1.04 Lifeboat Simulation

 If you are absent, Google Form.

Today's Lesson: Let's go on vacation!

For this simulation, we are going on an around-the-world cruise!  How fun, right?

That is, until the boat hits a mine leftover from WWII and the cruise ship sinks really fast.  

Luckily, you survive!  There was one life raft that was saved.  

You and 15 others climb aboard or cling to the outside of it.  

(Here is a printable copy of this activity.)  

Here are the people aboard the boat:

_______________  1.  Sailor Jones:  It is somewhat questionable how I was able to get from my assigned position below deck to the lifeboat when no other sailor assigned to the lower decks managed to escape from the ship.  I am in excellent health.  Not married, and no close relatives.

 

_______________2.  Ship’s Officer O’Malley:  I was the only high ranking officer aboard the ship that was able to get to the lifeboat.  It is the boat that I was assigned to in all of the emergency practice drills.  I was a capable leader on the boat, has navigational skills, and was well-liked by passenger and crew members aboard the ship.  Excellent health.

 

_______________3.  Quarter Master MacDonald:  Little is known about me. I did serve in the regular navy.  When the ship sank, I suffered injuries to both of my wrists.  At the present time, I cannot use either hand.  I am married and has four children in the U.S.

 

_______________4.  Self-Made Millionaire Douglas:  I own and manage one of the U.S.’s largest garment industrial complexes, which employs hundreds of factory workers.  I have dedicated so much time to making the business successful that I am out of shape due to lack of exercise.

 

_______________5.  College Student Parsons:  I am a college student who has been on a limited budget European vacation.  I am a grand mal epileptic.  Unfortunately, while abandoning the ship, all of my medication was left behind.  I am single—age 22.

 

_______________6.  Nobel Prize Winner in Literature, Dr. Lightfoot:  I am a minority race and questions have been raised whether the Nobel Prize was awarded to me due to my race or my ability.  Dr. Lightfoot is 48 years old and is in good health.  I am married, with two daughters who have families of their own.

 

_______________7.  Nobel Prize Winner in Physics, Dr. Singleton: It has been said that I am about to release information to the world that will essentially bring about the solution to the world’s ecology problem.  I am 62 years old and is in excellent health.  I was born and raised in a small town in Arkansas.  I come from a very wealthy family and have remained single.

 

_______________8. Football Player, Mr Small  and  

 

_______________9.Cheerleader,  Mrs. Small:  We are in our late twenties.  Mr Small was a star football player at Ohio State.  Mrs. Small, who also attended Ohio State, was the Homecoming Queen.  Mr. Small now a running back for a semi-pro football team in New York. Mrs. Small is eight and one-half months pregnant. The couple is interracial; Mr. Small is a minority race and Mrs, Small is not.

 

_______________10.  Army Captain Thomas:  I was recently decorated for bravery and valor above and beyond the call of duty.  I am on the way to the U.S. to personally receive the Medal of Honor from the President.  I am married, with two children, and am about 35yrs old.  While engaged in the action, which resulted in receiving the Medal of Honor, Captain Thomas lost a right leg.  Other than this condition which I recovered from, I am in good health.  

 

_______________11.  Draft Evader Samuels:  I left the United States two years ago in order to avoid the military draft.  I then spent two years in Sweden, from which I was recently deported for dealing in illegal drugs.  I am in my early twenties and in good health. Single.  

 

_______________12.  Peace Corps Volunteer Davidson:  I am a Peace Corps Volunteer who has recently completed 2 years of work in India.  I have a Master’s Degree in Chemical Engineering and am on the way back to Boston where Davidson is to be married in two months.  I am 27yrs old and in excellent health.

 

_______________13.  Med Student Ryan: I am a medical student who has been vacationing in France.  I am 26 years old, single, and in excellent health.

