Jim+Crow

Strange Fruit By Billie Holiday and Abel Meeropol
 * Jim Crow Activity**

Southern trees bear strange fruit, Blood on the leaves and blood at the root, Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze, Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant south, The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth, Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh, Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck, For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck, For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop, Here is a strange and bitter crop.

(Source:http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/resources/lessonplans/hs_lp_billie_holiday.htm)
 * When do you think this song was recorded?
 * What social problems is the singer addressing?
 * Why were blacks lynched?
 * What reasons would people give to "justify" doing it?
 * What responses could blacks have to lynching?
 * What response did Billie Holiday choose? Why?
 * Do you think this was a safe thing for her to do? Why?
 * What was Holiday's life like?
 * Did Strange Fruit have a good message?
 * Do you think it was effective?



[|Without Sanctuary]
 * Do you think this could happen today, why or why not?

[|Jasper’s Journey (part I)]

[|Jasper’s Story (part 2)]

[|Brenden McClellan]

Based on what you have viewed and heard, create your own lyrics depicting the state of racism today and/or in the past.