STRANGE FRUIT_Billie Holiday

______________________________________________
It was originally a poem composed by Abel Meeropol (aka Lewis Allan) in 1937.
It was then turned into a song and interpreted by Billie Holiday in 1939.

_____________________________________________

tiré du site du Collège Van Gogh ici

Strange Fruit – A History of Violence and Racism in America

Listen to Billie Holiday singing “Strange Fruit” and fill in the blanks:

Southern __________ bear _________ fruit
Blood on the ____________
Blood at the ____________
Black bodies swinging in the ____________ breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar ___________
Pastoral ____________ of the gallant south
The bulging eyes and the twisted _____________
The scent of magnolia ______________ and fresh
Then the sudden ______________ of burning flesh
Here is a _______________ for the crows to pluck
for the ___________ to gather
for the ____________ to suck
for the _____________ to rot
for the ____________ to drop
Here is a strange and bitter ___________


Billie Holiday - Strange Fruit





Billie Holiday l'interpréta pour la première fois au Café Society à New York en 1939.
Ce poème est un réquisitoire artistique contre les lynchages couramment pratiqués dans le sud des Etats-Unis.
Depuis ce temps, le terme « strange fruit » est devenu synonyme de lynchage.
__________________________________________________________________

A short history of slavery in America.

The popular conception of a race-based slave system did not fully develop until the 18th century.
The Dutch West India Company __________________ (introduce) slavery in 1625 with the
importation of eleven black slaves from Africa into New Amsterdam (ie present-day New York City). All the colony's slaves, however, __________ (be) freed upon its surrender to the British. Massachusetts __________ (be) the first British colony to legally recognize slavery in 1641.
It __________ (not be) until 1662 that Virginia ___________ (rule) that a slave mother's children would remain slaves.
When The United states of America ____________ (become) independent in 1776, slaves __________ (not be) freed at all.
Slaves ___________ (work) in fields, such as cotton crops or sugar cane crops.
They _________ (be) considered as livestock and __________ (have) an owner.
They ___________ (be) ill-treated and __________ (be) denied any form of citizenship.
Many slaves ____________ (try) to free themselves either by revolts or by fleeing away, but most of them ________ (get) killed. Those who ___________ (flee) ___________ (go) to Canada, thanks to the Underground Railroad, ____________ (help) by freed slaves and white sympathisers.
In 186O, there __________ (be) 3.5 million enslaved African Americans in the US due to the Atlantic slave trade.
Europeans or Americans _____________ (trade) to Africa, captured men were then ____________ (sell) to the merchants who ____________ (bring) their 'merchandise' to the European colonies in America or the USA.
It __________ (be) a very profitable business.
In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln ___________ (write) the Emancipation Declaration.
This act _____________ (make) all slaves free. It ___________ (not be) all a humanist decision though. Lincoln ___________ (sign) the act mainly because of the Civil War.
The Northern and the Southern States _________ (fight) in a war and the economy of the latter ____________ (rely) heavily on slavery.
Texas _____________ (be) the last state to emancipate African Americans in 1865.
Even though African Americans __________ (be) freed, they were still second-class citizen.
After slavery, black people ___________ (experience) segregation.
________________________________________________________________


I)Find the English equivalent to:
Un esclave (l.1): ___________________
Cependant (l.6): ___________________
Emancipé (l.6): ___________________
Une rédition (l.6): ___________________
L'esclavagisme (l.8): ___________________
Jusqu'à / en (l.8): ___________________
Rester / persister (l.9): ___________________
Les champs (l.13): ___________________
La culture / la récolte (l.13 & l. 14): ___________________
Du bétail (l.14): ___________________
Un propriétaire (l.15): ___________________
Maltraité (l.15): ___________________
Nier (l.16): ___________________
La citoyenneté (l.17): ___________________
S'enfuir (l.18): ___________________
Grâce à (l.20): ___________________
À cause de (l.23): ___________________
Une loi (l.29): ___________________
Cependant (l.30): ___________________
La guerre de Sécession (l.32): ___________________
De ce dernier (l.34): ___________________
Massivement (l.34): ___________________
Bien que (l.37): ___________________
De deuxième ordre (l.38): ___________________

_______________________________________________________________

II Work out the questions and find the answer in the text.

Typical structure: Wh-word _ Auxiliary _  Subject _ Verb _ Complement _ ?

