Labor Day is a peculiar holiday in America. Everywhere else in the world the May Day celebration has its roots in a mélange of pagan rituals and Soviet imagery. Here in the USA, Labor Day is when the fashion-conscious change from the bright colors of summer to the more somber tones of fall. For retailers and consumers, it is a time to go shopping. At the Jersey Shore where I grew up, Labor Day signaled the bittersweet end of the tourist season and the return to school. Think of the movie Jaws and you will have an idea of what that means. Yet, I don't see it that way anymore.
There are many important events in the history of the labor movement, such as the Pullman Strike of 1894, which I have written about in the past. There are also numerous notable figures, such as Eugene Debs, about whom I have also written. Yet, the labor-movement hero that I think about most often today is one that many people would rather not think about. His name was Joseph Shoemaker.
By all accounts Joseph Shoemaker was an unassuming and amiable man when he came to Tampa from Vermont. He had been kicked out of the Modern Socialists in 1934 for "endorsing the New Deal and Democratic Party candidates." The Tampa that he left for was a fast-growing and corrupt community dead set against the ideals of the Declaration and the Bill of Rights. Shoemaker's response was to become a poll watcher and founded a political party named the New Democrats. Unlike Vermont, where dissent meant getting kicked out of a political organization, being a troublemaker in Florida meant torture and death at the hands of the police. The details are too gruesome to recount here.
The fight to make sure that the lives of average Americans conform to the values of America has existed since the Constitutional Convention. Those who fought the battle risked torture and death. Nearly 13 percent of Americans died in a civil war over the foundational conviction that "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Joseph Shoemaker is just one person on a long list of martyrs who died for Jeffersonian ideals.
I shall enjoy this holiday weekend and all of the joys that it brings with it. I wish every one of our clients a joyful, safe, and restful three days off. Some may even use the time to pack away their white dresses and go shopping. That is great, but I shall also be pondering the courage of the many men and women of conscience like Joseph Shoemaker that forced America to live up to its founding promise.
* Ingalls P, R. "The Murder of Joseph Shoemaker." Facing South: Online. Original article appeared in Southern Exposure Vol. 8 No. 2, "Mark of the Beast." August 01, 1980 https://www.facingsouth.org/murder-joseph-shoemaker. Accessed 08.26.2025.
** https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript. Accessed on 08.27.2025.