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Labor Day Trivia Questions and Answers for the Cookout

Sixty Labor Day questions with answers: tap a choice to check it, or print a sheet of 20.

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Labor Day falls on the first Monday of September. What is the latest date it can fall on?

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Unofficial practice questions, not affiliated with any school, exam board or quiz show. Bank checked September 20, 2026.

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All 60 questions with answers

How Labor Day began 14

  • A labor celebration in which Canadian city in 1882 caught the eye of Peter J. McGuire before New York's first Labor Day parade? Answer: Toronto. Source: Wikipedia: Labour Day
  • Congress made Labor Day a federal holiday in 1894, during which railroad strike? Answer: The Pullman Strike. Source: Wikipedia: Pullman Strike
  • The federal Labor Day law of 1894 made the day a holiday for which workers? Answer: Federal workers only. Source: Wikipedia: Labor Day
  • The first Labor Day, September 5, 1882, did not fall on a Monday. Which day of the week was it? Answer: Tuesday. Source: U.S. Department of Labor, History of Labor Day
  • The first proposal for Labor Day said the day should open with which event? Answer: A street parade. Source: U.S. Department of Labor, History of Labor Day
  • In which city was the first Labor Day parade held, on September 5, 1882? Answer: New York City. Source: Library of Congress: Today in History: September 5
  • In which year did Congress make Labor Day a national holiday? Answer: 1894. Source: U.S. Department of Labor, History of Labor Day
  • Labor Day falls on the first Monday of September. What is the latest date it can fall on? Answer: September 7. Source: Wikipedia: Labor Day
  • Peter J. McGuire liked the first Monday in September because it sits about midway between which two holidays? Answer: The Fourth of July and Thanksgiving. Source: Wikipedia: Labor Day
  • Two men with almost the same surname, Peter J. McGuire and Matthew Maguire, are each credited with proposing Labor Day. What were their trades? Answer: A carpenter and a machinist. Source: U.S. Department of Labor, History of Labor Day
  • The Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1968 moved several federal holidays to Mondays. Why did it leave Labor Day alone? Answer: Labor Day was already on a Monday. Source: Wikipedia: Uniform Monday Holiday Act
  • Which group of New York unions planned the first Labor Day? Answer: The Central Labor Union. Source: U.S. Department of Labor, History of Labor Day
  • Which president signed the law that made Labor Day a national holiday? Answer: Grover Cleveland. Source: U.S. Department of Labor, History of Labor Day
  • Which state was the first to pass a law recognizing Labor Day, in February 1887? Answer: Oregon. Source: U.S. Department of Labor, History of Labor Day

The eight-hour day and the weekend 12

  • The Adamson Act of 1916 was the first federal law to set hours in private companies. Whose eight-hour day did it set? Answer: Railroad workers. Source: Wikipedia: Eight-hour day movement
  • An 1817 slogan asked for eight hours' labor, eight hours' recreation and eight hours of what? Answer: Rest. Source: Wikipedia: Eight-hour day movement
  • Craft workers of the 1600s to 1800s often kept 'Saint Monday'. What was it? Answer: The habit of taking Monday off. Source: Wikipedia: Saint Monday
  • The first U.S. workweek of five days, in 1908, was set up by what kind of business? Answer: A New England cotton mill. Source: Wikipedia: Workweek and weekend
  • The French Revolutionary Calendar of 1793 to 1805 gave workers one leisure day in a week of how many days? Answer: Ten. Source: Wikipedia: Workweek and weekend
  • In 1840, carpenters in Wellington, New Zealand pledged to keep an eight-hour day. What was to happen to anyone who broke the pledge? Answer: He would be ducked into the harbor. Source: Wikipedia: Eight-hour day movement
  • In January 1914, which carmaker doubled pay to $5 a day and cut shifts from nine hours to eight? Answer: Henry Ford. Source: Wikipedia: Eight-hour day movement
  • In which year did the 40-hour maximum week take effect across the United States, making the two-day weekend the national norm? Answer: 1940. Source: Wikipedia: Workweek and weekend
  • On August 20, 1866, the newly organized National Labor Union called on Congress to do what? Answer: Mandate an eight-hour workday. Source: Library of Congress: Today in History: August 20
  • Strikers in Philadelphia in 1835 carried banners that read 'From 6 to 6'. How many of those twelve hours did they want for work? Answer: Ten. Source: Wikipedia: Eight-hour day movement
  • Under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, what rate of pay is due for work beyond forty hours in a week? Answer: Time and a half. Source: Wikipedia: Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938
  • Where did the present-day idea of the weekend first arise, in the early 1800s? Answer: The industrial north of Britain. Source: Wikipedia: Workweek and weekend

