this up not only because it was horrific but because you may have heard of the massacre as a “disaster” (the Library of Congress refers to it as such) or even a battle.* This was not the case. Two-thirds were women and children, and many of the rest were older adults.#
5.You also likely know about the internment of Americans with Japanese ancestry during World War II, but here are some extra details that show just how bad it was. Residents, who had only days to leave their homes and businesses, lost $400 million in property. Other Americans wouldoffermuch lower rates for the soon-to-be-interned desperate to sell, and many of their cars were requisitioned for the war. They remained at the camp for years, and the last camp was not closed until 1946, despite the war ending in 1945.#
Many people in the camps wereover65 or had a disability, while — heartbreakingly —halfwere children, including newborn babies, orphans, and even children who had been adopted and raised by non-Japanese parents. Anyone with even 1/16 of Japanese heritage had to go. Two-thirds of the interned peoplewerefull American citizens who had been born in the US. In the end, no one with Japanese roots was found guilty of serious espionage or sabotage in the war.#
The US Government didn’t apologize until 1988. They then paid out $20,000 in reparations to each surviving internment victim.#
6.The contributions of Black soldiers in the Revolutionary War are almost invisible in most American education. Black soldiers did serve in the Continental Army despite the fact that George Washingtonforbadeit (he later changed his mind after the British recruited Black soldiers in America). Still, many Black Americans chose the British, as the British offered Black slaves freedom* in exchange for their service, while only Rhode Island appears to have done so consistently in the US.#
Some of the Black soldiers who fought for the US were free men, but others were enslaved people who would return to their enslavement after the war (their wages would go to their masters) — even when their masters had promised freedom in exchange for fighting. Around 10-15% of the soldiers who fought in the Revolution were Black, includingsoldierslike Salem Poor, double agents like James Armistead, and the almost all-Black First Rhode Island Regiment. And yet, we rarely learn about them, and few were recognized in any way at all.#
7.When the slave trade was banned, the slave industry continued to flourish in America because peopleessentially “bred"enslaved people. In fact, the slave trade wasn’t banned as an act to curb slavery, butratherbecause the slave trade was flooding the market with too many enslaved people, which reduced the prices enslaved people would be sold at in the US and hurt enslaver profits.#
8.Unlike the interned Americans of Japanese descent, neither the enslaved nor their descendants ever received reparations for slavery. The onlyreparationsthat have been paid out over American slavery have gone to enslavers.#
9.One more slavery-related fact I find disturbing: The Georgia state flag did not always feature a Confederate flag. It was activelyaddedas a response to the Civil Rights Movement in 1956 and lasted until 2001…so those claiming the flag is a traditional, historical thing that should remain the way it’s always been can shut it.#
10.The USactively turned awaythousands of Jewish refugees during the war (right back to places under Nazi control), despite not having filled their quota for German immigrants. Countries that did accept Jewish refugees includedChinaandthe Philippines.#
13.Similarly, at Willowbrook State School, which also housed many children with learning and intellectual disabilities, the scientistsexposedstudents to Hepatitis A to help them develop a vaccine. They injected children 5-10 years old with Hep A or gave them chocolate milk with the poop of their classmates who already had Hep A. This did aid in creating a vaccine.#
14.Even more messed-up experimentswere doneon almost primarily Black inmates at Holmsburg prison, many of whom were awaiting trial and had not yet been found guilty of any crime. Like at Willowbrook, inmates were exposed to viruses, but they were also exposed to fungus, asbestos, and dioxin (which Agent Orange is made from). Many of these inmates were illiterate. These experiments were run by UPenn dermatologist Albert Kligman and were mostly used to produce makeup, skincare, and other cosmetics. He partnered with Johnson & Johnson and Dow Chemical Corporation.#
Kligman alsoran testson women at the House of Correction in Philadelphia, funded by UPenn. This included giving women psychedelics, testing out diets, and testing tampons without providing proper information on how to use them — one patient describes undergoing a hysterectomy after improper education led her to leave part of a tampon still in her body. Kligman — who has since died — said in 2006 that “shutting the prison experiments down was a big mistake.” He continued, “I’m on the medical ethics committee at Penn, and I still don’t see there having been anything wrong with what we were doing.”#
15.Speaking of prisoners, did you know that there isnominimum wage for prison workers? Some don’t get paid at all, and the others are making literal pennies (usually less than a dollar an hour and often less than 50 cents an hour). Oh, and prisonershaveto pay for their room and board out of their wages.#
17.An oft-forgotten part of US History involves eugenics and sterilizing people. The government-funded sterilizationin32 states disproportionally affected women of color, though it was also done on immigrants, the poor or unmarried, and people with disabilities. Patients did not always know what was being done to them or give consent, and others were coerced. This didn’t just happen back in the day, either. Between 2006-2010, almost 150 women in California prisons were sterilized.#


























