If I Had a Hammer Pete Seeger S America

If I Had A Hammer – Pete Seeger’s America

A Document-Based Essay Question

US History/Napp Name: ______

Historical Context:

Pete Seeger, an American musician and activist (1919 – 2014), helped revive interest in American folk music as well as individual, labor, civil, and environmental rights. As the son of a musicologist and a violinist, Pete Seeger was given an early introduction to and love of music. After attending Harvard University for two years, he traveled around the United States collecting songs from rural America and the labor movement. As a member of the Almanac Singers, he sang with Woody Guthrie for the rights of workers and civil rights. In 1942, he was drafted into the U.S. army and served in a unit of performers. During a furlough (a granted leave of absence during the war), he married Toshi Aline Ohta; his partner of seventy years. After the war, he formed the folk group, The Weavers, and had commercial success. However, due to his earlier affiliation with the Communist Party, he was called before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (a Committee investigating disloyalty and subversive activities) and refused to answer the Committee’s questions on the grounds of the First Amendment (freedom of conscience) to the U.S. Constitution. Frequently a victim of blacklisting (a list of people or organizations that are disapproved and to be avoided)during the Cold War years, he was prevented from performing on mainstream media; yet Pete Seeger continued to sing and advocate for the issues that were important to him. He participated in the Civil Rights Movement, the Labor Rights Movement, and the Environmental Movement by bringing attention to the high levels of pollution in the Hudson River. In the words of Pete Seeger, “I love mycountry very dearly, and I greatly resent the implication that some of the places that I have sung and some of the people that I have known, and some of my opinions, whether they are religious or philosophical, make me less of an American.”

Task:

Using the information from the documents and your knowledge of United Stateshistory, answer the questions that follow each document in Part A. Your answers tothe questions will help you write the Part B essay in which you will be asked to

Guidelines:

In your essay, be sure to

• Develop all aspects of the task

• Incorporate information from at least four documents

• Incorporate relevant outside information

• Support the theme with relevant facts, examples, and details

• Use a logical and clear plan of organization, including an introduction and a conclusion thatare beyond a restatement of the theme

Document 1:

Excerpt from Testimony of Pete Seeger before the House Un-American Activities Committee, August 18, 1955

Mr. TAVENNER: The Committee has information obtained in part from the Daily Worker indicating that, over a period of time, especially since December of 1945, you took part in numerous entertainment features. I have before me a photostatic copy of the June 20, 1947, issue of the Daily Worker. In a column entitled “What’s On” appears this advertisement: “Tonight – Bronx, hear Peter Seeger and his guitar, at Allerton Section housewarming.” May I ask you whether or not the Allerton Section was a section of the Communist Party?

Mr. SEEGER: Sir, I refuse to answer that question whether it was a quote from the New York Times or the Vegetarian Journal.

Mr. TAVENNER: I don’t believe there is any more authoritative document in regard to the Communist Party than its official organ, the Daily Worker.

Mr. SCHERER: He hasn’t answered the question, and he merely said he wouldn’t answer whether the article appeared in the New York Times or some other magazine. I ask you todirect the witness to answer the question.

Chairman WALTER: I direct you to answer.

Mr. SEEGER: Sir, the whole line of questioning –

Chairman WALTER: You have only been asked one question, so far.

Mr. SEEGER: I am not going to answer any questions as to my association, my philosophical or religious beliefs or my political beliefs, or how I voted in any election, or any of these private affairs. I think these are very improper questions for any American to be asked, especially under such compulsion as this. I would be very glad to tell you my life if you want to hear of it.

Source: Congress, House, Committee on Un-American Activities, Investigation of Communist Activities, New York Area (Entertainment): Hearings, 84th Congress, August 18, 1955

(1a) Based on this document, what question did the member of the House Committee on Un-American Activities ask Pete Seeger?

______

(1b) Based on this document, what was Mr. Seeger’s response to the question? ______

Document 2:

“Historically, I believe I was correct in refusing to answer their questions. Down through the centuries, this trick has been tried by various establishments throughout the world. They force people to get involved in the kind of examination that has only one aim and that is to stamp out dissent [to publicly disagree with an official opinion, decision, or set of beliefs]. One of the things I’m most proud of about my country is the fact that we did lick McCarthyism back in the fifties. Many Americans knew their lives and their souls were being struggled for, and they fought for it. And I felt I should carry on. Through the sixties I still had to occasionally free picket lines and bomb threats. But I simply went ahead, doing my thing, throughout the whole period. I fought for peace in the fifties. And in the sixties, during the Vietnam War, when anarchists and pacifists and socialists, Democrats and Republicans, decent-hearted Americans, all recoiled with horror at the bloodbath, we came together.”