1) did / The Dutch West India Company / slavery / when / introduce
___________________________________________________________________?
___________________________________________________________________
2) Massachusetts / when / slavery / did / recognize
___________________________________________________________________?
___________________________________________________________________
3) slaves / there / how many / in 1860 / were
___________________________________________________________________?
___________________________________________________________________
4) Abraham Lincoln / write / did / in 1863 / what
___________________________________________________________________?
___________________________________________________________________
5) Texas / did / when / slaves / emancipate
___________________________________________________________________?
___________________________________________________________________

Put he verb in brackets in the past form.

After the Civil War, the American government ________ (vote) the Jim Crow Laws which
____________ (introduce) strict segregationist measures.
Many laws repeatedly ___________ (reaffirm) the absolute separation of the population.
For instance, in 1896, in a judgement (Plessy Vs Fergusson), it _____________ (say – passive form) that black, who ____________ (call – passive form) “colored people”, and the white should benefit from the same services but in separate ways.
Therefore, public services and private sector ________ (equip – passive form) of double premises, one ___________ (reserve – passive form) to the white and the other to the black people.
You ____________ (find) barbershops, cinemas, billiard rooms, pubs, buses, schools for white and colored people.
In some states, black people ___________ (can not) sit in the same cinemas as the white.
If they _________ (can), they ___________ (have to) sit on special seats or in special areas.
 The former ___________ (be) often less comfortable and the latter __________ (be) often not convenient to watch a movie.
In Alabama, where buses _________ (mean – passive form) for both colored and white people, when there _________ (be) no seat available, a colored person ___________ (have to) give it to a white person.
On Dec. 1st 1955, Rosa Parks ____________ (refuse). She __________ (arrest – passive form) by the police and then ____________ (fine – passive form) a 15$ ticket.
A young Baptist pastor, Martin Luther King Jr., _____________ (led) a movement of civil disobedience and _____________ (manage) to have all colored people boycott buses.
 The buses ___________ (take not– passive form) by black people and white sympathisers. It ____________ (last) for 382 days.
In 1956, the supreme court ______________ (declare) segregationist laws in buses unconstitutional. It ________ (be) the beginning of the struggle for justice. It ________ (lead – passive form) by MLK and the NAACP – the National Association for the Advancement of the Colored People.
 They ___________ (protest) peacefully. They __________ (march) from cities to cities.
Many white people __________ (refuse) to let this happen and some _______ (react) violently.
The apogee of King's non-violent protest was in 1963, when thousands gathered in Washington to hear his 'I Have a Dream' speech.
« I say to you _________, my friends, so even though we face the _____________ of today and tomorrow, I still have ___________. It is a dream deeply rooted in the __________ dream.
I have a dream that ___________ this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed : “We hold these truths to be self-evident : that all men are ___________________.”
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of ____________ the sons of former _______________ and the sons of former slave __________________ will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of ________________, sweltering with the heat of __________________, will be transformed into an oasis of
___________ and ______________.
I have a dream that my __________ little children will one day live in a ____________ where they will not be judged by the color of their ____________ but by the content of their ___________. I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day down in ______________, with its vicious ________________, with its governor having his ____________ dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right down in Alabama little ____________ boys and black _____________ will be able to join ____________ with little white _____________ and ____________ girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today, that one day...
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain and the crooked places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together. »



Find the equivalent in the text
Par exemple (l.6): ______________________
Bénéficier de (l.10): ______________________
En conséquence (l.12): ______________________
Des locaux (l.13): ______________________
Les premiers (l.20): ______________________
Adapté (l.21): ______________________
Recevoir une amende (l.27): ______________________
Une amende (l.28): ______________________
La désobéissance civile (l.31): ______________________
Réussir à (l.31): ______________________
Durer (l.35): ______________________
Un combat (l.39): ______________________
Pacifiquement (l.44): ______________________
Se passer / arriver (l.47): ______________________


II find the questions to the underlined elements in the text.
_______________________________________________________________

Complete lyrics and translation in French:

- Southern trees bear strange fruit,
    Les arbres du Sud portent un étrange fruit,

- Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
   Du sang sur les feuilles et du sang aux racines,

- Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
   Un corps noir qui se balance dans la brise du Sud,

- Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.
   Étrange fruit suspendu aux peupliers.



- Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
   Scène pastorale du valeureux Sud,

- The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
   Les yeux exorbités et la bouche tordue,

- Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
   Parfum de magnolia doux et frais,

- Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.
   Puis l'odeur soudaine de chair brûlante !