 

_______________14. Elderly man, Mr. Eldridge and 

 

_______________15.Elderly woman, Mrs. Eldridge:  We are an elderly couple, both in our late 60’s and on our way back to our native New Jersey after a one month tour of Spain.  Mr. Eldridge is suffering severely from arthritis and is not capable of walking without the aid of a cane.  We will celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary next week.  We have 8 children and 29 grandchildren and are all living in New Jersey.  

 

_______________16. Traveling Poet Carpenter:  I am a 30-year-old traveling poet in excellent health.  I have never had a permanent home since running away from a New York orphanage 15 years ago.  I spent 4 years in the Navy and acquired a taste for sailing and since leaving the Navy has made several solo sailing voyages in the Caribbean.  I have been divorced three times and am currently separated from my 4th spouse who resides in Paris.

The boat is crowded :-(  but This should be sufficient as long as a storm does not develop. 

 

Uh-oh! Guess what? [THUNDER!  LIGHTNING!]  Yep - a storm.  

Part 1:
This overcrowded lifeboat will not survive unless 7 people get life preservers and are set adrift from the lifeboat.  Your job is to choose who stays and who goes.  You must choose 7 people to be set adrift and save the other 9 people.  Mark your choices on the packet.

Part 2:

If you do not have a role, then you are a qualitative sociologist.  Try to record as much as possible about what each person says and does on the boat.  Use the space below to record as many notes about the simulation as possible. 

If you had a role, please answer honestly about why you were saved or rejected.  Was there something about the role you had (your character) that affected the decision?  Was there something about you personally or how you played your role that may have affected the decision?

Part 3:

Your Individual Choices:  Decide on your own who should stay and who should go.  Briefly give your reasoning for saving/rejecting each person (one word is fine).

What really happened

This activity is based on the real-life events that were portrayed in the movie Abandon Ship! (1957).

The real story of what happened was based on the movie Abandon Ship, also known as Seven Waves Away.  Here is the full movie on youtube.

In the real-life incident, all of those aboard turned to the highest-ranking person (ship’s officer) to take command.  He had a sidearm on him.  When the sea got too rough, he called everyone’s attention and he chose who would go/stay.  He kept only the strong, able-bodied who were strong enough to survive a long row.  On the last day, they were rescued and the captain was put on trial for murder.  He was declared guilty, but received a minimum sentence of only 6 months in prison because of the unique circumstances.

After the simulation is finished, please answer the questions below here.

Individual Reflection: I have been doing this activity since 1999, which means students have done this more than 70 times. 

4. Who do you think has never been kicked off the boat ever?  Why?

5.  Who do you think has been kicked off the boat the most?  Why?

6.  Were your individual choices different than who the class chose (or what really happened)?  If so, how and why? What criteria did you use to make the choices that were different?

PAUSE HERE

Debrief the simulation.

Debriefing the Lifeboat Simulation; Macro and Micro Sociology

Debrief from the lifeboat.

Who did our class set adrift in the activity?  How do you think this compares to other classes that have done this?  

Who do you think has never been set adrift?

1.Able-Bodied Sailor Jones:                                  

2.Ship’s Officer O’Maley:  Mr./Ms. O’Malley:             

3.Quarter Master MacDonald:                              

4.Self-Made Millionaire Douglas:                          

5.College Student Mr/Ms Parsons:                        

6.Nobel Prize Winner in Literature, Dr. Lightfoot     

7.Nobel Prize Winner in Physics, Dr. Singleton         

8.Football Player Mr. Small:                                 

9.Cheerleader Mrs. Small:                                     

10.Army Captain Thomas:                                   

11.Draft Evader Samuels:                                    

12.Peace Corps Volunteer Mr./Ms. Davidson:           

13.Med Student Mr./Ms. Ryan:                               

14.Elderly man Mr. Eldridge:                                

15.Elderly woman Mrs. Eldridge:                          

16.Travelling Poet Mr/Ms Carpenter:                     

Here are the results of 20 years of doing this activity:

