Many years ago ... actually nearly 87 years ago... a boy was born name Pete Seeger. He was born to a family of musicians in New York. His parents were music teachers at a famous school in New York City, the Julliard School. His mother, Constance, was a violinist and his father, Charles, was a musicologist and pianist. Pete was probably destined to be a musician himself. But he didn't like his parent's kind of music, which was classical and which he considered stuffy and boring. Much as his mother insisted, he refused to learn to play the violin like she did, or any other instrument except a ukulele.

Although the Seegers were from a "proper New England family," his father was a bit of a rebel and got in trouble for supporting the radical causes - like the rights of the poor and a political movement called Socialism. He also opposed Americans fighting in the First World War, even losing his first job as a teacher because of it.

Pete's family, although not wealthy, believed in good education and sent him to a rather expensive and exclusive private school in Connecticut on scholarship. But Pete didn't fit in very well with the other boys. He was rather shy and reserved. It didn't help that he was very skinny and awkward and wasn't good at sports. And because his parents didn't have much money, he couldn't afford the nicer clothes the rich boys had and probably took for granted.

In fact, as Pete grew very tall in high school (over 6 feet) his pant legs were far too short, so he must have looked rather odd. But he had an energy and enthusiasm for anything that interested him. He spent a lot of time walking in the woods and enjoyed drawing from nature. He also liked to write and sing in a chorus and had thoughts of becoming a journalist or an artist.

One thing that really grabbed Pete's attention was a four string banjo that a teacher had for sale for $10. After much pleading by mail, he finally persuaded his mother to send him the money for it. She was glad he was interested in any instrument. Then Pete taught himself to play. He was good enough to play banjo in the school's jazz band.

The summer he was sixteen, he went south to Asheville, North Carolina to attend a square dance festival. That's where he first heard folk music and fell in love with it for its rhythm and melody and words. It was mostly the words. They were frank and honest, much more so than the silly, sappy popular songs he heard on the radio. He also heard a five string banjo, which made a different sort of music than his own four string one. It looked more difficult to play, but sounded more exciting. It was something he really wanted to learn.

Pete Seeger was eventually to become one of the greatest promoters of folk music in what is called the American folk music revival. He believed that by going around the country singing and teaching other people to sing along with him that he could change the world. It was a romantic and perhaps a rather naïve idea and he was often disappointed, but he has kept at it most of his life. Until the Vietnam War, his songs were filled with a spirit of optimism and hope. And he found that performing music in front of a receptive audience helped him renew and keep alive that spirit. He has always modest about himself, but he is not modest or reserved when he sang, for he passionately believes in what he's doing.

Pete Seeger still performs occasionally at the incredible age of 86. He played and sang with other musicians at a rousing concert last June at our Unitarian Universalist General Assembly in Forth Worth Texas. He was also honored by the people there for his many years of contributions to folk music and to social justice, peace and the environmental movement. He and his wife Toshi are Unitarian Universalists and have been long-time members of a UU church, the Community Church of New York

Pete Seeger is a musical genius. He was able over the years to take the music of rural America and interpret it in a new way. Sometimes he simplified it, sometimes he added new verses or changed the words altogether making it fit the current situation. Sometimes he changed the chords or the tempos, making it livelier. But he always made it more accessible or understandable to many people in different areas of the country and the world. He also wrote many new folk songs himself.

Pete sang many songs for people of all ages, including songs that supported different political and social movements through the decades. He wrote and performed songs for children, hoping to pass on his love of folk music to a younger generation. Performing for children all over the country, at summer camps and at schools, made him particularly happy. You may have heard some of his songs: "Frog Went A-Courtin," "Skip to My Lou," "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain," and "Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly."

It was when I was in junior high school about 40 years ago that I first heard Pete Seeger's songs. I didn't know much about him but at summer camp we sang many of the songs he sang in concerts or on records. I remember "This Land Is Your Land," "Wasn't That a Time?", "We Shall Overcome," "If I Had a Hammer," "Where Have All The Flowers Gone?" , "Blowin' in the Wind" and "Little Boxes." But I'm getting ahead of myself a little.

When Pete was still a boy, his father, Charles, showed him a side of life he had never seen before. It was New York in the 1930's during the Great Depression. Many people were out of work and had to do whatever they could to earn some pennies and stay alive. They sold apples or pencils in the street. Pete's father brought him to see the Lower East Side of New York City, where blighted, empty buildings stood on streets filled with broken glass and garbage. This sight was very shocking to Pete and he understood at once that he lived a life of relative privilege. It was then that he openly rejected the life of a proper Yankee boy, a Mayflower descendent.

Although he graduated from that exclusive prep school and spent two years at Harvard College, he was not interested in studying and flunked out. His biographer wrote if John F. Kennedy became the most famous graduate of the class of 1940, "then Pete Seeger surely was its best known dropout."

Pete went to New York and tried to find a job as a journalist or an artist and failed to get anything. For lack of any better option, he tried folk singing, his hobby, to make some money. He had better success there. His first singing group was the Almanacs, which lasted a few months. His second was the Weavers, which he formed with his talented friend, Woody Guthrie. The Weavers had some success in bringing union songs and songs of social protest to the ordinary working folks and to intellectuals. Pete and the other singers were part of what some conservatives called the "left wing folksong conspiracy." That sounds funny to us now, but it was seen as a serious threat back then.

Pete had caught his father's idealism and passion for social change, although neither Pete nor his father believed in violence and considered themselves loyal and patriotic Americans. During World War II, Pete was drafted into the Army, and served three years with great pride.