~ Pete Seeger speaking with Ruth Schultz in 1989

(2) According to Pete Seeger, why did he believe he was correct in refusing to answer the questions asked by the House Committee on Un-American Activities? ______

Document 3:

Song: Mrs. Clara Sullivan’s Letter

Based on a published letter in a labor newspaper by a coal miner’s wife

Dear Mister Editor if you choose,
Please send me a copy of the labor news.
I’ve got a son in the Infantry,
And he’s be mighty glad to see
That someone, somewhere, now and then,
Thinks about the lives of the mining men,
In Perry County.

In Perry County and thereabout
We miners simply had to go out.
It was long hours, substandard pay,
Then they took our contract away.
Fourteen months is a mighty long time
To face the goons from the picket line
In Perry County.

I’m twenty-six years a miner’s wife,
There’s nothing harder than a miner’s life,
But there’s no better man than a mining man,
Couldn’t find better in all this land.
The deal they get is a rotten deal,
Mountain greens and gravy meal,
In Perry County.

We live in barns that the rain comes in
While operators live high as sin,
Ride Cadillac cars and drink like a fool
While our kids lack clothes to go to school.
Sheriff Combs he has it fine,
He runs the law and owns a mine
In Perry County.

What operator would go dig coal
For even fifty a day on the mine pay-roll!
Why, after work my man comes in
With his wet clothes frozen to his skin,
Been digging coal so the world can run
And operators can have their fun
In Perry County.

When folks sent money to the Hazard Press
To help the strikers in distress,
They gave that money, yours and mine,
To the scabs who crossed the picket line,
And the state militia and the F.B.I.
Just look on while miners die
In Perry County.

I believe the truth will out some day
That we’re fighting for jobs at decent pay.
We’re just tired of doing without,
And that’s what the strike is all about,
And it helps to know that folks like you
Are telling the story straight and true,
About Perry County.

(3) According to the song, Mrs. Clara Sullivan’s Letter, written by Malvina Reynolds and Pete Seeger, why were the miners out on strike? ______

Document 4:

“In 1963, Seeger recorded the now-famous gospel song ‘We Shall Overcome.’ In 1965, he sang it on the 50-mile walk from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, with Martin Luther King, Jr. and 1,000 other marchers. That song would go on to become the anthem for the civil rights movement and be translated into many languages.”

~ huffingtonpost.com

“On 25 March 1965, Martin Luther King led thousands of nonviolent demonstrators to the steps of the capitol in Montgomery, Alabama, after a 5-day, 54-mile march from Selma, Alabama, where local African Americans, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)and theSouthern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) had been campaigning for voting rights. King told the assembled crowd: ‘There never was a moment in American history more honorable and more inspiring than the pilgrimage of clergymen and laymen of every race and faith pouring into Selma to face danger at the side of its embattled Negroes,’ (King, ‘Address at the Conclusion of the Selma to Montgomery March,’’ 121).~ standford.edu

Excerpt from Lyrics to We Shall Overcome:

We shall overcome,

We shall overcome,
We shall overcome, some day.
Oh, deep in my heart,
I do believe
We shall overcome, some day.”

(4) Based on the documents, what was the purpose of the Selma March and what did Pete Seeger believe would be overcome as a result of the efforts of the marchers and the advocates of civil rights for all Americans? ______

Document 5:

New York Times, September 15, 1967

SEEGER ACCUSES C.B.S. OVER SONG

ACT CUT WHEN HE REFUSED TO DROP VERSE, SAYS SEEGER by George Gent
Pete Seeger, the folksinger who was blacklisted by commercial broadcasting for 17 years, yesterday accused the Columbia Broadcasting System of censoring one of his songs on “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” last Sunday.

Mr. Seeger, by telephone from his home at Beacon, N.Y., said the network had asked him to drop one of the verses of “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy,” his latest song hit, and that when he refused the entire song was dropped from the program.

“I’m very grateful to C.B.S. for letting me return to commercial broadcasting”, Mr. Seeger said, “but I think what they did was wrong and I’m really concerned about it. I think the public should know that their airwaves are censored for ideas as well as for sex.”

Mr. Seeger, who sang several songs on the Hollywood-produced show, said he was particularly upset about not being allowed to sing “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy”, a song about a soldier in 1942 who drowned because his commanding officer forced him to walk in water without knowing how deep it was.

SONG WINS APPLAUSE –
“It’s strange that C.B.S. should have objected to it”, Mr. Seeger said, “No song that I’ve done in the last ten years has got the applause that this one has. I think it’s one of the best things I’ve ever done, and I’ve sung it before lots of family audiences.”

He said C.B.S. programming direction in New York had objected to the song’s sixth verse, which relates the song to the present and goes:

Now everytime I read the papers
That old feelin’ comes on
We’re waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool says to push on.
(Copyright 1966 Melody Trails)

Asked if he thought the song might be too political for television, the folk singer said: “I don’t feel that way about songs. I feel that one song is as political as another, but it is wrong for anyone to censor what I consider my most important statement to date. It’s as if the New York Times interviewed someone and left out his most important statement.”

