January 31
The U.S. House of Representatives passes the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which abolishes slavery in America. – 1865.
February 1
The first portion of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), considered the most comprehensive and accurate dictionary of the English language, is published. Today, the OED is the definitive authority on the meaning, pronunciation, and history of more than half a million words. – 1884.
February 2
Groundhog Day, featuring a rodent meteorologist, is celebrated for the first time at Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa.. – 1887.
February 3
U.S. Supreme Court upholds the Wages and Hours, later Fair Labor Standards Act, which bans child labor and establishes the 40-hour work-week. – 1941.
February 4
George Washington, the commander of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, is unanimously elected the first president of the United States by all 69 presidential electors who cast their votes. John Adams of Massachusetts, who received 34 votes, was elected vice president. – 1789.
February 5
President Bill Clinton signs the Family and Medical Leave Act. The law requires most employers of 50 or more workers to grant up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for a family for medical emergency. – 1993.
February 6
After a long illness, King George VI of Great Britain and Northern Ireland dies in his sleep at the royal estate at Sandringham. Princess Elizabeth, the eldest of the king’s two daughters and next in line to succeed him, was in Kenya at the time of her father’s death. Her coronation as Queen Elizabeth II was June 2, 1953, at age 27. – 1952.
Sources: History.com, Toil and Trouble, by Thomas R. Brooks; American Labor Struggles, by Samuel Yellen; IWW calendar, Solidarity Forever; Historical Encyclopedia of American Labor, edited by Robert E. Weir and James P. Hanlan; Southwest Labor History Archives/George Meany Center; Geov Parrish’s Radical History; workday Minnesota; Andy Richards and Adam Wright, AFL-CIO Washington DC Metro Council.