“This Land is your Land” is not a traditional protest song as it never directly takes a stand against a specific cause, but it does promote an ideology that ran contrary to the popular notions of the time. Guthrie wanted to take a stand against an ultra-patriotic ideology Guthrie was a big part of the Worker’s Rights Movement and shared some radical left wing ideologies with the other members of that movement. Although he was a very vocal supporter of the worker’s rights movement, he was always very careful to not publicly state his support for communism and other radical left-wing idealism. He censored many of his radical lyrics in many of his songs including “This Land is your Land.” The song originally had lyrics that stood against the concept …show more content…
One of the most important people Guthrie reached with his work was someone else who struggled with being blacklisted, Pete Seeger. Seeger admired Guthrie’s work and they were good friends who frequently saw each other at Communist Party events and music gatherings. Seeger sang “This Land is Your Land” more than anybody else. Many people mistakenly thought he wrote the song since he played it so much. Seeger put “This Machine Kills Fascists” on his banjo just like Guthrie had written on his guitar. They had a relationship of respect and admiration. Seeger struggled a great deal with the second Red Scare and his blacklisting. He was called to testify in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). He was pressed on his connections with Communist activities. The Committee tried to paint Seeger and the communist party as dangerous to the American way. His extreme ideology made him a good target for the House Un-American Activities Committee to make an example of. Seeger was blacklisted and could not get work for years. One thing that was a constant over the years was that Seeger was playing “This Land is your Land” throughout this time. This is when it became his signature song that people associated with him. Seeger started to get work again in the 1960s and then began a river cleaning movement that made him popular once again. Seeger kept the legacy of Guthrie and “This Land is your Land.” Seeger’s
He had the suspected communists blacklisted. He mostly accused famous people and urged people that the individuals who should be feared were the communists. People also feared the Soviet Union during this time period Many people were accused of trying to
Government Official Dean Acheson and George Marshal, were question for possibly being apart of the Communist Party. These claims made the people of the Republican Party, disavowed McCarthy and were in shock. While others of this government shaked their heads, the people who followed McCarthy cheered. The people began to reward the communist Party hunter with other accusations of who was in the party. McCarthy has formed an army that the officials were afraid to face head on without fear of the Republican Party
Daniel Decatur Emmett was born in Mount Vernon, Ohio in the fall of 1815. Emmett was a composer who worked as a drummer in a traveling circus, then a minstrel troupe after being discharged from the Army because he falsified his age to enlist. Emmett wrote many of what are now considered to be Confederate anthems, “…much to the chagrin of Emmett who was anything but a Southern sympathizer…” Emmett wrote these songs as walk-arounds, a dance number that was performed at the end of a show that featured the entire company of musicians in the minstrel troupe.
During the Second Red Scare in the United States, a congressional committee was formed known as the House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). This group carried the sole purpose of looking into and eliminating pro-communist activities in the movie and film industry, the government, companies, and organizations. Similar to McCarthyism, it made accusations against hundreds without any legal evidence or proof. The party also attacked those who opposed their political views in government. “Furthermore, the hearings routinely punished liberals and leftists who
Senator Joseph McCarthy was the face of the Red Scare, accusing many for being communist. He grew with great power in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s He would go after the people in the State department. Not only would he go after the state department, but he would go after the US Army and started interrogating soldiers and accusing them of being communist. The Hollywood Film industry was also heavily targeted accusing many actors, writers, and producers.
Alger Hiss was a United States government official and government official Whittaker Chambers eventually threw Hiss under the bus leading Hiss to be “the central symbol in America’s struggle over domestic communism” (17). Hiss tried denying multiple times that the accusations were lies and he was innocent of anything Chambers implied but “on January 21 1950, a jury found Hiss, and attorney with a once-promising career in the State Department, guilty on two counts of perjury - for having lied about his Communist connections in the 1930’s” (17). This eventually sent Hiss to be in a federal penitentiary for four years and also his testimony exposed many politicians such as Richard Nixon and the New Deal. I found this event interesting as Alger Hiss was actually never found guilty of having Communist ties and everything known as of that time were just speculations. I also found this interesting as the Hiss case also exposed many other politicians and associations but those people were never mentioned to be questioned or tried
Imagine the wicked House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) arrest an innocent man. The HUAC does not arrest the man because he has committed a murder, but because he is a communist. Many communists became victims of HUAC in the Red Scare crisis of the 1950s. These communists made the right decision to speak out for their freedom and against injustice. These communists also spoke out for their freedom of different beliefs.
During the Red Scare there was an enormous amount of McCarthyism, accusing people with no evidence; this explained best, “Joseph McCarthy thought that it was his duty to get rid of communists in Washington”(Kraine).”Worries that the Soviet Union 's communist ways would infiltrate the United States led to a significant amount of paranoia within the American government” (“Why”).Senator Joseph McCarthy was
And died.” (Doc F) In doing this both men had consequences, some worse than others, and instead of lying and saying the names of people that truly didn’t do anything they refused to in a sense testify. All of these points both relate to McCarthyism and The Crucible. People became selfish and only saw their benefit, neither had evidence to prove anything that they were saying, and people say what effect it was having and started to figure out what was going on so they refused to testify and accepted the consequences.
Armstrong recorded this song in 1931.just before an instrumental break, Armstrong use alternate take inserted to the lyrics “oh, memory”. This song involved a great role in culture and stories because this song used at a critical moment during “Woody Allen’s Stardust Memories” Stardust is best combination of melody, strong lyrics and perfect balance
To him it was so important that not even a single state falter for a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Furthermore, People were so afraid communism would spread to America that no one trusted each other, because anyone could be a spy. One of the most controversial moments was when Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were discovered to be spies for the communist nation. The Rosenbergs had been feeding the USSR information about nuclear weapons and radar, sonar, and jet propulsion. The discovery of these two spies set America into a frenzy of mistrust.
Charles’s remake of the song “Georgia on my mind” got to the top of almost every popularity chart in America. It later became the state song of Georgia (Rits 86). For two years in the early sixties, Charles was the most popular singer in America. He was even very close with Martin Luther King Jr., and he showed his support to him as well (Rits 99). Charles did almost everything a musician could possibly do.
To begin, Billie Holiday’s song, “Strange Fruit”, includes chilling imagery to help the listener imagine the treatment of African Americans. As sang in the song, “Here is fruit for the crows to pluck / For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck / For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop / Here is a strange and bitter crop,” (Holiday, 1939).
It may not be cause for concern if one is unfairly found guilty for a simple act, such as, stealing a cookie, but what if the act in question was more severe… more intense so to say. What if one were to be blamed for a crime as serious as murder? Worst, what if the reason for conviction was based primarily on the color of an individual’s skin and an untrustworthy testimony. In order to inform his listeners of such injustice towards African-Americans within in the United States, in particular, Rubin Carter, Bob Dylan skillfully employs the rhetorical strategies of imagery, pathos, and metaphor in his popular song “Hurricane”.
For instance, In his song, Jump for Joy, Ellington speaks about the days of slavery. “Fare thee well land of cotton” (Johnson 1). How he says goodbye to the “land of cotton” speaks about African Americans