- Here is the fruit for the crows to pluck,
   C'est un fruit que les corbeaux cueillent,

- For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
   Que la pluie rassemble, que le vent aspire

- For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
   Que le soleil pourrit, que les arbres lâchent

- Here is a strange and bitter crop.
   C'est là une étrange et amère récolte 

________________________________________________________

Etude de "STRANGE FRUIT"
(du site : collegedesflandres.etab.ac-lille.fr/HIDA/3HDA-Ang-Meeropol.pdf)

IDENTIFIER
Le titre de l'oeuvre est Strange Fruit
C'était au départ un poème écrit par Abel Meeropol alias Lewis Allan en 1937.
Ce poème est devenu une chanson créée par la chanteuse de jazz américaine Billie Holiday en 1939.
Le poème se compose de 3 quatrains et les rimes sont suivies.
Il aborde la question du lynchage des noirs américains dans le sud des USA

DECRIRE
(fournir un rappel des bases de la prosodie anglaise aux élèves)
Les élèves ne sont pas censés parler d'accentuation ni d'en citer les schémas intonatifs.
Par contre ils doivent être capables de s'exprimer sur les sons, en particulier les consonnes:
- il y a dans la version en langue anglaise une majorité de sons sifflants et de consonnes plosives
- on trouve par exemple des consonnances en sh: fresh/flesh
- on trouve des allitérations en f: fresh/flesh
- on trouve des consonnances sur les finales fresh/flesh
- on trouve des assonances sur voyelle: rot/drop pluck/suck
-on trouve des parrallélismes de sons: south/mouth

ANALYSER
Tout cela contribue, en particulier l'usage des consonnes plosives, à créer une atmosphere pesante,
voire menaçante.
2 champs lexicaux distincts sont repérables:
- la vie/la nature (arbres,feuilles, racines, magnolias, le vent, le soleil, la pluie, la récolte)
- et la torture/la mort (le sang, les corps noirs, les yeux révulsés, les bouches tordues, l'odeur de chair brûlée, les corbeaux, la pourriture).
Il y a donc un fort contraste entre ces 2 champs et l'auteur les mélange pour désarçonner son lecteur.
Par exemple, dans le second quatrain il oppose une scène rurale, le Sud à la fois héroïque (combats
acharnés pendant la guerre de Sécession) et bien élevé (mythe du Sud chevaleresque) aux yeux
révulsés et aux bouches tordues des pendus que l'on laisse pourrir sur l'arbre.
L'effet produit est percutant. Les noirs du Sud lynchés sont comparés à des fruits étranges dans une
métaphore surprenante et très efficace
La chanson est chantée sur un rythme très lent qui renforce sa tristesse; il y a peu d'instruments
Le jazz est une musique créée par les noirs américains, qui prend sa source dans les chants de
travail des esclaves.

FAIRE LE LIEN
Cette chanson est devenue un symbole du combat mené par les noirs américains pour leur droits.
Déclarés libres par le Président Abraham Lincoln à la fin de la guerre de Sécession, ils ont
cependant été confrontés pendant presque cent ans au racisme, à la ségrégation et au lynchage.
Il a fallu attendre le mouvement des droits civiques des années 1960 pour qu'ils accèdent à de
nouveaux droits.

___________________________________________




http://www.edmu.fr/2013/02/billie-holiday-strange-fruit.html

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Les mouvements musicaux issus de la révolte politique

Strange Fruit, sur un texte de Abel Meerepol (nom de plume : Lewis Allan), chanté pour la première fois par Billie Holiday au Cafe Society, dans une boîte de nuit de New-York. (chanson contre le lynchage).

En 1939, Billie Holiday, une des plus célèbre de chanteuse de jazz à cette époque, a enregistré la chanson Strange Fruits – poème anti-raciste de Lewis Allen (de vrai nom Abel Meeropol : il était professeur de lycée et juif) – qui a exprimé ses sentiments concernant les lynchages en Amérique et a fait une puissante déclaration contre le racisme qui était toujours présent dans sa vie. Holiday a employé le jazz comme instrument pour rassembler l’opinion publique afin de supporter la législation anti-lynchage qui languissait au congrès.

D’abord chantée au Café Society, un night-club de Greenwich Village à New York – tenu par Barney Josephson –, cette chanson fut enregistrée par la firme Commodore le 20 avril 1939, alors que Columbia ne voulait pas de cette « chanson-propagande » dans son catalogue. Ce fut un véritable succès commercial.

