International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest

Extract

Peter Seeger, born in New York into a musical family in 1919, arose to become the iconic folk singer of protest music for social justice in the United States during the twentieth and early twenty-first century. Seeger's father was a composer and musical ethnographer, his mother was a classical violinist and music teacher, and his stepmother a significant composer. Seeger himself has been at the center of the folk music scene as well as a significant political activist for over seven decades. Graduating from boarding school, Seeger began his academic career on a partial scholarship at Harvard University. Having also joined the Young Communist League (YCL) at the age of 17, his activism had a negative effect on his studies, leading to his quickly losing his scholarship and then leaving the university. Out of school, Seeger joined a series of singing groups whose lyrics and concerts were often either pro-union, such as the album Talking Union , or anti-war, such as the album Songs for John Doe , which includes lyrics like “I'd rather be here home, / Even sleeping in a holler log, / Than go to the army, / And be treated like a dirty dog!” as a protest to the peacetime draft enacted by President Roosevelt. Seeger joined the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) in 1942 and remained a member for seven years, though he explains that he was naïve to remain so long. ... log in or subscribe to read full text