People's Songs was an organization founded by
Pete Seeger,
Lee Hays, and others on December 31, 1945, in
New York City, to "create, promote, and distribute songs of labor and the
American people."People's Songs Inc.
People's Songs Newsletter, Vol 1. No 1. 1945.
Old Town School of Folk Music resource center collection. The organization published a quarterly
Bulletin from 1946 through 1950, featuring stories, songs and writings of People's singers members.
People's Songs Bulletin served as a template for folk music magazines to come like
Sing Out! and
Broadside.
History
Seeger's work with the
Almanac Singers and trips around the country playing banjo for
Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) benefits and other progressive organizations in the 1940s cemented his beliefs that folk music could be an effective force for social change. He conceived creating an organization to better disseminate songs for political action to Labor and other progressive organizations around the country. These plans were put on hold as Seeger was drafted into the army during
World War II. Upon his discharge from the Army in 1946, Seeger finally got a chance to realize his plans, and convened a group of interested people for a meeting in the basement of his in-laws' apartment in
Greenwich Village. People's Songs' founding committee included several former members of the
Almanac Singers and other notable members of the folk community in New...
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