Billie chante Strange Fruit…

L’écoute de Billie Holiday chantant Strange Fruit reste un moment inoubliable ; sans doute rien de comparable à ce qu’ont vécu les clients du Cafe Society en 1939 (voir l’excellent livre de David Margolick qui raconte la scène au Cafe Society), mais il suffit d’imaginer la scène...

La salle est plongée dans le noir, le service aux tables et au bar a été interrompu. Billie Holiday est seulement accompagnée d’un piano sur lequel elle s’appuie, un unique et petit spot éclaire son visage. Elle est immobile, comme hébétée… Son visage se crispe et dans un rictus de douleur, sortent de sa bouche les premières syllabes de Strange Fruit. Billie fredonne d’une voix à la déchirure souveraine cet émouvant requiem, qui dénonce les lynchages sudistes, pour ces « fruits étranges » pendus aux branches des arbres : « Des corps noirs balançant dans la brise sudiste ». C’est là, le vertige d’une souffrance maîtrisée.

Elle chante de manière très sûre, convaincue et si convaincante. Elle est déterminée et très concentrée. Son élocution et son phrasé donnent aux mots qu’elle "assène" à l’audience une intensité et un impact si forts qu’à la fin de sa prestation, un "silence de mort" se fait dans la salle…

Ce silence pesant semble durer une éternité avant qu’un spectateur ne se mette à applaudir nerveusement, imité ensuite par toute la salle.

Il était convenu dans l’engagement de Billie que Strange Fruit soit chanté lors de son dernier set et pour le clore, mais après cette prestation, elle était incapable de poursuivre et se retirait longuement seule dans sa loge pour se remettre de l’intense émotion qui la submergeait alors.

Billie HOLIDAY (1915-1959) : quelques dates clés

1915 - Naissance d'une petite fille à l’enfance malheureuse, chaotique, adolescente meurtrie corps et âme, elle deviendra quelques années plus tard « Lady Day » (ainsi que la surnomma son ami fidèle, le saxophoniste Lester Young, comme elle brisé par la vie), la chanteuse à la voix la plus émouvante de l’histoire du jazz qui finira son existence dans le désenchantement et l’autodestruction.

1930 - Arrêtée pour prostitution à quinze ans, elle est envoyée pour quatre mois dans une prison pour femmes. À sa sortie, elle est engagée comme chanteuse au pourboire puis travaille régulièrement jusqu’à ce que le producteur John Hammond la remarque : elle enregistre son premier disque en novembre 1933 avec une formation dirigée par Benny Goodman. Elle passe ensuite dans de nombreux clubs, dont le célèbre Apollo, où on apprécie déjà le sens particulier de son phrasé, une mise en place extrêmement originale et le timbre de sa voix légèrement acidulé. C’est en 1935 qu’elle enregistre ses premiers grands disques avec l’orchestre du pianiste Teddy Wilson puis sous le nom de Billie Holiday and Her Orchestra (« No Regrets », « Billie’s Blues », « Easy to Love », 1936).

1937 - Engagée dans l’orchestre de Count Basie, elle y rencontre Lester Young (début de leur amitié qui culmine, du point de vue musical, dans « Trav’lin’ All Alone »). Elle entreprend une série de tournées avec les dix-sept musiciens blancs du clarinettiste Artie Shaw au cours desquelles d’innombrables vexations et humiliations, notamment dans les États du Sud, la révoltent.

1939 - Billie chante dans un club de Greenwich Village, enregistre son premier « tube », « Strange Fruit » (poème de Lewis Allen, les « fruits étranges sont les corps des noirs lynchés qui pendent aux branches des arbres »), se produit ensuite dans les clubs des grandes métropoles jusqu’en 1943. D’autres succès sont immortalisés, « God Bless the Child » (elle est l’auteur des paroles) et « Lover Man ». À cette époque commence sa dépendance à la drogue en même temps qu’elle sombre dans l’alcoolisme ; on remarque alors sa nouvelle manière de chanter, plus sophistiquée, sa voix devenue plus rauque.