Out of 71 times, here are the totals:

1.Able-Bodied Sailor Jones:                                  22

2.Ship’s Officer O’Maley:  Mr./Ms. O’Malley:             2

3.Quarter Master MacDonald:                               56

4.Self-Made Millionaire Douglas:                           54

5.College Student Mr/Ms Parsons:                         60

6.Nobel Prize Winner in Literature, Dr. Lightfoot      35

7.Nobel Prize Winner in Physics, Dr. Singleton          0

8.Football Player Mr. Small:                                  15

9.Cheerleader Mrs. Small:                                      6

10.Army Captain Thomas:                                    15

11.Draft Evader Samuels:                                     59

12.Peace Corps Volunteer Mr./Ms. Davidson:            5

13.Med Student Mr./Ms. Ryan:                                0

14.Elderly man Mr. Eldridge:                                 65

15.Elderly woman Mrs. Eldridge:                           62

16.Travelling Poet Mr/Ms Carpenter:                      41

The Sociological Perspective: Macro and Micro Levels

Sociology examines people and society from different levels. Two of the levels that most often inform the sociological perspective are macro and micro sociology.

Macrosociological perspective

On the macro level, sociologists look for the influences of large-scale social groups on individuals, or groups within society that makeup more people than we can interact with.  These groups might be institutional such as economy, religion, education or they might be more identity-based like culture, age cohort, gender or racial identity. So, for the simulation, let's examine the similarities for who your class kicked off the boat compared to the other classes that I have taught.

Our class is made up of different people than any other class that has done this activity.  I have done this activity with hundreds of students going back more than twenty years!  In fact, this class is so different, that some students are from a different generation!  For example, I have been doing this activity long enough that two of my students married!  They met in my class as the football player and cheerleader in 2002, and then continued to date after college. They got engaged in 2012 and asked me to be the officiant at their wedding!  Here is my sociological sermon that I wrote for their wedding.  The point is that even though they are old enough to be a different stage of life  than my current class, similarities still exist between their class and yours.  

What are the choices that your class made that is similar to the choices above by other classes?

Why do these patterns emerge across generations?  There are social forces that lead to/construct similar results.  Think about the larger groups that you share with the other students that have done this over the years:

What did you have in common? Group memberships affect how we think about the world and what we value.  

What commonalities might have played a role in shaping the same decisions?

Despite all of the individual differences among students who have done this, what does our class share in common with all of the other classes that I have done this with?  All the people who have done this in my class over the years have been a part of several large (macro) groups.   For example, everyone that has done this simulation has been: students, teens, people studying sociology, people living in Chicagoland, and, Americans. These large groups are on a macrosociological level - they have so many members in them that you can't know all the members or interact with them all. 

The most important macrosociological group in this exercise, in my opinion, is our cultural group, Americans. As people living in the USA, we have cultural values that we all are influenced by. For example, Americans value pragmatism/ practicality and we consistently save the characters who they believe are useful, especially the medical student and the Nobel prize winner in Physics. And, Americans value youth and strength and students consistently reject the elderly and the sick (quartermaster, college student). Finally, Americans love to believe that they are personally in charge of their own future so all of the students who have done this attempt to make choices that they believe are "correct" as opposed to simply choosing at random and leaving it up to fate or destiny. Macro-sociological forces influence people all over the country to value these traits and thus make these choices when on the boat.   

Sociological Imagination

1.  How might this activity play out in a different place?  How might different cultures approach the decision of who to set adrift?  

2.  How might this play out in a different time?  How might Americans from a different time, such as the 1920s or 1820s, approach the decision?

Perhaps in another culture, different cultural values might lead to different choices:

• some cultures that value the elderly might save the oldest people first.
• some cultures that value education might save the most educated people.
• some cultures that believe in fate/destiny might pick numbers out of a hat.
• some cultures that value equity might save the weakest/those with the most obstacles.

