For many Americans, Labor Day marks the unofficial end of summer. It is a weekend filled with cookouts, football, and one last trip to the beach before fall arrives. But Labor Day was never intended to be simply another long weekend.

Created in the late nineteenth century, Labor Day was established to recognize the contributions of American workers and the progress made toward safer workplaces, fair wages, reasonable working hours, and greater dignity on the job. Those advances did not happen overnight. They were the product of decades of effort by workers, labor leaders, legislators, judges, and lawyers who believed the law could improve the lives of ordinary people.

As lawyers, Labor Day offers an opportunity to reflect on a part of our profession’s history that is easy to overlook. Many of the workplace protections we now take for granted were secured not only through public advocacy and legislative action, but also through careful legal work in courtrooms, law offices, and statehouses across the country.

Many Americans take for granted workplace protections such as the forty-hour workweek, overtime pay, protections against child labor, workers’ compensation for on-the-job injuries, laws prohibiting discrimination based on race, sex, religion, age, disability, and other protected characteristics, and family and medical leave protections. Yet each of these protections exists because lawmakers enacted them, courts interpreted them, and lawyers spent decades advocating for their recognition and enforcement.

Some lawyers devoted entire careers to expanding workplace protections. Others defended the constitutionality of labor laws, represented workers who had been injured or treated unlawfully, advised employers on complying with evolving legal requirements, or helped negotiate agreements that balanced the interests of employees and businesses. While lawyers often found themselves on opposite sides of these disputes, they shared a common role in helping shape a legal system that promotes fairness, stability, and the rule of law in the workplace.

North Carolina has its own place in that history.

One notable example is Frank Porter Graham, a graduate of the University of North Carolina School of Law. Although he is best known as an educator, public servant, and later a United States Senator, Graham was a passionate advocate for working people. During World War II, he served on the National War Labor Board, helping resolve labor disputes that threatened wartime production. He also promoted what he called an “Industrial Bill of Rights,” recognizing that productive workplaces should also be fair workplaces.

North Carolina attorney Julius Chambers is remembered primarily for his extraordinary work advancing civil rights, but his legal victories also transformed American workplaces. By successfully challenging employment discrimination under federal civil rights laws, Chambers helped ensure that hiring, promotion, and other employment decisions would increasingly be based on merit rather than race. His work expanded opportunities for countless employees throughout the country.

Labor Day is not about celebrating lawyers. It is about celebrating work and the people who perform it. But lawyers can take pride in knowing that our profession has often helped transform society’s aspirations into enforceable rights. We draft the laws. We interpret them. We advocate for clients. We help resolve disputes before they become crises. And, at our best, we strengthen public confidence that the law can be a force for fairness.

Whether representing employees, advising employers, serving in government, or sitting on the bench, lawyers continue to play an important role in shaping the modern workplace. Every Labor Day, as we honor the dignity of work, we can also remember the lawyers whose dedication helped ensure that work in America became not only productive, but also more just.