1947 - Sa vie privée est un naufrage ; elle est arrêtée plusieurs fois pour usage de stupéfiants et passe quelques mois en prison. À sa sortie, elle participe à des émissions de télévision, se produit plusieurs fois au Carnegie Hall de New York, tourne en Europe, chante au festival de Newport et enregistre (de 1954 à 1957) pour le label Verve du producteur Norman Granz quelques disques admirables, particulièrement ceux en compagnie de musiciens comme le trompettiste Harry Edison, le saxophoniste Ben Webster, le pianiste Jimmy Rowles (les CD All or Nothing at All, Song for Distingué Lovers, Los Angeles, 1957). Si la voix a changé, la puissance émotionnelle reste intacte, la sensualité toujours présente, le vibrato constamment contrôlé ; elle exprime avec une résignation hautaine sa blessure intérieure, la fêlure de son âme.

1956 - Parution de Lady Sings the Blues (Lady Sings the Blues - Ma Vie, traduction française, 1991), l’autobiographie publiée trois ans avant sa mort, elle dévoile sans complaisance l’enfer, vécu au quotidien, que la société a construit autour de sa race, de sa classe et de sa condition d’artiste. « Mon père et ma mère n’étaient que deux gosses quand il se marièrent ; il avait dix-huit ans, elle seize ; moi, j’avais trois ans », ainsi commence le livre.

1958 - Paris, Olympia. Au cours de ses dernières apparitions publiques, elle semble être l’ombre d’elle-même mais ses interprétations sont sublimes, déchirantes, d’un autre monde ; en témoignent les ultimes enregistrements avec l’orchestre de Ray Ellis (dont le CD Lady in Satin, février 1959). Elle chante pour la dernière fois dans un club de Boston (ceux de New York lui sont interdits à cause de ses condamnations) !

1959 - Très faible, elle rentre le 31 mai à l’hôpital, elle est inculpée pour détention de stupéfiants sur son lit de mort et décède le 17 juillet, cinq mois après Lester Young. « Mais tout ceci, je l’oublierai avec mon homme… », telle est la dernière phrase de son livre.


Site internet : http://www.lady-day.org

http://www.edmu.fr/2013/02/billie-holiday-strange-fruit.html

LE TEXTE DE LA CHANSON


Voici le poème Strange Fruits de Lewis Allen :

Southern trees bear a strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black body 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 magnolia, sweet and fresh,
and the sudden smell of burning flesh

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


TRADUCTIONS :

Les arbres du Sud portent un étrange fruit,
Du sang sur les feuilles, du sang aux racines,
Un corps noir se balançant dans la brise du Sud,
Etrange fruit pendant aux peupliers.

Scène pastorale du « vaillant Sud »,
Les yeux exorbités et la bouche tordue,
Parfum du magnolia doux et frais,
Puis la soudaine odeur de chair brûlée.

Fruit à déchiqueter pour les corbeaux,
Pour la pluie à récolter, pour le vent à assécher,
Pour le soleil à mûrir, pour les arbres à perdre,
Etrange et amère récolte.

traduction anonyme


Y a dans le Sud des arbres aux fruits exotiques
Qui suintent du sang, des feuilles et des racines
Corps blacks bercés par la brise
Fruits étranges des peupliers

Douce scène du Sud glorieux
Yeux extrudés et lèvres tordues
Senteur de magnolia, fraîche et douce
Et celle, soudaine, de la chair brûlée

C’est le fruit que le corbeau picore
Que la pluie estompe et que le vent balance
Que le soleil mûrit et que l’arbre libère
Amère et étrange récolte du Sud

traduction Old Cola



Le Sud est planté d’arbres gris
Sanglants des feuilles à la racine
Il y pousse un étrange fruit
À la chair noire qui dodeline.

Souffle du Sud incandescent
Le magnolia frais et sucré
Parfume un pestilent brasier
De corps qui brûlent en grimaçant.

Fruit picoré par les corbeaux
Ou qui pourrit dans la tempête
Au coeur des vieux vergers austraux
Où la récolte amère est faite.

traduction Christian Mistral

Double lynchage d’Abram Smith (19 ans) et Thomas Shipp (18 ans)

à Marion dans l’Indiana (7 août 1930)

LE TEXTE ET SON HISTOIRE :

Ce texte chanté par Billie Holiday à partir de 1939 au Cafe Society, le premier cabaret "intégré" (de l’anglais "integrate", désignait les endroits acceptant les noirs, par opposition à "segregate", ne les acceptant pas...) de New York, avait le don de pétrifier l’assistance chaque fois qu’elle le chantait et n’a jamais perdu de son impact au fil des ans.