Perhaps in another time, Americans may have chosen to save:

• women and children first
• people by race
• people by social class

Microsociological Perspective
On the microsociological level, sociologists study how groups interact in face-to-face conversation. In face-to-face interaction the words we use matter - they hold shared meaning and values.  Additionally, how we use the words matters, such as: who makes eye contact, how loud people speak, where they sit, who is the leader, etc... So, the microsociological data from each time that the activity is done, might be different based on the interaction.  This includes the words students use.  For example, if the poet focuses on being a poet, people might see that as undesirable and kick him off.  But if the poet reinforces that he is useful because of his sailing skills, that might save him because usefulness is a shared value in our culture. 

3. What were the microsociological reasons that some people were sent overboard?  More specifically:

Did it matter where students sat on the boat? 

Did it matter if they spoke up or how they talked?

How did students play their role?

What words did students use that may have affected the dynamic? 

 

Social Construction of Reality 

Each person's experience on the boat was created by the way other people thought about their characters.  Thinking with the Social Construction of Reality, one might ask: How are the experiences of those on the boat shaped by the larger society? What are the meanings that each person's status holds on the boat?  

Each person's status(es), or social positions, on the boat create a very real experience for the people in the simulation.  Some statuses become master statuses, a position within a group that define how others see that person.  For example, elderly is a master status that is hard for the group to see past.  Other master statuses might include pregnant, being a poet, being a med student.

Applying this to your own life
This activity is a metaphor for any group that you are a part of; all of the groups that shape you are governed by both macro-sociological forces and micro-sociological forces.  For example, apply this to college.  If we examined these two levels in college, there are certain macro-sociological values that one would expect to find no matter where the school is located: grades, expectations of learning, homework, rules etc... So as you move from one class to the next, you will see these macro-sociological values present. On the other hand, each individual class is different because of the micro-sociological dynamics present within each class: some teachers are more casual, some teachers use rows vs. a horseshoe shape, some classes have a few loud boisterous individuals and other classes might be mostly girls or mostly guys etc...

4.  Can you see these two levels at play in your own life? Perhaps in your family, your classes or with a group of friends, or at your job?  

How is one of your groups shaped by larger forces such as the influence of culture?

How is the group shaped by the interaction of its' members?  For example, how do they treat each other based on the statuses each person has? 

1.03 Imagine Where or When; C. Wright Mills' Sociological Imagination

Before we begin the lesson, as students arrive, please review this excerpt from Outliers.

(If you are absent, please be sure to do the Google Form for today's lesson)

Meditation

Today's Lesson: C Wright Mills' Sociological Imagination

After reading the excerpt from Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers, answer the questions:

Big Group Discussion:

1. Describe life in Roseto, PA.

2. What did Dr. Wolf set out to study at first?

3. What did the sociologist Bruhn help him conclude?

4. Were the people of Roseto, PA aware of that they were being affected in the way that Bruhn concluded? Explain.

In the book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell writes about extreme success stories (aka Outliers). In the introduction (the excerpt linked above),  we learn that the people who lived in Roseto at that time were affected by the social life there even though they did not realize it. In other words, they were affected by where and when they live. Understanding this helps us why the people living there were so healthy. This is the promise of sociology; to understand how people are affected by where and when they live. Sociology helps us understand how personal difficulties and successes can be part of larger public/social issues. And, if we are sociologically mindful, we can see how we personally contribute to that and we can take agency in our lives to affect those public issues in ways that we value.

What is C. Wright Mills Sociological Imagination?

The understanding that people are affected by when and where they live is what an important sociologist, C. Wright Mills, calls having a "sociological imagination".   Mills explains that a "sociological imagination" is seeing the connection between history and biography. That is, who we are (our biography) is determined by where and when we live (our history).  