Work, tools and inventions 12

  • The 'disassembly lines' of which Chicago industry, in use from 1867, are counted among the first industrial assembly lines in the United States? Answer: Meatpacking. Source: Wikipedia: Assembly line
  • A journeyman has finished an apprenticeship. The 'journey' in the word comes from the French journée, which means what? Answer: A whole day. Source: Wikipedia: Journeyman
  • Frances Perkins held the post of US secretary of labor longer than anyone else. For how long? Answer: 12 years. Source: Wikipedia: Frances Perkins
  • In everyday speech today, what is a Luddite? Answer: Someone opposed to new technology. Source: Wikipedia: Luddite
  • Lewis Hine's photographs of children at work helped bring about the first US child labor laws. In 1930 he was hired to record the building of what? Answer: The Empire State Building. Source: Wikipedia: Lewis Hine
  • The Lowell mill girls of Massachusetts worked in which industry? Answer: Textiles. Source: Wikipedia: Lowell mill girls
  • The phrase 'blue collar' was first used for trade jobs in 1924. It comes from workers' shirts made of which cloth? Answer: Blue denim or chambray. Source: Wikipedia: Blue-collar worker
  • Rosie the Riveter became the symbol of women in wartime factories. In 1942, the idea of Rosie began as what? Answer: A song. Source: Wikipedia: Rosie the Riveter
  • The union anthem 'Solidarity Forever', written in 1915, is sung to the tune of which older song? Answer: John Brown's Body. Source: Wikipedia: Solidarity Forever
  • Which president signed the bill that created the Department of Labor, on his last day in office in 1913? Answer: William Howard Taft. Source: Wikipedia: United States Department of Labor
  • Who patented the assembly line concept and put it to work in his car factory in 1901? Answer: Ransom Olds. Source: Wikipedia: Assembly line
  • The word 'strike' for a work protest dates from 1768. Who 'struck' what? Answer: Sailors struck the sails of ships. Source: Wikipedia: Strike action

End-of-summer traditions 10

  • By an old rule of fashion, which color was put away after Labor Day? Answer: White. Source: Wikipedia: Labor Day
  • Each Labor Day the West Indian Day Parade fills Eastern Parkway in which borough of New York City? Answer: Brooklyn. Source: Wikipedia: Labor Day Carnival
  • If Labor Day is the unofficial end of summer in the United States, which holiday is its unofficial beginning? Answer: Memorial Day. Source: Wikipedia: Labor Day
  • In September 1922, New York City saw eight days of rioting over men who kept wearing which summer item too late in the year? Answer: Straw hats. Source: Wikipedia: Straw Hat Riot
  • Labor Day picnics go back to the first one in 1882. From which language did English take the word picnic? Answer: French. Source: Wikipedia: Picnic
  • People call Labor Day summer's unofficial end. On the astronomical calendar, in which season does it always fall? Answer: Summer. Source: Wikipedia: September equinox
  • Seersucker, the puckered summer cloth once put away after Labor Day, takes its name from Persian words meaning what? Answer: Milk and sugar. Source: Wikipedia: Seersucker
  • State fairs are an end-of-summer custom. Which state held the first US state fair, at Syracuse in 1841? Answer: New York. Source: Wikipedia: Great New York State Fair
  • Walkers may cross the five-mile Mackinac Bridge on foot only on Labor Day. Who traditionally leads them? Answer: The governor of Michigan. Source: Wikipedia: Mackinac Bridge Walk
  • Which state's fair runs for twelve days and always ends on Labor Day? Answer: Minnesota. Source: Wikipedia: Minnesota State Fair