Strange Fruit n’est pas seulement le premier "protest song" (= chanson contestataire) américain, il est aussi le plus puissant et le plus durable.

Strange Fruit ne saurait en aucun cas être considéré comme une "chanson" ordinaire tant ses implications historiques et politiques sont importantes pour qui veut s’intéresser un tant soit peu à l’histoire des Etats-Unis et à la lutte pour les droits civiques… Et pas seulement !

Il est devenu au fil du temps, l’hymne, le chant de ralliement de toutes les victimes d’actes racistes ou minorités opprimées.

Aujourd’hui encore, beaucoup pensent que Billie Holiday a écrit ce texte, un mythe conforté par elle-même et le film Lady Sings the Blues dans lequel elle se met à écrire ces lignes après avoir assisté à un lynchage.

En fait, Meeropol publia ce poème en 1937 et le mit en musique lui-même avant qu’il ne parvienne à Billie Holiday qui en remania la musique avant de l’interpréter.

Billie qui ne s’était jamais frottée à quoi que ce soit de politique auparavant, avait 23 ans quand elle chanta pour la 1ère fois Strange Fruit et en fit rapidement sa "propriété" tant elle y ajoutait de puissance et d’impact par sa personnalité ; sa diction parfaite et sa manière de ponctuer chaque phrase donnant au texte une intensité dramatique exceptionnelle.

Contrairement à nombre de chants protestataires tombés dans l’oubli, voire devenus obsolètes, Strange Fruit survit grâce à ses incroyables possibilités métaphoriques.

L’étrange fruit dont parle Meeropol ne pend plus aux peupliers du Sud et les lynchages n’ont plus cours sur le sol des Etats-Unis depuis qu’il a écrit ce poème…

Cependant les visions de James Byrd Jr, traîné derrière une camionnette à Jasper au Texas, d’Amadou Diallo, de Patrick Dorismond, d’Abner Louima, et tant d’autres noirs tués ou mutilés par des blancs, victimes d’actes racistes de toute nature, minorités opprimées, sont toujours bien présentes et nous rappellent combien Strange Fruit n’est pas un chant d’hier, mais malheureusement d’aujourd’hui, de demain, de toujours…

ANALYSE DU TEXTE


1/ Analysons tout ce qui exprime une vision positive du Sud et comment ces images positives sont associées voire opposées à des contrepoints négatifs.

vision positive du Sud	Vision négative
Southern breeze, poplar trees, pastoral scene of the gallant South, scent of magnolia sweet and fresh	black body swinging, the bulging eyes and the twisted mouth, and the sudden smell of burning flesh

L’utilisation des CONTRASTES permet ici de mieux percevoir l'horreur de la scène. Nous verrons si la musique met aussi en jeu des contrastes…

En effet, on retrouve, dans le texte et la photo, ces oppositions flagrantes entre positif et négatif : l'idée d'une fête ne colle pas avec celle d'un meurtre et la division entre les 2 parties de la photo est à mettre en parallèle avec cet équilibre entre des images positives et négatives développé dans les 2 premières strophes de la chanson.

2/ Étude du rythme, des rimes et analyse de la métaphore du fruit développée dans la dernière strophe :

Rythme du poème : le poème consiste en la succession de 3 QUATRAINS (strophe de 4 vers)

Les vers : pas de rythme régulier : majorité de mètres impairs : vers ennéasyllabe (9 syllabes) mais aussi heptasyllabe…

Rimes : AABB = rime plate (ou rime suivie)

Les métaphores :

La scène pastorale correspond au bas de la photo, les yeux révulsés et la bouche tordue au haut de la photo.

Les éléments métaphoriques du poème peuvent se retrouver dans l'arbre de la photo et l'idée d'un sud galant est exprimée dans la photo par la manière dont les hommes entourent les femmes pour les protéger (remarque intéressante quand on sait que les hommes noirs étaient lynchés pour avoir osé regarder une femme blanche...).

Le contraste le plus choquant reste l'image de la femme enceinte du 1er plan : une vie à venir se réjouissant de la mort, ceci pouvant faire écho à "bitter crop" (amère récolte...).

La photo est évidemment plus explicite mais le poème reste, de par le pouvoir des métaphores, gravé dans les esprits.

