Pete Seeger 1919 - 2014

Pete Seeger's Banjo

Seeger singing for Eleanor Roosevelt and a racially mixed audience in segregated Washington DC in 1944

Seeger before the House UnAmerican Activities Committee, 1955; He refused to plead the Fifth Amendment, refused to name names, and refused all cooperation with the Committee.  He was charged with contempt of Congress and sentenced to 10 years in prison.  The sentence was thrown out and the conviction reversed in 1962.

Pete Seeger with Dr. Martin Luther King, Charis Horton, Rosa Parks, and Dr. Ralph Abernathy, 1957

Seeger in Greenwood, Mississippi, 1963

Seeger performing with Bob Dylan, 1963

Pete Seeger marching with Occupy Wall Street Protesters, about 2011

A friend of mine met Pete Seeger when Seeger was in his late 80s.  My friend was there to clean up after a benefit for a labor organization.  Seeger came back to personally thank each of the cleaning staff.  He was warm, generous, happy, and remarkably energetic for so old a man.  He was a man of many superior gifts.  Instead of clobbering the rest of us mere mortals with his superiority, he very generously shared out his gifts and gave it all away to make everyone else a little stronger.

Thanks Pete Seeger for always being there and giving us heart.

Rest in Peace and rise in glory.