Agnes "Sis" Cunningham was an American musician, best known as a performer and publicist of folk music and protest songs.
13 Facts About Sis Cunningham
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Sis Cunningham was the founding editor of Broadside magazine, which she published with her husband Gordon Friesen and their daughters.
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Sis Cunningham was born in Watonga, Oklahoma in Blaine County.
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Sis Cunningham was the daughter of Ada Boyce and William Cunningham, an amateur fiddler, and grew up on a small homestead farm situated on land that was once part of the Cheyenne-Arapaho Indian Reservation.
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Sis Cunningham's father was a socialist and follower of Eugene Debs, the American Socialist Party leader.
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Sis Cunningham was briefly a member of the Almanac Singers, appearing on the 1942 album Dear Mr President for Keynote Records.
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Sis Cunningham was on the founding committee of People's Songs, a radical musical organization founded in December 1945 in New York City by Pete Seeger, Alan Lomax, Lee Hays and others notable members of the folk community.
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Unaware of its authorship, Cooder initially credited the song as "traditional" until the omission was brought to his attention, which meant Sis Cunningham was deprived of earnings for the use of her song.
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Sis Cunningham secured a few bookings as part of the roster of Pete Seeger's booking agency, People's Songs, but due to ill health, poverty, and depression, she largely fell out of the music world for over a decade.
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Sis Cunningham served as a paid secretary for Seeger during a year-long world tour from 1963 through 1964.
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Sis Cunningham transcribed the lyrics and musical notation, while Gordon wrote the commentary.
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Sis Cunningham remained politically active, participating in events such as hootenannies even as she grew older.
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Friesen died in 1996, and Sis Cunningham followed in June 2004.