Earl Hawley Robinson (born July 2, 1910 ? died July 20, 1991) was a songwriter and composer from Seattle, Washington. Robinson is probably as well remembered for his left-leaning political views (a member of the Communist Party in the 1930s) as he is for his music, including the song "Joe Hill" and the cantata "Ballad for Americans". In addition, he wrote many popular songs and was a composer for Hollywood films. He studied violin, viola and piano as a child, and studied composition at the University of Washington, receiving a BM and teaching certificate in 1933. In 1934 he moved to New York where he studied with Hanns Eisler and Aaron Copland. He was also involved with the depression-era WPA Federal Theater Workshop, and was actively involved in the anti-fascist movement and was the musical director at the Communist-run Camp Unity in upstate New York. In the 1940s he worked on film scores in Hollywood, but he was blacklisted during the McCa