Art:

Mitchell credits John L. Handcox, a "young black sharecropper, union organizer, and composer of folk songs of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union in 1935-37" with the song as Pete Seeger had it. It was from the song that Mitchell took his title, of course. Charles Seeger recorded Handcox for the Library of Congress, so there are recordings of him there.

I quote further: One day in 1935 John Handcox appeared at the office of the union in Memphis and said to me, "Mitch, I got a piece I want you to print in our paper" (The Sharecropper's Voice). Written with pencil on ruled tablet paper, it read:

     When a sharecropper dies
     he is buried in a box
     without any necktie,
     and without any sox.

John L. Handcox was born and reared on one of the big plantations in St. Francis County, Arkansas. He had about a fourth grade education. I encouraged him to write more poems and songs, and he began singing his songs at our union meetings. His best one -- "We're Gonna Roll the Union On" -- became very popular and is still being sung on picket lines, in union halls, and wherever workers strike to gain their rights.... Another of Handcox' songs was "Hungry, Hungry Are We."

As I say, it's quite a book. Mitchell may boast a bit about his own importance in the struggle, but I still recommend it.

Sandy