Image from CD Baby.comSchool board to say sorry to folk icon after 49 years
By Greg Moran
Union-Tribune Staff Writer
February 10, 2009
It took a half century, but the San Diego Unified school board wants to apologize to Pete Seeger...Tonight, board member Katherine Nakamura will introduce a resolution declaring that the board “deeply regrets its predecessors' actions” and offering a hand of formal friendship to Seeger.
The resolution offers an apology to a man who is “one of our dearest national treasures.”...
Seeger's troubles in San Diego occurred while he was blacklisted and shunned by major entertainment venues. In 1955, Seeger had declined to answer questions in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee, a McCarthy-era committee that probed real or alleged members of the Communist Party, citing his First Amendment rights.
He spent years performing mostly at schools and small venues, and one of those was Hoover High School. His agent signed a rental agreement for the concert, but the local American Legion heard of it and pressured the school board to act.
The board passed a resolution that said Seeger had to first sign a pledge stating the concert would not be used to promote the overthrow of the government, and was not part of a “Communist-action organization or Communist-front organization.”
...Superior Court Judge Clarence Harden heard the case in his chambers on Saturday morning, about 10 hours before the show was to go on. Katz said the lawyers argued that Seeger had signed a valid contract with the district, and the oath was an illegal new condition...
Harden agreed with the ACLU and issued the order barring the school district from forcing Seeger to sign the pledge...That night about 1,400 people did go to the auditorium to hear Seeger perform...
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