Like many other workers in the United States, the members of the CertMag team are enjoying a day off from work in observance of Labor Day. We will return to our normal schedule and activities on Tuesday, Sept. 5. Until then, however, why not test your knowledge of U.S. labor history with this short quiz from the CertMag holiday vault about well known U.S. labor leaders?

Based on the information provided, can you name each of the following historical figures? (Answers below.)

1) After leading the famous Pullman Strike as founder and organizer of the American Railway Union (ARU), and subsequently spending six months in prison, this energetic labor activist became a five-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America.

2) Born March 31, 1927 in Yuma, Ariz., this towering labor hero cofounded the National Farm Workers Association (eventually merged into what is now the United Farmworkers Union), emphasized nonviolent protest, and was noted for his spiritual fasts to gain recognition of his various principles and messages.

3) Originally a teacher and dressmaker, this iron lady turned to labor activism after tragedy claimed first her family (her husband and all four of their children died of yellow fever in 1867), and then her livelihood (her dress shop was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871).

4) The fourth U.S. Secretary of Labor, serving under presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt (during his entire presidency) and Harry Truman, this lifelong labor activist was the first woman appointed to a cabinet position under an American president and managed the Civilian Conservation Corps, Public Works Administration and Federal Works Agency.

5) Born in London  in 1850 (his family moved to the United States when he was 13), this mustachioed cigar maker became a key figure in originating and promoting the ideas of labor organization and collective bargaining, helped found the Federation or Organized Trades and Labor Unions (later reorganized into what is now the AFL-CIO), and was a 32nd-degree Freemason at the time of his death in 1924.



ANSWERS: 1) Eugene V. Debs, 2) Cesar Chavez, 3) Mary Harris ��Mother Jones�� Jones, 4) Frances Perkins, 5) Samuel Gompers