The Joe Hill Award is awarded annually at the Great Labor Arts Exchange by the Labor Heritage Foundation.
Background The award is named for Joe Hill, a radical songwriter, labor activist and member of the Industrial Workers of the World. He was executed for the murder of a Salt Lake City grocer and his son, a crime for which the police released a more likely suspect.BBC.co.uk, "Joe Hill: Murderer or Martyr?" February 19, 2002. Hill's conviction and unsuccessful appeal generated international calls for clemency, including by President Woodrow Wilson. Hill was memorialized in a tribute poem written about 1930 by Alfred Hayes, titled "I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night" (often referred to simply as "Joe Hill"). Hayes's lyrics were turned into a song in 1936 by Earl Robinson. Paul Robeson and Pete Seeger often performed this song and are associated with it. Joan Baez's Woodstock performance of "Joe Hill" in 1969 is the most well-known recording.
The Labor Heritage Foundation began presenting the Joe Hill Award in 1989. Given during the foundation's annual arts festival, the Great Labor Arts Exchange. It is a lifetime achievement award in the field of labor culture.
Recipients 1989: John Handcox 1990: Emmanuel Fried 1991: Ralph Fasanella 1992: Joyce Kornbluh 1993: Cesar Chavez 1994: Moe Foner 1995: Pete Seeger 1996: Anne Romaine 1997: Joe Glazer 1998: Archie Green 1999: Guy Carawan and Candie Carawan 2000: Rev. James Orange 2001: Baldemar Velasquez 2002: Faith Petric 2003: Hazel Dickens 2004: Utah Phillips 2005: Anne Feeney 2006: Joe Uehlein 2007: Julius Margolin 2008: Peter Jones 2009: Ricardo Levins Morales 2010: Jerry Gray 2011: Jon Fromer & Bobbie Rabinowitz 2012: Saul Schniderman & Pablo Davis 2013: Barbara Bailey & Shelley Kessler 2014: Pat Wynne & Charlie King 2015: Fruit of Labor Singing Ensemble 2016: Luci Murphy & Jimmy Kelly 2017: Bev Grant & Janet Stecher 2018: John McCutcheon & Lynn Marie Smith 2019: Kathleen Farrell & Si Kahn 2020: Ysaye Barnwell & Steve Jones 2021: Gary Huck & Mike Konopacki 2022: Judy Ancel & Earl Dotter 2023: Susan Eisenberg & David Elsila 2024: Elise Bryant & Al Bradbury 2025: Mark Dimondstein & Rosemary Feurer
External links Labor Heritage Foundation
References