[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 17 (Wednesday, January 29, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E143]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




TRIBUTE TO PETE SEEGER, LEGENDARY FOLK SINGER AND CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, January 29, 2014

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, it is my sad duty to announce to the 
House that America has lost one of its greatest voices championing the 
cause of civil rights, social and economic justice, and peace. Pete 
Seeger, the legendary folk singer and prolific songwriter, who helped 
popularize the beloved ``We Shall Overcome'' as the anthem of the Civil 
Rights Movement, died yesterday in New York City. He was 94 years old.
  For more than 60 years, Pete Seeger's was a powerful voice, unafraid 
of speaking out against what was wrong with our country, while always 
promoting that people stand up and speak just as fervently for things 
that are right.
  Pete Seeger had a vision of America's potential and that idea flowed 
through his music to impact so many people in the United States and 
around the world.
  Pete Seeger's humility kept us rooted as a people by reminding us of 
our common humanity while his songs challenged us to realize the full 
promise of country. The author of such iconic songs as ``If I Had A 
Hammer,'' ``Turn, Turn, Turn,'' and ``Where Have All the Flowers 
Gone?'', Pete Seeger touched chords deep in the American heart and 
inspired many of the great songwriters of succeeding generations, 
including Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen.
  Mr. Seeger sang about the labor movements of the 1940s and 1950s, 
confronted with his music the Vietnam War, civil rights and the 
environment. From roots residing in spirituals, songs like ``We Shall 
Overcome,'' spoke to activists in the civil rights movements and became 
a rallying cry for their efforts.
  Pete Seeger was elected to the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972, and 
in 1993 received a lifetime achievement Grammy Award. In 1994 he 
received a Kennedy Center Honor and, from President Bill Clinton, the 
National Medal of Arts, America's highest arts honor, awarded by the 
National Endowment for the Arts. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll 
Hall of Fame in 1996. At the age of 89, Mr. Seeger won a Grammy Award 
in the children's music category in 2011 for ``Tomorrow's Children,'' 
and another in 1997, for the traditional folk album ``Pete.''
  With Pete Seeger's passing, the nation has lost a great champion for 
jobs and justice for working people. It is up to us, the living, to 
carry on the struggle for the causes to which Peter Seeger devoted his 
life.
  I ask a moment of silence in honor of Pete Seeger.

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