The Spill: Labor Day, WWII Anniversary, and Womens’ Suffrage

Welcome to LNGenZ’s roundup of the trending topics in the news this week.

Who Should We Thank for Labor Day?

For many Americans, Labor Day is a welcome three-day weekend, and a sign that the end of summer is coming. Many people’s celebrations involve hot dogs, barbecues, water balloon fights, and attending parades. While others continue “laboring” on this day that honors workers.
It’s unclear who we have to thank for this Monday holiday – a McGuire or a Maguire (apparently no relation). Peter J. McGuire was an official for of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, as well as a co-founder of the American Federation of Labor. Some records name him as the first person to suggest a day to honor those “who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold.”
Matthew Maguire, the challenger, was a machinist. Those who give Labor Day credit to Maguire say he proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York.
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80th Anniversary of World War II

On September 1, 1939, the Nazi-controlled Luftwaffe – the German air force – bombed the city of Wielen, Poland. The airstrikes were the start of a six-year worldwide conflict that we now call World War II. It left more than 70 million people dead and several countries occupied before the surrender of Japan and Germany in 1945. This week saw the 80th anniversary of the start of the war.
To commemorate the 80th anniversary, world leaders gathered in Poland. US Vice President Mike Pence praised the courage and bravery of the Polish people, saying “None fought with more valour, determination, and righteous fury than the Poles.”
The German president apologized for the past attack. “I ask for forgiveness for Germany’s historical guilt. I profess to our lasting responsibility,” he said.
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The 19th Amendment and Equal Rights for Women

“Everybody counts in applying democracy. And there will never be a true democracy until every responsible and law-abiding adult in it, without regard to race, sex, color or creed has his or her own inalienable and unpurchaseable voice in government.”  These were the words of Carrie Chapman Catt in a speech at the 1917 symposium Votes for All.
Democracy is making decisions by letting people get together and vote on what should be done. But women didn’t always have the right to vote in the United States. Three years later, Catt would achieve a lifelong dream – winning the right to vote for women.
Recently, America celebrated the 99^th anniversary of the passage of the 19^thAmendment to the US Constitution, which guarantees, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”
To read more, click here.