Joe Hill

About Joe Hill

The Joe Hill Award is awarded annually at the Great Labor Arts Exchange by The Labor Heritage Foundation. The award is named for Joe Hill, a radical songwriter, labor activist and member of the Industrial Workers of the World. He was executed for murdering a local anti-union businessman and his son. Hill was memorialized in a tribute poem written about 1930 by Alfred Hayes, titled "I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night" (often referred to simply as "Joe Hill"). Hayes's lyrics were turned into a song in 1936 by Earl Robinson. Paul Robeson and Pete Seeger often performed this song and are associated with it. Joan Baez's Woodstock performance of "Joe Hill" in 1969 is the most well-known recording. The Labor Heritage Foundation began presenting the Joe Hill Award in 1989. The award, given during the foundation's annual Great Labor Arts Exchange arts festival, honors an individual for a body of work in the field of labor culture. Bev Grant was the recipient of the award in 2017. more »

Year:

1987

2:25

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I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night,
Alive as you and me.
Says I "But Joe, you're ten years dead"
"I never died" says he,
"I never died" says he.
In Salt lake city, Joe says I, in standing by my bed
"They framed you on a murder charge"
Says Joe "but I ain't dead"
Says Joe "but I ain't dead"
"The Copper Bosses killed you Joe,
They shot you Joe" says I.
"Takes more than guns to kill a man"
Says Joe "I didn't die"
Says Joe "I didn't die"
And standing there as big as life

And smiling with his eyes.
Says Joe "What they can never kill
Went on to organize,
Went on to organize"
From San Diego up to Maine,
In every mine and mill,
Where workers fight and organize,
It's there you find Joe Hill,
It's there you find Joe Hill!
I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night,
Alive as you and me.
Says I "But Joe, you're ten years dead"
"I never died" said he,
"I never died" said he.

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Paul Robeson

Paul Leroy Robeson ( /ˈroʊbsən/ ROHB-sən April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American singer and actor who was a political activist for the Civil Rights Movement. Although Robeson achieved artistic and financial success, the Spanish Civil War effectuated his deprecation of his commercial career in order to proselytize against Fascism and social injustices. Consequently, his advocacy of anti-imperialism, affiliation with Communism, and his criticism of the US government would bring retribution and public condemnation during the the age of McCarthyism. He was blacklisted, and to his financial and social detriment, he remained recalcitrant and against the direction of US policies. Health reasons later is his life forced him to retire privately, but he remai… more »

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