It would have been easy—normal, even—for Woodrow Wilson Guthrie to take after his father Charles. They were Oklahomans, a generation from the Land Rush of 1889, when settlers ran into Indian Territory. Charles was a member of the KKK, possibly involved in the lynching of Laura Nelson and her son L.D. in Okemah in 1911, the year before Woody was born there.[1]

And then Charles had this son. But Woody arrived on the planet soaked with feeling, not cut out for normalcy. In 1944 he said, “I hate a song that makes you think that you are not any good… I am out to fight those songs to my very last breath of air and my last drop of blood. I am out to sing songs that will prove to you that this is your world and… no matter what color, what size you are, how you are built, I am out to sing the songs that make you take pride in yourself and in your work.”

He wrote “This Land Is Your Land” and many songs about fighting Hitler—the phrase “This machine kills fascists” on his guitars came from munitions factory workers during the war. He wrote about the ugly local history that was his birthright. He dedicated the song “Slipknot” to the “mothers, fathers, and sons alike, that was lynched and hanged under the bridge of the Canadian River, seven miles south of Okemah, Okla., and to the day when such will be no more.”

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Links:

• It wasn’t all do-gooderism; witness these funny lyrics for “My Id and My Ego.”

  
  

• The Story Behind Woody Guthrie's This Machine Kills Fascists Guitar – Aaron Homer, Grunge, July 16, 2022

  
  

• The Story Of Woody Guthrie's 'This Land Is Your Land' – Nick Spitzer, NPR Music, February 15, 2012

  
  

• This Anthem Was Made For You and Me? – Michael J. Kramer, Clio & the Contemporary, July 2, 2021

  
  

• 1936 Martin 000-18 Acoustic Formerly Owned and Inscribed by Woody Guthrie – Museum of Pop Culture

  
  

This post is part of The American 250, a series featuring 250 objects made by Americans, located in America, in honor of the country's 250th anniversary. 250 words on 250 works, from January 1 to December 31, 2026.

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[1] In a history of awfulness it was one of the most awful. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynching_of_Laura_and_L._D._Nelson