Pressing the Struggle: Lee Hays, the Southern Tenant Farmers’ Union, and the Popularization of Labor’s Plight

Youngblood examines efforts by the organizer turned folk singer Lee Hays, along with others associated with the Southern Tenant Farmers Union to create national awareness of the perilous position of black and white laborers in Arkansas and the Mid-South during the Great Depression. From programming at Commonwealth College, union and regional publications, and targeted advocacy campaign, radical evangelists of the sharecropper’s cause followed a twisting path through treacherous unionization efforts during the Great Depression to widespread news coverage and philanthropic efforts, anti-Communist backlash, and the evolving folk music genre.