Les lynchages

Les victimes des lynchages sont majoritairement des Noirs, condamnés sans procès pour des crimes allant du meurtre et du viol au simple fait de ne pas s’être effacé pour laisser passer un Blanc sur le trottoir. L’Association Nationale pour l’Avancement des Personnes de Couleur (N.A.A.C.P.) recense ainsi 3436 lynchages entre 1889 et 1922.

Le lynchage était également le sujet des travaux d’artistes peintres. Le tableau Lynch Mob Victim de William H. Johnson (1901-1970) dépeint un homme lynché avec des femmes pleurant à ses pieds, ressemblant à des scènes souvent représentées de la crucifixion du Christ. Johnson a également inclus des figures lynchées dans le fond d’une peinture représentant Abraham Lincoln et Frederick Douglass intitulée Let My People Free (vers 1945) :

Let My People Free (vers 1945) de William H. Johnson

Des cadavres de jeunes Noirs se balancent au bout d’une corde attachée à une branche, un poteau téléphonique ou dans un cas, à un pont. Un cliché montre un homme qui est en train d’être incinéré, un autre, la tête à demi-calcinée, sur une pique. Ces photos, qui sont autant de scènes d’horreur, montrent des foules où se mêlent et se confondent bourreaux et simples badauds. Sur certaines photographies, des enfants assistent au spectacle macabre.

Un Nègre brûlé à petit feu.

Le Petit Journal Illustré, 7 Octobre 1906.

ANALYSE DE LA MUSIQUE

L’INTERPRÉTATION de « STRANGE FRUIT » par B. Holliday :

FORMATION MUSICALE :

VOIX (mezzo-soprano ?) + PETIT ENSEMBLE DE JAZZ (cuivres, piano, contrebasse, batterie)

ESPACE utilisation de l’espace sonore (mélodies, accompagnement, basses...).	TEMPS utilisation de la dynamique du langage musical (tempo, métrique, accentuations)	COULEUR timbre vocal et instrumental. Opposition timbres, fusion sonore, mode de jeux, couleurs vocales.	FORME Eléments structurants
Perception de couches d’évènements sonores : - Mélodie à la voix (horizontalité) : texte articulé de façon syllabique. - Accompagnement instrumental : des accords (verticalité) Sommet de l’œuvre sur « for the tree to drop » : grande phrase ample avec glissando dans la voix suivit d’un silence d’une valeur expressive.	tempo lent Contrebasse marquant les 4 temps par des noires répétées > côté lancinant. rythmique binaire mais la voix est très libre dans l’interprétation. Le temps s’arrête sur la dernière phrase. C’est une déclamation libre.	Nuances : intimiste la plupart du temps (donc p-mf) avec parfois des élans (des cris d’espoir) plus fort. Utilisation (dans l’introduction) de la gamme par ton (très utilisé par Debussy) >> créé une ambiance tendue, mystérieuse. trompette avec sourdine >> son très feutré, intimiste. Timbre vocal : voix puissante, émotionnelle, sensualité toujours présente, vibrato constamment contrôlé. « Sweet and fresh » (doux et frais) >> couleur harmonique différente. Accord final très coloré (accord mineur avec une sixte majeure).	Introduction en 2 parties : - cymbales + cuivres (trompette avec sourdine >> son très feutré, intimiste) - puis piano avec contrebasse 3 strophes chantées avec une court interlude de piano entre la 1ère et 2ème strophe.

AUTRES VERSIONS :

NINA SIMONE :

Nina Simone est une pianiste américaine, chanteuse, compositrice et militante pour les droits civiques aux États-Unis. Elle est principalement associée à la musique jazz.

Née dans une famille religieuse, la jeune future Nina est très attirée par la musique mais les réalités de la pauvreté et les préjugés raciaux ont raison de ses ambitions. Désirant à l'origine devenir une pianiste classique, elle a finalement joué dans des styles musicaux variés notamment le jazz, le blues, le classique, la soul, le folk, le R&B, le gospel et la pop.

JEFF BUCKLEY :

Jeff Buckley (né à Anaheim, Californie le 17 novembre 1966 et mort à Memphis, Tennessee, le 29 mai 1997) est un chanteur et guitariste américain. Il est le fils du chanteur Tim Buckley et de Mary Guibert, et est l'auteur d'un unique album studio, Grace, sorti en 1994. C'est après sa mort (noyade à l'âge de trente ans) qu'il connaît la plus grande notoriété. Il est considéré aujourd'hui comme un des musiciens majeurs des années 1990.