(5a) Based on the article, why did C.B.S. object to the song’s sixth verse?

______

(5b) What did the verse suggest about the Vietnam War? ______

(5c) What was Mr. Seeger’s view on censorship? ______

Document 6:

If I had a hammer,
I'd hammer in the morning
I'd hammer in the evening,
All over this land.

I'd hammer out danger,
I'd hammer out a warning,
I'd hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters,
All over this land.

If I had a bell,
I’d ring it in the morning,
I’d ring it in the evening,
All over this land.

I’d ring out danger,
I’d ring out a warning
I’d ring out love between my brothers and my sisters,
All over this land.

If I had a song,
I’d sing it in the morning,
I’d sing it in the evening,
All over this land.

I’d sing out danger,
I’d sing out a warning
I’d sing out love between my brothers and my sisters,
All over this land.

Well I got a hammer,
And I got a bell,
And I got a song to sing, all over this land.

It’s the hammer of Justice,
It’s the bell of Freedom,
It’s the song about Love between my brothers and my sisters,
All over this land.

~ Song written by Pete Seeger and Lee Hayes; 1949

(6) According to the lyrics of the song, what do Pete Seeger and Lee Hayes hope to accomplish as folksingers and musicians? ______

Document 7a:

“The 315-mile Hudson River is steeped in American history. It guided Henry Hudson in search of a northwest passage and served commerce as a transportation route during the Industrial Revolution. Industry provided jobs, created communities, and brought economic growth to the region. However, an era of industrial pollution left its mark on the treasured river. Today, 200 miles of the Hudson River is classified by EPA as a Superfund site – one of the largest in the country.

Polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, were widely used as a fire preventive and insulator in the manufacture of electrical devices, like transformers and capacitors, because of their ability to withstand exceptionally high temperatures.

During a 30-year period ending in 1977, when EPA banned the production of PCBs, it is estimated that approximately 1.3 million pounds of PCBs were discharged into the Hudson River from two General Electric (GE) capacitor manufacturing plants located in the towns of Fort Edward and Hudson Falls, New York. In 1984, 200 miles of river, between Hudson Falls and the Battery in New York City, was placed on EPA’s National Priorities List of the country’s most contaminated hazardous waste sites.

…PCBs build up in the environment (bioaccumulate), increasing in concentration as you move up the food chain. The primary health risk associated with the site is the accumulation of PCBs in the human body through eating contaminated fish. Since 1976, high levels of PCBs in fish have led New York State to close various recreational and commercial fisheries and to issue advisories restricting the consumption of fish caught in the Hudson River. PCBs are considered probable human carcinogens and are linked to other adverse health effects such as low birth weight, thyroid disease, and learning, memory, and immune system disorders. PCBs in the river sediment also affect fish and wildlife.”

~ epa.gov

(7a.1) How had industrial pollution affected the Hudson River? ______

(7a.2) What are PCBs and why are PCBs harmful to humans? ______

Document 7b:

Pete Seeger in 1975, protesting the dumping of PCBs in the Hudson River, sang to a group of children as the sloop Clearwater rode at anchor.Associated Press

“Mr. Seeger’s persistence led to a rejuvenation of the Hudson. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a professor of environmental law at Pace University and a leader in the river’s reclamation, recalled that the Hudson was so polluted that wooden boats from the Caribbean would sail up the river so that the water’s poisons would kill the bore worms that were damaging their hulls.

In the late 1960s, Mr. Seeger raised money to build a 106-foot sloop, the Clearwater, modeled on sailboats that plied the river in the 19th century, to educate children about the Hudson and its ecology. The consciousness-raising helped lead to the Clean Water Act of 1972, a federal assault on pollution.

Mr. Seeger lobbied for the bill by sailing the Clearwater down to Washington and serenading members of Congress. That effort and a host of concerts, pumpkin festivals and organizations have helped make the Hudson fishable and swimmable again.”

~ New York Times; Joseph Berger, January 28, 2014

(7b) What actions did Pete Seeger take to change the water quality of the Hudson River and how has thewater quality of the Hudson River changed since his involvement? ______

Document 8:

~ Bob Englehart

(8) Explain the meaning of the cartoonist’s tribute to Pete Seeger. ______

Document 9:

~ Billy Day

(9) Explain the meaning of the cartoon. ______

Task:

Using the information from the documents and your knowledge of United States history, answer the questions that follow each document in Part A. Your answers to the questions will help you write the Part B essay in which you will be asked to

Guidelines:

In your essay, be sure to

• Develop all aspects of the task

• Incorporate information from at least four documents

• Incorporate relevant outside information

• Support the theme with relevant facts, examples, and details

• Use a logical and clear plan of organization, including an introduction and a conclusion that are beyond a restatement of the theme