Woody Guthrie was born in Oklahoma in 1912. He moved first to Texas, and then when the Dust Bowl set in, moved on to California. Around 1940 he moved to New York City and lived in various apartments about town. In December 1950, he signed a lease at the Beach Haven apartment complex near Coney Island, owned by Fred Trump (father of “The Donald”). The apartment complex was no great shakes (still isn’t) and the lease had a covenant which kept African-Americans out of the neighborhood.

Woody reworked his song “I Ain’t Got No Home” into this critique of his new home:

I suppose that Old Man Trump knows just how much racial hate
He stirred up in that bloodpot of human hearts
When he drawed that color line
Here at his Beach Haven family project

Beach Haven ain’t my home!
No, I just can’t pay this rent!
My money’s down the drain,
And my soul is badly bent!

Beach Haven is Trump’s Tower
Where no black folks come to roam,
No, no, Old Man Trump!
Old Beach Haven ain’t my home!

I’m calling out my welcome to you and your man both
Welcoming you here to Beach Haven
To love in any way you please and to have some kind of a decent place
To have your kids raised up in.
   
Beach Haven ain’t my home!
No, I just can’t pay this rent!
My money’s down the drain,
And my soul is badly bent!

Beach Haven is Trump’s Tower
Where no black folks come to roam,
No, no, Old Man Trump!
Old Beach Haven ain’t my home!