University of Washington-Tacoma Professor of Humanities Michael Honey delivers a performance presentation titled, "Sharecropper's Troubadour: John L. Handcox, the Southern Tenant Farmers Union, and the African American Song Tradition." Based upon his own interviews with Handcox, Honey recounts the life of the folk singer and labor organizer, an African American raised in the Arkansas delta world of sharecropping, who became one of the most beloved folk singers of the prewar labor movement. Honey explains how Handcox shaped the labor music scene. He performs a number of labor anthems and plays recordings of others as he tells Handcox's story. Honey answers questions from the audience. He is introduced by Michigan State University Professor John P. Beck. Part of the "Our Daily Work/Our Daily Lives" Brown Bag series and the MSU Libraries' Colloquia Series, co-sponsored by the MSU School of Human Resources and Labor Relations, the MSU Museum, the MSU African American and African Studies Center, and University's Project 60/50. Held in the MSU Main Library.
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