Joe Hill was a labor organizer and songwriter for the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and one of the most influential protest artists in American history. A Wobbly, as members of the IWW were nicknamed, he was the most famous and most prolific writer of working-class songs and an archetypal example of a worker using music as an organizing tool. The generations of workers and musicians he inspired and their tribute songs to him hint at the breadth of Hill's influence. His controversial court trial and execution for the crime of murder in 1915 made him an international martyr and legend. While debate still persists among historians as to his guilt, he remains one of the most important protest songwriters in the history of the American labor movement.

It is difficult to accurately reconstruct Hill's life before his incarceration, as he had a taciturn nature and was reluctant...