Hill, Joe

Hill, Joe
orig. Joel Emmanuel Hägglund

born Oct. 7, 1879, Gävle, Swed.
died Nov. 19, 1915, Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.

Swedish-U.S. songwriter and organizer for the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).

Hill immigrated to the U.S. с 1902 and joined the IWW in 1910. His songs of protest and solidarity
including "The Preacher and the Slave," in which he coined the phrase pie in the sky to mock the "reward" awaiting the meek in the next world
became widely popular. In 1914 he was arrested in Salt Lake City and charged with the murder of a grocer and his son during a robbery. Convicted on circumstantial evidence despite mass demonstrations on his behalf, Hill was executed by a firing squad. His death made him a martyr in the eyes of the radical U.S. labour movement.

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▪ American radical
also called  Joe Hillstrom , original name  Joel Emmanuel Hägglund 
born Oct. 7, 1879, Gävle, Swed.
died Nov. 19, 1915, Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.

      Swedish-born American songwriter and organizer for the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW); his execution for an alleged robbery-murder made him a martyr and folk hero in the radical American labour movement.

      Born into a conservative Lutheran family, all of whom were amateur musicians, Hill left Sweden for the United States in 1902. He drifted around the country, from job to job, and in 1910 joined the San Pedro (Calif.) local of the Industrial Workers of the World, soon becoming its secretary. The following year his first and most famous folksong, “The Preacher and the Slave,” appeared in the IWW's Little Red Song Book. It is sung to the melody of “In the Sweet Bye and Bye”:

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.

      Most of his songs dealt with migratory workers, immigrant sweatshop workers, and railway employees; and all were tinged with humour and simple Marxism.

      In January 1914, while staying with friends in Salt Lake City, Hill was arrested and charged with the murder of a grocer and his son who had been killed during a robbery. The trial that followed was very confusing. The prosecution's case was based on circumstantial evidence and depended almost entirely on the fact that Hill had gone to a doctor to be treated for a gunshot wound several hours after the murders had occurred. Hill claimed that he had received the wound in a quarrel over a woman, whom he refused to identify in the interest of protecting her honour. The jury found him guilty, and the numerous legal appeals made on Hill's behalf were unavailing. Despite mass demonstrations and accusations that he had been convicted because of his radicalism and despite an appeal to the Utah governor from Pres. Woodrow Wilson, Hill was executed by a firing squad. On Nov. 18, 1915, the night before his death, he telegraphed IWW leader Big Bill Haywood: “Goodbye Bill. I die like a true rebel. Don't waste time in mourning. Organize.”

      Hill was commemorated in a famous ballad bearing his name, written in 1925 by poet Alfred Hays.

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Hill, Joe — orig. Joel Emmanuel Hägglund (7 oct. 1879, Gävle, Suecia–19 nov. 1915, Salt Lake City, Utah, EE.UU.). Compositor sueco estadounidense y organizador de los Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Hill emigró a EE.UU. aproximadamente en 1902 y se… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Hill, Joe —    см. Хилл, Джо …   Писатели США. Краткие творческие биографии

  • Joe Hill — Joel Emmanuel Hägglund, más conocido como Joe Hill y también como Joseph Hillström (1879 1915), músico y sindicalista norteamericano de origen sueco, miembro de la Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Fue uno de los precursores de la canción de …   Wikipedia Español

  • Joe Hill — (* 7. Oktober 1879 in Gävle in Schweden als Joel Emmanuel Hägglund; † 19. November 1915 in Salt Lake City), auch bekannt unter dem Namen Joseph Hillström, war ein US amerikanischer Wanderarbeiter (Hobo), Arbeiterführer …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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  • Hill — Hill, Joe (1879 1915) a US ↑trade union leader, who tried to help workers to get better pay and more rights. He also wrote many songs on social subjects, including Casey Jones …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • Joe Hill — Infobox Person name = Joe Hill image size = 180px caption = birth name=Joel Emmanuel Hägglund birth date = birth date|1879|10|7|mf=y or 1882 birth place = Gävle, Sweden death date = death date and age|1915|11|19|1879|10|7|mf=y death place = Utah… …   Wikipedia

  • Joe Hill (chanteur) — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Joe Hill et Hill. Joe Hill Nom de naissance J …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Joe Hill (écrivain) — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Joe Hill et Hill. Joe Hill Jo …   Wikipédia en Français

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