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315:. During her time there, Agnes Cunningham also studied labor journalism and labor-farmer union development as well as learned about social theatre. During this time, she started to write labor songs. Completing her coursework and moving back to Oklahoma, Agnes Cunningham began recruiting for the Southern Tenant Farmers' Union.
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because the housing project that they lived in did not allow domestic commercial ventures. Many young musicians, including Dylan, Phil Ochs, Gil Turner, and many more, recorded tunes inside Agnes
Cunningham's family apartment. She would transcribe the songs, both lyrics and musical notation, while
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In 1945, Agnes
Cunningham was on the founding committee of People's Songs, an organization founded on December 31, 1945 in New York City by Pete Seeger, Alan Lomax, Lee Hays and many others. People's Songs went bankrupt in 1948, but the People's Songs Bulletin served as a template for Broadside
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group in
Oklahoma, that promoted propaganda and political agitation through short plays. Performing throughout the countryside in Oklahoma at union meetings, the Red Dust Players sought to educate tenant-farmers, sharecroppers, and farm workers on how the union could benefit them. Fleeing
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During most of their later lives, Cunningham and
Friesen lived on West 98th Street in Manhattan, with their daughter Jane Friesen, grand daughter Ellie Thomas, and great grandson Nicholas Toth. Toward the end of their lives they wrote a "joint autobiography",
299:. In 1929, she attended the Weatherford (Oklahoma) Teachers' College where she studied music. After graduating from Weatherford Teachers' College, Agnes Cunningham worked in the public school system teaching music. In 1932, Cunningham went on to the
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548:. Although the magazine, in John Pietaro's words "a vital part of the folk revival", survived until 1988, it was always a shoestring operation — several times, subsidies from Pete Seeger and his wife
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tale, "My
Oklahoma Home", written with her brother Bill Cunningham, was performed by Seeger in 1961, fell into oblivion, and then was revived by
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Cunningham continued to be politically active, taking part in events such as hootenannies, despite her advancing age. She and
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Sis
Cunningham was also a songwriter: her "How Can You Keep on Movin' (Unless You Migrate Too)?" found its way into the
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magazine. This magazine published the songs of many of the 1960s' most influential topical songwriters, including
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A lasting contribution of Sis
Cunningham and Gordon Friesen was to publish a little magazine for 26 years:
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Despite Agnes
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when Seeger provided them with a subsidy for the endeavor in 1962. Agnes and her husband started
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member Gordon
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s circulation did not surpass four figures, it became influential across the country.
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After World War II, Cunningham and
Friesen were among the first victims of the
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In 1937, she became a music teacher at the Southern Labor School for Women in
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640:"Finding aid to the Ronald D. Cohen Collection, MSS. Dept., UNC Chapel Hill"
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In 1962, Cunningham reemerged into the public eye as the founding editor of
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In late 1939, she was a founding member of the Red Dust Players, an
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Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture – Cunningham, Agnes
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kept it afloat. Among its legacies was a five-CD box set called
588:. Friesen died in 1996, and Cunningham followed in June 2004.
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509:, she largely fell out of the music world for over a decade.
897:"Agnes Cunningham, 95, Dies; Sowed the Seeds of Folk Music"
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Magazine that was later co-founded by Agnes Cunningham.
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continued to influence and inspire topical music, with
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household known as Almanac House: housemates included
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also recorded it, as a strident march, on his album
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467:Gordon Friesen wrote the commentary. Even though
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263:magazine, which she published with her husband
937:Red Dust and Broadsides: A Joint Autobiography
283:. Her father was a socialist and follower of
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1026:20th-century American singer-songwriters
819:"The People's Songs Archive – Sing Out!"
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427:We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions
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1006:American women singer-songwriters
941:University of Massachusetts Press
354:In New York, they moved into the
257:. She was the founding editor of
1046:Singer-songwriters from Oklahoma
554:The Best of Broadside, 1962–1988
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482:reaching its apex around 1970.
34:needs additional citations for
370:, appearing on the 1942 album
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1021:People from Watonga, Oklahoma
1016:American folk-song collectors
895:Sisario, Ben (30 June 2004).
759:"» Sis Cunningham: 1909-2004"
275:Agnes Cunningham was born in
614:"Obituary: Agnes Cunningham"
347:harassment, she and fellow
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1041:American women folklorists
961:Ronald D. Cohen Collection
612:Buhle, Paul (2004-07-08).
301:Commonwealth Labor College
432:Seeger Sessions Band Tour
586:Red Dust and Broadsides
569:Broadside Ballads, Vol.
401:Songs of the Depression
277:Blaine County, Oklahoma
967:Cunningham Discography
871:"Smithsonian Folkways"
410:Into the Purple Valley
403:, and following them,
397:New Lost City Ramblers
202:Musician, songwriter,
1011:American folk singers
449:The Best of Broadside
430:album and subsequent
267:and their daughters.
1036:American folklorists
971:Smithsonian Folkways
931:, February 11, 2001.
307:, where she studied
43:improve this article
1001:American communists
690:Guinness Publishing
534:The Freedom Singers
501:'s booking agency,
297:musical arrangement
902:The New York Times
688:(First ed.).
538:Buffy Sainte Marie
445:Buffy Sainte-Marie
372:Dear Mr. President
573:Broadside Tapes 1
422:Bruce Springsteen
380:Detroit, Michigan
356:Greenwich Village
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161:February 19, 1909
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41:Please help
36:verification
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996:2004 deaths
991:1909 births
823:Singout.org
579:Later years
499:Pete Seeger
360:Pete Seeger
285:Eugene Debs
99:August 2021
985:Categories
921:References
881:2009-06-22
853:2004-11-10
843:"FolkSc01"
828:2018-02-25
804:2015-12-11
650:2008-01-28
625:2018-02-26
530:Tom Paxton
507:depression
469:Broadside'
271:Early life
251:folk music
247:Cunningham
157:1909-02-19
132:Birth name
69:newspapers
943:, 1999),
908:21 August
769:21 August
763:Zcomm.org
730:21 August
563:released
559:In 1976,
526:Janis Ian
522:Phil Ochs
518:Bob Dylan
514:Broadside
495:blacklist
480:Broadside
476:Broadside
464:Broadside
460:Broadside
456:Broadside
440:Broadside
418:Dust Bowl
405:Ry Cooder
344:agit-prop
293:accordion
260:Broadside
218:accordion
228:Folkways
313:Marxism
281:fiddler
83:scholar
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319:Career
295:, and
224:Labels
189:Genres
172:, U.S.
166:Origin
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592:Notes
303:near
289:piano
239:Agnes
214:Piano
90:JSTOR
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416:Her
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