Pete Seeger Gave Me a Hammer… for Life…

I never met Pete Seeger, but he gave me one of the happiest summers of my life!

After my sophomore year at Randolph-Macon Women's College, an elite school for bright females in Virginia, all-white (then), Methodist, conservative, I got a job through our Sociology Department as a camp counselor at the Henry Street Settlement House Camp, way up north in Westchester County, New York.

One of my duties was leading group singing—and soon a brand new song landed in my lap—that changed my life forever!

"If I had a hammer, I'd hammer in the morning,
I'd hammer in the evening all over this land.
I'd hammer out danger, I'd hammer out a warning, I'd hammer out love, between my brothers and my sisters,
All over this land."

(We didn't know at that time that this had been published that very June in NYC at a testimonial dinner for the leaders of the Communist Parry of the USA. It later became a Freedom Song of the American Civil Rights Movement!)

I'd always loved folk music and took to this song like a fish to water and soon every child in the camp and their resident mothers were singing it.  I could feel it bonding us all together!

I'd had two close friends in high school in Norfolk, whose names were Hofheimer and Gerst. It never occurred to me they and I were different. We went to different houses of worship—but—it was never a dividing line in our friendships.

One day, relaxing in a circle of the young mothers of my pre-school campers (the women were about my own age, all from the Lower East Side of New York City), I admired their pretty neck jewelry.

"You all wear a star of David," I said. "I wish I had one too."

An immediate silence fell on the group.

Finally, one young mother said, tentatively, "You IS Jewish, ain't you?" Silent eyes stared at me—but all were friendly. We were, after all, on the same team… trying to give a summer experience away from the big city in the summer heat to their tiny sons and daughters.

Finally, it dawned on me. "No," I replied, wishing the ground would open up and swallow me! (We looked alike—my hair was dark and I had a deep tan then.)

Suddenly, the silence broke. Everyone beamed. The woman put her arm around me and everyone drew in close. "That's all right, honey," she said, radiantly. "You could pass for one of us—any day!"

Later, that same summer, I returned to my long-term place on the staff of my Girl Scout Camp on the shores of Lake Prince, near Suffolk, Virginia, Camp Matoaka. I took my accustomed place as the camp song leader and drama director.

I couldn't wait to bring my knapsack of new, inspiring songs to my old campers, little girls with black and white faces from Tidewater, Virginia!

Soon the shores of Lake Prince rang out nightly around the campfires with about a hundred little Southern Scouts holding hands and singing, "If I had a hammer!"

Thank you, Pete Seeger—you gave me one of the happiest summers of my life. I know you know that, looking down from where you live now!!!

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P.S. Dear readers, you probably saw the letter in the NYT recently that back in the late 1960s, when Pete was invited to a concert in NYC, and they were scared stiff re his political leanings... when he walked on stage to thunderous applause—his first song—was… "The Star Spangled Banner"!!

P.P.S. Please share with me and our gang here at Crime Writer's Chronicle if you have any memories of "If I Had a Hammer" or Pete Seeger's other wonderfully inspiring music.

© 2014 Thelma Jacqueline Straw

The Day I Met Pete Seeger

I don’t remember the date, but the event is as clear as yesterday. 

A little background:  Constitution Island lies in the Hudson River between The US Military Academy at West Point and Garrison, New York.  The famous iron chain that was stretched across the Hudson during the Revolutionary War went from West Point to the island.

In the nineteenth century, Susan and Anna Warner owned the island and lived there.  Susan wrote a book called The Wide, Wide World, which was second on the century’s best-seller list, after Uncle Tom’s Cabin.  Anna wrote the words to the hymn “Jesus Loves Me.”  When the sisters died, they left the property to West Point.  These days it is a historic site, administered by a nonprofit organization but still with strong ties to the US Military Academy.

When my friend Col. (ret.) William A. McIntosh was still on the faculty at the Point, he took charge, one year, of the annual fundraiser for the foundation.  It was held in the officers’ mess at West Point.  As the guest of honor, Bill chose Pete Seeger, the Hudson River’s greatest champion.  Pete brought along his banjo.

Bill invited me and my husband David to the event—fully aware of our pacifist politics.  We sat at a table with the members of the English and Art Departments and their spouses, surrounded by tables of the all the rest of the West Point big brass.

Bill introduced us to Pete.  That was thrill enough for us, two who had been life-long admirers and frequent attendees at his concerts at Carnegie Hall.

Then came the BEST part.  After singing a few tunes for the crowd—mostly sea chanteys as I recall, Pete launched into a sing-along.  He announced that he had chosen a tune that was easy to sing and that he was pretty certain all of us knew: the Doxology.  You know—the hymn that begins, “Praise God from all blessings flow…”

He told us that he had composed new lyrics to it and proceeded to teach the assembled crowd his words so that we could sing it with him.  (With a little effort I found the lyrics on the internet.)  Here are a few of the verses.

“Sing peace between the grass and trees

Between the continents and the seas

Between the lion and the lamb

Between young Ivan and young Sam

Between the white, black, red and brown

Between the wilderness and town

Sing peace between the near and far

'Tween Allah and the six-pointed star

The fish that swim, the birds that fly

The deepest seas, the stars on high

Bear witness now that you and I

Sing! Peace on earth and sea and sky.”

Pete sang the whole song through.  Then he concentrated on the last verse.  He sang a line and invited us all to repeat it.  Then, the next line.   Repeating so we could get the words right.

Once we had gotten the words down, he had us rehearse some harmony:  The tenors only. Then the Baritones.  The sopranos.  Then the altos.  Just the men.  Just the women.  Then everyone again.

Over and over, to the accompaniment of his five-string banjo, Pete got the faculty of the country’s premier military college to sing his song about peace.

My heart sings now, just thinking about what he did that night and how fortunate I was to be there.

Rest in Peace, Pete Seeger.

Annamaria Alfieri