As an example of this idea, the people of Roseto were affected by where and when they lived. Because they lived in the town of Roseto at that time, they lived in a way that affected them (without even knowing it) so that they had a much lower chance of getting heart disease and living longer than the rest of the country.  This idea might seem simple, but C. Wright Mills, an important sociologist, wrote in 1959, that people often forget this in both their daily life and their research.  Mills also adds that using a sociological imagination it is possible to see the private troubles as public issues.  In other words, often times a person's struggle in daily life is really part of a larger structural issue that individuals can't always see.

The rest of Gladwell's book, Outliers, uses a sociological imagination to explain extreme success stories; for example, Bill Gates' and Steve Jobs' tremendous success and wealth stemming from where and when they lived: 

Gladwell describes how being born in the mid 1950s was particularly fortuitous for those interested in computer programming development (think Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, both born in 1955). It also helped to be geographically near what were then called supercomputers, the gigantic predecessors to the thing on which you’re reading this post. Back in the 1960s, when Gates and Jobs were coming of age, a supercomputer took up a whole room and was not something most youngsters would have had a chance to see, let alone work on. But because of their proximity to actual computers, both Gates and Jobs had a leg up on others their age and had the chance to spend hours and hours (10,000 of them in Gladwell’s estimation) learning about programming.

For more info/examples of the sociological imagination, see this post from the Everyday Sociology site that explains how a sociological imagination can be used to analyze how individuals are affected by when and where they live.

Imagine Where...

John Felice Rome Center Campus

See it on Youtube here

Rome Center Campus

One way to think with a sociological imagination is to think about how you would think and act differently if you were living in a different place. What if you applied to Loyola just like you did and you attended it during the same years that you are now, but you attended ONLY the John Felice Rome Center Campus? Imagine how you might be different, act differently, think differently, just because you went to Loyola Rome for four years.

Here is a comparison website for living in countries around the world.

 If you lived in Italy, you would: 

• be more likely to live 2 years longer
• be 76% LESS likely to die during childbirth 
• be 45% LESS likely to be obese
• be 38% LESS likely to die as an infant
• be 18% less likely to have an internet connection 

STEFL describes Italy v. the US; sense of time and food 

• Expect appointments to be late 
• Most shops close for 2 hours during the middle of the day 
• At restaurants expects three courses, dessert, then coffee

From Business insider, I moved from the US to Rome but I'll never fully adjust to some Italian ways

• Life is slower paced
• In person is more reliable than phone or internet 
• Italians spend much less time in their home
• Life in Italy is more social and less isolating
• People eat more meals out
• Staring is more acceptable  

For Discussion:

5. Take a minute and explain to some classmates near you how you have been shaped by where you grew up.  What was life like in the city or neighborhood where you grew up - how did places where you live shape you differently than others here at Loyola or residents from Rogers Park? 

Imagine When...

The sociological imagination also applies to when a person lives.

Now we will use our sociological imagination to examine how people might be affected by when they live.  Using archives from the LUC's library, examine the pictures of our school from years past.

Find some examples how, even if you were the same person at Loyola, you would be different if you went here during a different time. 

The yearbooks are also available online here:

https://archive.org/details/loyolachicago?tab=collection

Choose one of the yearbooks called "The Loyolan" because that is the undergraduate college (Caduceus is the Stritch School of Medicine and Dentos is the Dental School)

In small groups, do a qualitative content analysis of the yearbooks from LUC past.  Look for differences between LUC now and then.  Answer the following questions:

6. What are the differences between that year and now?

7. Thinking about the differences that you noticed, how might you be different if you had been attending LUC during that time?  In other words, how might you think differently, act differently, and have different expectations if you lived at the time you examined?  Another way to think about this question is, how might you feel differently about yourself/school/etc if you attended LUC then?

Private troubles and public issues

8. What are the different obstacles that you might've faced then instead of now?

After you try to find your own examples, here is a sample of some of the photos that I found  that illustrate a sociological imagination.

