Recently released documents at downtown Tulsa’s Woody Guthrie Center shed new light on the connection between the famous Oklahoma singer-songwriter and the Trump family.
The story begins back in the early 1950s, when Guthrie rented an apartment in Brooklyn from Donald Trump’s father, Fred Trump.
"It came to his attention that African Americans were not welcome to rent the apartments at Beach Haven-- and it kind of upset Woody. Woody was an early advocate for civil rights,” said Woody Guthrie Center Executive Director Deana McCloud.
McCloud said that Guthrie was already writing about civil rights a decade before he ever encountered Trump.
When Guthrie found out about Fred Trump’s history of turning away people because of their skin color, he wrote some songs about it.
In “Beech Haven Ain’t My Home,” Guthrie mentions “old man Trump” and the racial tension at the Beach Haven rental property.
Guthrie also typed a single-spaced, full-page essay with details of equal rights, equal opportunity and treating others with respect.
"I suppose old man Trump knows just how much racial hate he stirred up in the bloodpot of human hearts," Guthrie wrote.
Guthrie's work about Fred Trump is now on display at the Woody Guthrie Center at Brady and Boston.
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