1. Labor Day Origins: Although 1886 is the date most recognized for the creation of May Day, the holiday is actually tied to a movement for eight hours of work and eight hours of leisure. In 1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions (which would eventually become the AFL-CIO) passed a resolution stating that eight hours should constitute a legal day's work. The idea took hold in several cities around the country, and on May 1, 1886, more than 200,000 workers in Chicago went on strike to demand the eight-hour workday. This led to a violent confrontation between police and protestors, known as the Haymarket affair. Although Labor Day is officially celebrated in September, it can be traced back to the struggle for eight-hour workdays and the events that unfolded on May 1, 1886.

2. Mother Jones: Mary Harris "Mother" Jones was a prominent labor leader in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Ireland in 1837, Jones immigrated to the United States in the 1850s and became involved in labor activism after her husband and four children died from yellow fever. Jones fought for better working conditions and wages for miners, steelworkers, and other laborers, and she played a key role in several major strikes. In 1902, at the age of 65, Jones led a 100-mile march of striking coal miners from Pennsylvania to New York City. Jones lived in West Virginia for part of her life and is buried in the Mount Olive Cemetery in the town of Adelphi.

3. Battle of Blair Mountain: From August 24 to September 2, 1921, the largest armed labor uprising in United States history took place in the hills of West Virginia. Known as the Battle of Blair Mountain, the conflict was sparked by a long-standing dispute between coal miners and mine operators over working conditions, pay, and the right to organize. More than 10,000 miners from several states took up arms against the coal companies, which hired private detectives, law enforcement, and even the United States Army to put down the rebellion. The Battle of Blair Mountain resulted in the deaths of at least 20 people and marked a turning point in the struggle for workers' rights in West Virginia.

4. Matewan Massacre: On May 19, 1920, a shootout in the town of Matewan between striking coal miners and hired detectives hired by the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency resulted in the deaths of seven men, including the mayor of Matewan. The incident, known as the Matewan Massacre, was one of many violent confrontations between miners and coal companies during the early 20th century in West Virginia. The massacre is considered a seminal event in labor history and was dramatized in the 1987 film "Matewan," directed by John Sayles.

5. John Lewis: John Lewis was a civil rights icon and longtime member of the United States Congress who represented Georgia's 5th Congressional District from 1987 until his death in 2020. Lewis was born in Troy, Alabama, in 1940, and grew up in rural Pike County. In the early 1960s, he became a leader of the civil rights movement and was a founder and chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Lewis was instrumental in organizing the March on Washington in 1963 and led the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, in 1965. In 2004, Lewis received an honorary degree from West Virginia University for his lifelong commitment to civil rights and social justice.