Other Examples:

Another example of being affected by when you are born is this video of a child who is trying to use a magazine like an ipad:

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Pull up for another low key example -  no cap! 

From Buzzfeed and  Language Nerds, sociology teacher James Callahan has been recording the slang his students use on a public pdf document.  Here is a sample of the list:

This slang changes from generation to generation.  In other words, how you talk and the slang you use can reveal your generation.  Stephen Colbert joked about how just when one generation thinks that they are cool, their slang becomes outdated and new slang emerges.  

Here is a Parade article about the slang from generation Alpha.

9. What are some slang words or phrases that your generation uses that other gens might not understand?

Generational Attitudes 

This research from the Pew Research Center in the graphics below shows numerous differences in how Americans born in different generations think about social and political issues.  Remember that when people joke around about different generations (like saying "Ok Boomer"), we are acknowledging that being born in a different generation means being more likely to think a certain way.

When you were born affects your beliefs about:

Racial Equality        Immigrants            Gay Marriage            Marijuana

Conclusion
Today's lesson was focused on C. Wright Mills' Sociological Imagination.

• Explain what C. Wright Mills means by having a sociological imagination?
• What does Mills mean by "private troubles and public issues" and how are they related?
• Can you connect it to your own life?  What are some specific examples to your life - how might you be the person you are because of when and where you are living, or conversely, how might you be a different person based on when and where you live?

Further Reading:

Open Stax: What Is Sociology?

Chicago and Labor Day

Labor Day holiday was born out of a mixture of events closely linked to Chicago in the 1800s.  Chicago was the center of American industrialism and growth during the 19th century and so, it was also ground zero for the labor movement which was fighting for workers' rights and better conditions in industrial jobs.   Before it was a federal holiday, there was a parade of workers held in New York City as early as 1882.  This was just one example of numerous movements to give workers more rights and respect throughout the industrial age.  But that movement reached it's apex in Chicago.

From Labor Movement to Haymarket to May Day

By 1884, there was national momentum to unite and support workers.  From Eric Chase writing for IWW (1993),

At its national convention in Chicago, held in 1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions (which later became the American Federation of Labor), proclaimed that "eight hours shall constitute a legal day's labor from and after May 1, 1886."... On May 1, 1886, more than 300,000 workers in 13,000 businesses across the United States walked off their jobs in the first May Day celebration in history. In Chicago, the epicenter for the 8-hour day agitators, 40,000 went out on strike with the anarchists in the forefront of the public's eye. With their fiery speeches and revolutionary ideology of direct action, anarchists and anarchism became respected and embraced by the working people and despised by the capitalists.

The names of many - Albert Parsons, Johann Most, August Spies and Louis Lingg - became household words in Chicago and throughout the country. Parades, bands and tens of thousands of demonstrators in the streets exemplified the workers' strength and unity, yet didn't become violent as the newspapers and authorities predicted.

More and more workers continued to walk off their jobs until the numbers swelled to nearly 100,000, yet peace prevailed. It was not until two days later, May 3, 1886, that violence broke out at the McCormick Reaper Works between police and strikers.

Full of rage, a public meeting was called by some of the anarchists for the following day in Haymarket Square to discuss the police brutality. Due to bad weather and short notice, only about 3000 of the tens of thousands of people showed up from the day before. This affair included families with children and the mayor of Chicago himself. Later, the mayor would testify that the crowd remained calm and orderly and that speaker August Spies made "no suggestion... for immediate use of force or violence toward any person..."

As the speech wound down, two detectives rushed to the main body of police, reporting that a speaker was using inflammatory language, inciting the police to march on the speakers' wagon. As the police began to disperse the already thinning crowd, a bomb was thrown into the police ranks. No one knows who threw the bomb, but speculations varied from blaming any one of the anarchists, to an agent provocateur working for the police.

