MY NHD PROJECT

Senior Division
National History Day
Individual in History: Actions and Legacies
Woody Guthrie: Singer and Songwriter
Stephanie Martinez

Throughout history, music has helped shape America by expressing emotions and connecting people through shared experiences. No one has impacted Americans more than Woody Guthrie, singer and songwriter of “This Land is your Land.” Drawing on his own experiences in the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression, Guthrie wrote music that many Americans could relate to. Through the power of his music, Guthrie showed that even in terrible times, there was still hope for Americans. Woody Guthrie’s music embodied the spirit of Americans during the Depression and is still used today as a way to communicate the meaning of the American dream.

Woody Guthrie was born in July 14, 1912 in Okemah, Oklahoma. He was the second-born son of Charles and Nora Belle Guthrie. His father was a cowboy, land speculator, and local politician. His mother, also musically inclined, had a profound effect on Woody. She would sing to him when he was little. When Guthrie was just seven, a tragedy occurred in his family. His sister Clara died in an accidental coal oil fire, and Guthrie's father was severely burned in a later coal oil fire. Guthrie also suffered from the death from his mother. She died from Huntington's Disease which goes straight to the brain.

During difficulies in his early years, Guthrie found his inspiration to become a musician. To lift his spirits, he learned to play the harmonica. “ I carried my harmonica and played in barbershops.” Because of his family’s hardships, Guthrie didn’t have a chance to finish his high school education. Without a diploma, he couldn’t go on to get the music training that would help him later on. Guthrie first started his music career with a band called ”Corn Cobb Trio” in Texas.

During the 1920’s, oil was found nearby and Okemah was transformed into an "oil boom" town. This brought thousand of workers, gamblers and hustlers to the town. Within a few years, however the oil flow stopped and Okemah’s fortunes changed. People left and didn’t come back. Around the same time, the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl hit Oklahoma.

Though the U.S. economy had gone into a depression six months earlier, it wasn’t until October 29, 1929 that the stock markets crashed. On that day investors sold over sixteen million shares of stock. This began in 1929 and lasted until about 1939. It was the longest and most severe depression ever in U.S history. These events were hard on Guthrie’s family. His father lost all of his businesses and the family dropped into poverty. As the country struggled with the Stock Market Crash, many people lost everything. Banks failed, stores closed, and suicides were common.

In 1931, when Okemah's boomtown period went bust, Guthrie left for Texas. In the panhandle town of Pampa, he fell in love with Mary Jennings, the younger sister of a friend and musician named Matt Jennings. In 1933, Guthrie and Jennings were married. Together, they later had three children, Gwen, Sue and Bill.

Not only did Guthrie suffer from the depression, but he also felt the impact of the Dust Bowl which hit the Great Plains in 1935. The dust traveled in the air, covered the sky, stood like that for several days. When the soil dried up and farms closed down, it was impossible for Guthrie to find employment. For almost a decade, the Dust Bowl left farmers without work. Farmers planted, but nothing grew, so they could not make any money. Even today the Dust Bowl still has an effect because the poor soil is still there.

Leaving Pampa to look for a way to support his family, Guthrie headed west and hit Route 66. Because he had no money, Guthrie hitchhiked, rode freight trains, and even walked his way to California, taking whatever small jobs he could. In exchange for bed and board, Guthrie painted signs, played guitar, and sang in saloons along the way. He developed a love for traveling the open road, a lifelong habit he would often repeat. When he arrived in California, he found that many people there weren’t happy about the flood of people fleeing the Dust Bowl. They even called them names like “Okies.” However, Guthrie managed to find a job on KFVD radio in Los Angeles.

In 1940, Woody Guthrie headed east to New York City. While in New York, Alan Lomax recorded Guthrie’s songs for the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. Because of all this success, Guthrie had enough money to bring his family with him to New York City, and they were all together. Then 1941, Guthrie left for Portland with his family. On this adventure, he wrote popular songs such as “Roll on Columbia”, “Grand Coulee Dam,” and “The Biggest Thing That Man Has Done.” But all that traveling had an effect on Guthrie family. Since he was constantly traveling, his first marriage came to an end. After the divorce, Guthrie started another relationship with Marjorie Mazia. In 1945 Guthrie and Mazia were married. Over the years, Guthrie and Mazia had four children named Cathy, Arlo, Joady, and Nora Lee. During that time, he recorded "So Long, It's Been Good to Know You" and "This Land Is Your Land."

The song "This Land Is Your Land" is the song that really made Guthrie famous because it was about his feelings and experiences. Like many men traveling during the Depression, Guthrie came face to face with both the beauty and the inequality of America. For example, in the song it says “ I’ve roamed and rambled and I’ve followed my footsteps/ To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts /and all around me a voice was sounding/ this land was made for you and me.” To many Americans, this stanza of the song really makes sense because during the Depression and the Dust Bowl many people lost hope. Though everything was lost, this song is saying that somewhere out there is a place that people would like. This song really builds on some personal experience because Guthrie traveled with those Americans to find that better place.

Another feeling that Guthrie’s music captured for Americans was anger at inequality: “As I was walkin’ I saw a sign there/ And that sign said no tresspassin’/ But on the other side it didn’t say nothing!/ Now that side was made for you and me!” This brought people together because when they got to California, they were unwanted there. Everywhere you would look there were signs up and that made people feel that they were unwanted. On every sign there was an empty space so they turned them around and now it was equal, and that represented the land that those people wanted. “This Land Is Your Land” was written is 1940, but from 1940 until 1944 Guthrie always changed the lyrics and performed them differently.

Woody Guthrie’s life wasn’t easy because he went through a lot of hardships as he started his career. RCA Manufacturing Company Inc. sent a letter to Guthrie on April 24, 1940 . The document that stated that he couldn’t perform for anybody except RCA. It stated that the document would stay in effect for one year, and during that year he was only going to get paid twenty-five dollars. After that year was over it stated that he had to stay with that company and if he left it, he could be charged.

While Woody Guthrie was alive, he achieved the American dream. He had dreamed to become a singer and a performer because of his dedication in playing the harmonica. The American Dream is used in a number of ways, but essentially the American Dream is an idea, which suggests that all people can succeed through hard work, and that all people have the potential to live happy, successful lives. Woody Guthrie did achieve the American dream because he made his life as a folk singer, which was hard to do during the Depression because mostly everyone wanted to die and the economic trouble was worrying everybody.

On October 3, 1967, Guthrie died in Brooklyn State Hospital in New York. He died of Huntington's disease which he had caught from his wife, Marjorie Guthrie. Woody Guthrie’s music will always be around because many people are singing his songs. While he was alive he influenced many artists like Bob Dylan and many other people so they keep the folk music alive and get other people involved.

Woody Guthrie became very well known in his era not only for his music but also for the message to keep people moving. Woody Guthrie was inspirational to many people that he has influenced because after he died many people went on to perform his songs. After his death, his fans and his family held a concert every year to show appreciation for his music. After Guthrie’s death, he was added to several hall of fames.

Guthrie’s music played an important role because without him America wouldn’t be how it is today. If he had never written “This Land Is Your Land,” many Americans wouldn’t have found a way to be alive and they wouldn’t have gone the extra mile to find a better home. Guthrie gave Americans hope to keep on moving forward.