Woody Guthrie - Okemah, OK
Posted by: 
hamquilter
N 35° 25.879 W 096° 18.242
14S E 744743 N 3924215
This Woody Guthrie statue stands in a small memorial park dedicated to him, in downtown Okemah, his home town.
Waymark Code: WMYC92
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 05/28/2018
Views: 3
Describing Woody Guthrie in a few sentences would be impossible. To get the full sense of who he was, visit this link for his 10 page biography.
Wood Guthrie
Born in Okemah on July 14, 1912, he was part of the rowdy days of the 1920's, the difficult days of the 1930's with unemployment, and the Dust Bowl times. Then, during the 1940's, there was the War, and after that, political activism and cultural upheaval,. Through all this, he wrote songs, poems and became the icon of the struggling people of these times. His songs spoke for the people and he became the folk-singing voice of America. But his constant traveling, and unsettled-ness took its toll. He passed away on October 3, 1967 from a hereditary disease called Huntington's Disease. But he forever changed American folk music, and he has been honored with many awards and citations.
A park in downtown Okemah has been set aside to honor Woody Guthrie. It has murals and monuments, and this statue. It is a slightly smaller than life-sized bronze statue showing Woody with a larger than life guitar. His chin is raised and he is "into" whatever he's playing. The sculpture was created by Dan Brook, a Muscogee-Creek Native American artist.
Dan Brook