Enraged, the police fired into the crowd. The exact number of civilians killed or wounded was never determined, but an estimated seven or eight civilians died, and up to forty were wounded. One officer died immediately and another seven died in the following weeks. Later evidence indicated that only one of the police deaths could be attributed to the bomb and that all the other police fatalities had or could have had been due to their own indiscriminate gun fire. Aside from the bomb thrower, who was never identified, it was the police, not the anarchists, who perpetrated the violence. 

Today we see tens of thousands of activists embracing the ideals of the Haymarket Martyrs and those who established May Day as an International Workers' Day. Ironically, May Day is an official holiday in 66 countries and unofficially celebrated in many more, but rarely is it recognized in this country where it began. 

The labor protests led to the Haymarket Affair from Chicago Encyclopedia,

Though most labor activity was peaceful, violent confrontations with the police also occurred. A clash on May 3rd between workers and police near the McCormick Reapers Works (left) led to the call for a protest meeting at the Randolph Street Haymarket. The Haymarket (upper center) was the starting point for two parades and the scene of a May 4th protest meeting which ended in violence.

At first, the Haymarket Affair was branded a riot and both government authorities and and pro-capitalist news organizations attempted to label the protesters as communists and socialists who were dangerous anarchists.  A memorial was installed at the site honoring the police:

Statue honoring police at the original Haymarket Square.

By contrast, the memorial to the laborers, who were killed by the state under dubious evidence, was erected in 1893 but relegated to a cemetery in Forest Park.

The statue was designated as a National Historic Landmark over 100 years later in 1997.

By contrast, the original memorial to police was toppled in the 1960s and eventually became less publicly significant finding a home in the Chicago Police Academy.  Chicago Cop details the history of the statue here.

  And, from Chicago Encyclopedia, 

A monument commemorating the “Haymarket martyrs” was erected in Waldheim Cemetery in 1893. In 1889 a statue honoring the dead police was erected in the Haymarket. Toppled by student radicals in 1969 and 1970, it was moved to the Chicago Police Academy.

From May Day to Pullman Strike to Labor Day

Despite May Day becoming an international holiday for laborers, the association with socialism kept it's significance at bay in the U.S.  It was not until more labor unrest, also in Chicago, that a national Labor Day holiday was solidified on the U.S. calendar.  

From Britannica,

In 1889 an international federation of socialist groups and trade unions designated May 1 as a day in support of workers, in commemoration of the Haymarket Riot in Chicago (1886). Five years later, U.S. Pres. Grover Cleveland, uneasy with the socialist origins of Workers’ Day, signed legislation to make Labor Day—already held in some states on the first Monday of September—the official U.S. holiday in honour of workers.

And the New York Times explains that,

... it took several more years for the federal government to make it a national holiday — when it served a greater political purpose. In the summer of 1894, the Pullman strike severely disrupted rail traffic in the Midwest, and the federal government used an injunction and federal troops to break the strike.

It had started when the Pullman Palace Car Company lowered wages without lowering rents in the company town, also called Pullman. (It’s now part of Chicago.)

When angry workers complained, the owner, George Pullman, had them fired. They decided to strike, and other workers for the American Railway Union, led by the firebrand activist Eugene V. Debs, joined the action. They refused to handle Pullman cars, bringing freight and passenger traffic to a halt around Chicago. Tens of thousands of workers walked off the job, wildcat strikes broke out, and angry crowds were met with live fire from the authorities.

During the crisis, President Grover Cleveland signed a bill into law on June 28, 1894, declaring Labor Day a national holiday. Some historians say he was afraid of losing the support of working-class voters.

Labor Day parade in Pullman, Chicago in 1901:

And that is how Labor Day became a national holiday on the shoulders of Chicago's laborers.  Meanwhile, May Day is still an international holiday celebrated in dozens of countries around the world.

Although the "market" was displaced by the expressway system, Chicago erected a monument to the Haymarket events:

Illinois Labor History Tours

Midwest Socialist Walking Tours

Historic Pullman Tour