Labor Day Show

In Wisconsin, Labor Day became an official state holiday in 1893. Labor Day became a national holiday in 1894. President Grover Cleveland, after breaking the American Railway Union with considerable violence and loss of life, signed a bill making the first Monday in September a national holiday for American workers. It was a blatant attempt to win back public support after using Federal Troops to break the Pullman Strike earlier that summer.HERE’S WHAT WE PLAYED Workin’Working Man Blues Merle HaggardHeaven Help the Working Girl Norma JeanLord Have Mercy on the Working Man Travis TrittForty Hour Week (For a Livin’) Alabama9 to 5 Dolly PartonCoal Minin’Sixteen Tons Tennessee Ernie FordCoal Miner’s Daughter Loretta LynnNine Pound Hammer Flatt & ScruggsDark As A Dungeon Merle TravisHarlan County Jim FordGettin’ Back at Your BossA Working Man Can’t Get Nowhere Today Merle HaggardSawmill Mel TillisThey’ll Never Keep Us Down Hazel DickensOney Johnny CashTake This Job and Shove It Johnny PaycheckLest We ForgetSolidarity Forever Pete SeegerWisconsin’s most historic and bloody labor incident occurred on May 5, 1886 on the shores of Lake Michigan in the Bay View area of Milwaukee. Some 1,500 workers marched toward the Bay View Rolling Mills (then the area’s biggest manufacturer) urging the workers there to strike, demanding an eight-hour work day. The local militia, called to the scene by Governor Jeremiah Rusk, fired on the crowd, killing seven people and ending the march. The event became known as the Bay View Massacre.I encourage you to stop by Classic Country Corner with me, Eric the Driftless Cowboy, every Saturday morning at 8 on 98.7 WVMO on your FM Dial in the Monona/Madison area or Stream online at WVMO.FM Or listen on the Tunein or Radio Garden app This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit classiccountrycorner.substack.com