Afterwards, he joined the Communist Party in New York, although he wasn't very active in it and didn't see this as a contradiction to his patriotism. He couldn't bring himself to pass out political pamphlets on the street and was a better musician than an organizer. As he developed his musical talent, he was willing to sing at labor union meetings to rally the troops.

But after World War II ended, an evil force was gathering over America. This country was at the beginning of the Cold War, when Europe was divided east and west and Russia, once our ally against Hitler, became our greatest enemy. Many people feared a Communist overthrow of the government and imagined Communists everywhere. They feared many of the more left-wing intellectuals of the big cities and artists, musicians and entertainers who had ever criticized the United States or the President. Anti-Communist fever gripped the country. This was the start of the House Committee on Un-American Activities or HUAC for short. It was headed by some ruthless politicians, some of whom just wanted to make a big name for themselves, some of whom really believed that there were Communist conspirators everywhere.

HUAC began to investigate everyone they could think of, including Pete Seeger and his friends, and threatening them with prison if they didn't cooperate. They pressured people not only to confess, but to name other people as Communists or fellow-travelers. What's more, their names were put on something called a black list. Whoever hired them for a job was also subject to investigation by the committee. Hundreds and hundreds of people, artists, poets, entertainers and college professors, were on the black list. They lost their jobs and were out of work for a long time. Many careers were ruined.

All these years, the FBI had been gathering information on all the left-wing activities people were involved with... or someone imagined they were involved with. Sometimes the information came from articles in anti-Communist newspapers filled with gossip and rumor. HUAC got the file the FBI had been gathering on Pete Seeger and had a field day. Then in August of 1955, they notified Pete that he had to appear before them.

When Seeger finally did appear before HUAC, he decided that he wasn't going to take the easy way out, as many other people did. He knew they would probably accuse him of being subversive and un-American. They'd question his song lyrics and the groups he sang in front of. He wasn't going to plead the Fifth Amendment, which meant that he wasn't going to say anything on the grounds that it would incriminate him. This would be admitting that he was guilty of something, but then the committee would let him go after this brief humiliation. Instead, Pete stood up to them on the grounds of the First Amendment or right of free speech... or, in his case, free song. He told them that he was a proud and patriotic American. He refused to answer their questions on the grounds that nothing he had done was illegal and they had no right to question him. And that in fact they were un-American. The committee certainly wasn't pleased with those answers!

Because he had refused to answer maybe two dozen questions, he could expect a sentence of (he guessed) 10 years. He was very afraid of this, but at the same time was stubborn and proud of doing what he was convinced was the right thing. It took a lot of courage to do that. His wife Toshi and his lawyer where there to support him. And for comfort, he carried his banjo into the hearing room with him and even offered to play a song for the committee to demonstrate how un-subversive it was.

After he refused to answer their questions, the committee let him go. But that was not the end of it. He expected to be back in 3 to 5 months for their pronouncement. How many counts of contempt would they charge him with? And what would the sentence be? How many years of prison? He waited nervously. Meanwhile, the committee limited his movement, telling him he couldn't travel far from home without permission. Rather absurd for a folk-singer who makes his money by traveling all over the country! His lawyer appealed and that restriction was loosened. He only had to report to law officials where he was going, but he could travel where he wanted..

As it turns out, HUAC let him wait seven years for the other shoe to drop... for the hearing where he would hear what the contempt charges were and the sentence. It turns out that they gave him 10 counts, but to be served concurrently... which really meant one year and a day. After a brief time in jail, his lawyer bailed him out for $2,000. And, finally, the charges were dropped on appeal.

Essentially, Pete Seeger had won his freedom, but not on the principle he had stood up for. Although his family and friends were thrilled, and he was relieved not to have to go to prison, it bothered him that he hadn't made the moral point he wanted to... that he was the real patriot standing up for the Constitution and that the House Committee was un-American.

The cloud of the charge of being a Communist conspirator followed him for many years. His concerts and other appearances were picketed by members of the Kux Klux Klan and other right-wing Communist-haters. Many never bothered to really listen to his lyrics. Or they listened and misinterpreted the words as advocating overthrow of the American government. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Pete Seeger made a huge impact on American culture. For instance, he inspired many people in the civil rights movement with his song We Shall Overcome. In fact, this song has inspired many liberation movements around the world! Some people after the 1960's considered him old-fashioned and he has been replaced by younger folk singers, many of whom learned their music from him. But something about him has never grown old. He has maintained his passion for justice and equality, his love of folk music and his love of sharing music with the world. Although he had his times of doubt and despair, he believed that he could change the world through song. Since the Vietnam War, he took up the cause of environmental justice. He is particularly concerned with cleaning up the Hudson River where he lives with his wife Toshi in a log cabin they built many years ago.

One of the hymns in our UU hymnal sums up his life pretty well. Its called How Can I Keep from Singing? The first verse goes like this:

My life flows on in endless song,
Above earth's lamentation.
I hear the real, though far-off hymn,
That hails a new creation.
No storm can shake my inmost calm
While to that rock I'm clinging.
It sounds an echo in my soul.
How can I keep from singing?

Despite all the difficulties of his life, Pete Seeger couldn't help but keep singing.

Sources:

Blair, Thomas, Pete Seeger, Folk Singer and Songwriter, 1919- , on the website of Notable American Unitarians. http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/unitarians/seeger.html

Dunaway, David King, How Can I Keep From Singing: Pete Seeger. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1981