1915: Joe Hill
4 comments November 19th, 2007 Headsman
On this date in 1915, songwriter, poet and labor activist Joe Hill was shot in Utah for the murder of a local butcher.
Even before his execution, the Swedish immigrant was widely thought to have been railroaded for his IWW affiliation.
Though state authorities had little use for the worldwide clemency bid whose backers included U.S. President Woodrow Wilson — powerless to intervene officially, since the execution was a state matter — Hill walked spryly into his martyrdom. The strange post-mortem career of his totemic ashes is the least of the ways Hill lives on.
His dauntless last message to fellow Wobbly Bill Haywood — “Don’t waste any time mourning. Organize.” — is a permanent fixture on pins and placards among every stripe of left activist. The songs he wrote remain in print — and in performance.
And the Depression-era tribute ballad “I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night” can seamlessly serenade ripped-from-the-headlines footage, as a Paul Robeson rendition does in these clips of 1998 protests against then-New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Also On This Date
Possibly Related Executions
- 1977: Gary Gilmore
- 1953: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, “the first victims of American fascism”
- 1871: The Paris Commune falls
Entry Filed under: 20th Century, Activists, Artists, Arts and Literature, Capital Punishment, Common Criminals, Crime, Death Penalty, Execution, Famous, Famous Last Words, History, Language, Martyrs, Murder, Popular Culture, Shot, USA, Utah, Wrongful Executions
Tags: 1910s, 1915, ballads, bill haywood, i dreamed i saw joe hill last night, international workers of the world, iww, joe hill, labor, november 19, paul robeson, woodrow wilson
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