According to the Department of Labor, the first Labor Day was held on Sept. 5, 1882 in New York City, by the Central Labor Union. Many industrial cities adopted Labor Day celebrations before the Federal Government made it a National Holiday in 1894. The legislation adopting the holiday was rushed through and approved unanimously by Congress as an appeasement to organized labor after President Grover Cleveland sent 12,000 U.S. troops to crush the Pullman strike. 

 

Pullman, Illinois was a company town designed and built by railroad magnate George Pullman to keep his workers from the lure of Chicago. Pullman owned everything in the town, from the opulent hotel where he resided to the homes he built and then rented to his employees. A recession caused the Pullman railroad company to lay off hundreds of workers. Those that weren't laid off had their wages cut, but Mr. Pullman refused to lower the rent for the homes he leased to his workers. The workers struck. They were joined by nationwide railway unions. Things turned ugly and riots ensued. Two strikers were killed by federal marshals near Chicago. Eleven other workers were killed during the strike. The event drew national attention and Cleveland was condemned for his harsh methods. In an effort to calm workers across the country, the President and Congress drafted and passed the law creating Labor Day only six days after the strike was broken.

 

A national commission later found that the Pullman town was "un-American" and Pullman was forced to sell it. It was annexed by Chicago. Pullman was so unpopular with labor that upon his death in 1897, several tons of concrete were poured over his gravesite to prevent his corpse from being dug up and desecrated by workers.

 

President Cleveland never recovered politically from his use of the military to aid the railroad industry to break the strike. Illinois' governor John Altgeld was furious that Cleveland had sent in Federal troops. At the 1896 Democratic Party Convention, Altgeld succeeded in keeping Cleveland from being renominated as the Democratic presidential candidate.

 

Today, we take the first Monday in September off to recognize "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations." Few recall that workers' deaths were the springboard for the holiday.

 

 

Underwater Art Exhibition Debuts on Vandenberg Artificial Reef Off Key West

 

An underwater art exhibit has debuted on a former Air Force missile-tracking ship sunk in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary seven miles south of Key West to become an artificial reef.

 

Austrian art photographer Andreas Franke is exhibiting a dozen digitally composited images on the Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg, which was scuttled in May 2009. The 4-by-5-foot photographs stretch along some 200 linear feet of the starboard side of the Vandenberg's weather deck, 93 feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean.

 

Franke photographed the wreck last year. He digitally added other elements to the images to create the whimsical artwork.

 

One picture depicts a girl wielding a butterfly net trying to capture fish shown in an original underwater image of the wreck. In another, kick boxers seem to compete adjacent to one of Vandenberg's iconic tracking dishes.

 

The 20-square-foot images are encased in plexiglass and mounted in stainless steel frames sealed with silicone.

 

Joe Weatherby, the Key West resident who conceived and spearheaded the sinking of the Vandenberg, said he hopes the exhibition can remain in place through the end of the year.

 

The 523-foot-long Vandenberg required 13 years of preparation and work before it was scuttled in 140 feet of water. But the ship is so large that the top of its superstructure is only 40 feet below the ocean surface. It is the second-largest vessel in the world ever purposely sunk to become an artificial reef.

 

 

Time for Tailgating with Chef Nathan Gresham of Beausoleil

 

It's coming up on college football season, and that means one thing along the Gulf Coast. Tailgating! Others may do it as well, but no one does it better than the LSU fans in Baton Rouge. We asked one of our favorite chefs, Nathan Gresham of Beausoleil in Baton Rouge, for suggestions for a fun and easy tailgating recipe. Hope you enjoy it, and take a little of that good ol' Cajun attitude with you to "Laissez les bons temps rouler." 

 

 

Shredded Pork Tacos

 

Chef Gresham said he was thinking about our request for a tailgating item and a few items came to mind but he wanted to do something that was easy and that everyone could relate to. So I came up with a dish that I make at home and is very simple, which is stewed pork that shreds when it's done, so an easy way to eat it would be in a tortilla.

 

2 lb. pork butt-cubed

l large onion-diced

3 jalapenos-diced

1/2 tbl. crushed red pepper

1 tbl. chopped garlic

l lemon cut in half

1 tbl. creole seasoning

1/4 c. redwine vinegar

1 tbl. cumin

salt and pepper to taste

6 cups chicken broth

oil-enough to cover bottom of pot

 

Season the pork well with salt and pepper. Heat up the oil and brown off pork on all sides. Add rest of ingredients to the pot except vinegar and broth. Cook until the onion is tender and deglaze with vinegar. Add the chicken broth and bring up to a simmer. Let simmer until most of the liquid has cooked out. At this point the pork should shred easily with the help from a fork. 

 

To enjoy, place the pork on 9 in. tortilla, top off with a fresh avocado slice, squeeze of lime and Crystal hot sauce

  

To visit Chef Nathan Gresham of Beausoleil

7731 Jefferson Hwy, Baton Rouge, LA 70809

beausoleilrestaurantandbar.com   (225) 926-1172