Information AboutJoe Hill |
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Joe Hill, born '''Joel Emmanuel Hägglund''', and also known as '''Joseph Hillström''' ( October 7 , 1879 – November 19 , 1915 ) was a Swedish - American Labor activist and member of the Industrial Workers Of The World , better known as the Wobblies . He was executed for Murder after a controversial trial, and after his death became the subject of a Folksong . EARLY LIFE AND I.W.W. ACTIVITY Hill was born in Gävle , a town in the province of Gästrikland , Sweden . He emigrated to the United States in 1902 , where he became a migrant laborer, moving from New York City to Cleveland, Ohio , and eventually to the West Coast. He was in San Francisco , California , at the time of the 1906 Earthquake . Hill joined the Wobblies around 1910 , when he was working on the docks in San Pedro, California . In late 1910 he wrote a letter to the I.W.W. newspaper, Industrial Worker , identifying himself as a member of the Portland , Oregon I.W.W. local. Hill rose in the I.W.W. organization and travelled widely organizing workers under the I.W.W. banner, writing political songs and satirical poems, and making speeches. He coined the phrase "pie in the sky" which appeared in his song " The Preacher And The Slave " (a Parody of the then well known Hymn "In the Sweet Bye and Bye"): Long-haired preachers come out every night, Try to tell you what's wrong and what's right; But when asked how 'bout something to eat They will answer with voices so sweet: You will eat, bye and bye In that glorious land above the sky; Work and pray, Live on hay, You'll get pie in the sky when you die. TRIAL AND EXECUTION On January 10 , 1914 , John G. Morrison and his son Arling were killed in Salt Lake City by two armed men masked by red bandannas. Arling had drawn a revolver from the groceries and wounded one of the masked men before being killed. The police first thought it was a crime of revenge, for nothing had been stolen. On the same evening, Joe Hill appeared on the doorsteps of a local doctor with a bullet wound. Hill said that he had been wounded defending a woman. The doctor noticed that Hill was armed with a Pistol . Hill was arrested for Morrison's death. Morrison had once been a police officer, and several men he had arrested were at first considered suspects, but they were not pursued. A red bandanna was found in Hill's rooms. The pistol Hill had when he was at the doctor was not found. Hill resolutely denied that he was involved in the robbery and killing of Morrison, but he refused to testify at his trial, and was convicted of murder. An appeal to the Utah Supreme Court was unsuccessful, and it is uncertain whether appeals for mercy organized by the I.W.W. did his case any good. The case generated international attention, and critics charged that the trial and conviction were unfair. Much later the state of Utah declared that under their law today, Joe Hill would not have been executed based on the evidence presented at his trial. Hill was executed by Firing Squad on November 19 , 1915 . Just prior to his execution, he had written to Bill Haywood , an I.W.W. leader, saying "Don't waste any time in mourning. Organize."Zinn, 335. His will, which was eventually set to music by Ethel Raim, read: My will is easy to decide, For there is nothing to divide, My kin don't need to fuss and moan- "Moss does not cling to a rolling stone." My body? Ah, If I could choose, I would to ashes it reduce, And let the merry breezes blow My dust to where some flowers grow. Perhaps some fading flower then Would come to life and bloom again. This is my last and final will, Good luck to all of you, Joe Hill Hill's body was sent to . After some negotiations, the last of Hill's ashes (but not the envelope that contained them) was turned over to the I. W. W. in 1988. The weekly ''In These Times'' ran notice of the ashes and invited readers to make suggestions as to what should be done with them. Suggestions varied from enshrining them at the AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington DC to Abbie Hoffman 's suggestion that they be eaten by today's "Joe Hills" like Billy Bragg and Michelle Shocked . Bragg indeed did swallow a small bit of the ashes and still carries Shocked's share for eventual completion of Hoffman's last prank. {Link without Title} The majority were once again cast to the wind in the US, Canada, Sweden, Australia and Nicaragua. The ash sent to Sweden was only partly cast to the wind. The main part was interred in the wall of a union office in Landskrona, a minor city in the south of the country, with a plaque commemorating him. That room is now the reading room of the local city library. LABOR PERSPECTIVE | ||
| ''Author’s Note: This Biography Includes Seven Of The Thirty-two Songs Whose Lyrics, And Sometimes Music, Joe Hill Wrote I’m Sorry There Wasn’t Room For All Of Them To See All Of Them, And Even Hear A Few, Try | "http://wwwfortunecitycom/tinpan/parton/2/hill" class="copylinks" target="_blank">Joe Hill's Songs '' |