Labor days around the world 12

  • The Bahamas holds Labour Day on the first Friday in June. Why a Friday? Answer: To give workers a long weekend. Source: Wikipedia: Labour Day
  • Canada traces its Labour Day to 1872, when marchers in Toronto backed a strike by which workers? Answer: Printers. Source: Wikipedia: Labour Day (Canada)
  • The date May 1 was chosen to remember a general strike of 1886 in which country? Answer: The United States. Source: Wikipedia: International Workers' Day
  • In France, which flower is traditionally sold on May 1? Answer: Lily of the valley. Source: Wikipedia: Lily of the valley
  • In Melbourne in 1856, which building workers downed tools and marched to Parliament House for an eight-hour day? Answer: Stonemasons. Source: Wikipedia: Eight-hour day movement
  • In most countries that keep a workers' holiday, which date is it? Answer: May 1. Source: Wikipedia: International Workers' Day
  • The International Labour Organization, founded in 1919, has its headquarters in which city? Answer: Geneva. Source: Wikipedia: International Labour Organization
  • Japan's Labor Thanksgiving Day is today's name for which kind of ancient festival? Answer: A harvest festival. Source: Wikipedia: Labour Thanksgiving Day
  • The May 1 workers' holiday grew out of a workers' congress that met in 1889 in which city? Answer: Paris. Source: Wikipedia: International Workers' Day
  • New Zealand holds its Labour Day on the fourth Monday of which month? Answer: October. Source: Wikipedia: Labour Day
  • President Dwight D. Eisenhower declared May 1, in 1958, which day in the United States? Answer: Law Day. Source: Wikipedia: Law Day (United States)
  • Which country keeps Labour Day on the same September Monday as the United States? Answer: Canada. Source: Wikipedia: Labour Day (Canada)

How it works

These 60 Labor Day trivia questions cover why the first Monday in September is a holiday: the 1882 parade in New York, the eight-hour day, the weekend, end-of-summer customs and workers' holidays abroad. Each has four choices, an explanation and a link to its source.

Read the full guide

Five topics, from the 1882 parade to Japan

How Labor Day began (14 questions) has the Tuesday parade of 1882 and the first state law. The eight-hour day and the weekend (12) runs from banners reading 'From 6 to 6' to time and a half. Work, tools and inventions (12) traces strike, Luddite and blue collar. End-of-summer traditions (10) has the rule about white and a riot over straw hats. Labor days around the world (12) goes from May 1 to Japan.

A quiz for the cookout table

Leave Start from as it opens and press Print the question sheet for a sheet of 20, then tick With answer key for whoever reads the answers out. Choose one topic to print just its 10 to 14 questions. With no printer, pass a phone around.

  • Labor days around the world suits guests from outside the United States. It asks about Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, France and the Bahamas.
  • Settle a tie with one of the 9 hard questions. Each of the five topics holds one or two.

Questions and answers

Why do we celebrate Labor Day?

Labor Day honors American workers. New York's Central Labor Union held the first parade on Tuesday, September 5, 1882. Oregon passed the first state law in 1887, and in 1894 Congress made the first Monday in September a national holiday.

Why can't you wear white after Labor Day?

It is an old rule of fashion. By an old rule, nobody wore white or seersucker once Labor Day had passed, a custom traced in part to wealthy New Yorkers coming home from their summer houses in Newport.

Are the questions suitable for kids at a cookout?

For older children, yes. Nothing mentions alcohol, and the grimmest pages of labor history are left out. Start younger players on End-of-summer traditions, which has easy questions about white clothes, picnics and the start of summer.

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