Today in labor history, October 7, 1879: Joel Emmanuel Hägglund (aka “Joe Hill”) is born in Gävle, Sweden. Joe Hill was a labor activist, member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and songwriter — the author of “There is Power in a Union,” “The Rebel Girl,” and “The Preacher and the Slave,” among others.
I literally cannot hear this guy’s name without wanting to sing: I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night, Alive as you or...
Reblogging to add that I also wrote a rather long fan-fiction-y folk poem about him for an AP history project in high...