INDIA ARIE :

__________________________________

Billie Holiday's Song "Strange Fruit"

Grade Levels: 9 - 12
Estimated Time of Completion: 3 to 5 class periods with some additional time for students to complete group projects.

• Objectives
• Materials
• Procedures
• Assessment Suggestions
• Extensions/Adaptations
• Standards

Overview
This lesson focuses on Billie Holiday's signature song, "Strange Fruit," a protest song Lewis Allen (Abel Meeropol) wrote in 1938 about the ongoing and intransigent problem of lynching in the American South. After asking students to assess the role music plays in their own lives, the lesson introduces some background information about lynching.
The bulk of the lesson is document-based. Working in small teams, students analyze a variety of primary source materials related to lynching (news articles, letters written to or written by prominent Americans, pamphlets, broadsides, etc.) in order to assess the effectiveness of the anti-lynching campaign spearheaded by African-Americans. The documents themselves, which span 1893-1940, are a moving testament to the tragedy wrought by lynchings, as well as to the courage of those who left no stone unturned in trying to find remedies.
The information each team culls from the documents is then placed on a large class timeline. Each group also creates a group of "original" primary sources which are used to decorate the timeline. Using a variety of analytical strategies, the entire class assesses the strategies of anti-lynching activists.
The lesson then focuses on Billie Holiday, her song "Strange Fruit," and the role technology played in disseminating popular culture. A variety of extension activities are suggested in which students analyze the role protest music has played in more recent times (e.g. the Vietnam War era) and assess the role musicians and movie stars play in political causes in our own day.

Objectives

• Students will learn about lynching and its relationship to racism in American history.
• Students will learn about the many strategies that were used to stem the tide of lynchings which engulfed the South, especially, in the first half of the 20th century.
• Students will use primary source documents to analyze the anti-lynching movement in America.
• Students will appreciate the ways in which jazz contributed to the political awareness of the American public.

Materials

• A copy of the PBS documentary JAZZ. This lesson primarily uses Episodes One, Two, Five and Six of the series.
• Documents in the Library of Congress and National Archives, available online. Teachers can print the documents for students to use. Alternatively, if students have direct access to computers they can view or print the documents directly. (The URLs for all documents appear in the lesson.)
• Materials for creating a classroom timeline, including index cards and considerable wall space, or a computer program which generates graphic organizers such as Hyperstudio or Inspiration.
• Materials from the Constitutional Rights Foundation on lynching and hate crimes provide useful background information for the teacher and/or students.(Again, the URL for these materials appears in the lesson).
• Fight Against Lynching Summary Sheet

Procedures

Activity 1: Music and Your Life

1. Ask students the following questions either in a discussion or on a questionnaire.
   • How many hours a week do you think you spend listening to music?
   • How much time do you spend making music yourself?
   • How much time do you spend hearing live music?
   • Of the recorded music you listen to, what types of machines and technology do you use to listen to it? How might this compare to how your grandparents listened to music in their youth? (No portable equipment, no CD's etc.) What inventions of the 20th century most affected the listening public?
   • If none of these technologies were available to you, how do you think your life would be different?
   • Who are the recording artists you like and listen to the most?
   • Have any of these artists made you aware of a problem or issue in our society? If so, what problems or issues has the music brought to your attention? How does the song or music make you feel about the issue? What role do the lyrics play? What role does the music itself play?
   • Can you think of a time in history when protest music was especially important (e.g. the Vietnam War era)? What issues was the music designed to address?
   • Can you think a recording artist you know who has been considered "daring" for bringing a social issue to public attention via his or her music? What might still be a "taboo" issue today?
2. Elicit from students the names of several popular songs of the day. Ask for a joyful song, an angry song, etc. Choose several of these and ask students to bring in recordings to play in class. Preview the songs before you play them several days into this lesson.
3. Now ask students what they know about the roots of all forms of popular music they listen to today. When do they think rock and roll began? Where did that music "come from"?
4. Next, show the segment on the origins of the blues from Episode One of JAZZ. It begins approximately 22 minutes into the film with a picture of boats on the water, and ends about 36 minutes into the film.
5. Ask students, What about the blues do you recognize in the music you listen to today? What blues artists do you know of or listen to?
6. You may want to review the events that took place during and after Reconstruction. Why did the removal of federal troops after the election of 1877 make it easier for Southern states to deprive African-American citizens of their rights? Why did this period see a rise in the Ku Klux Klan and the lynchings of African-Americans? What made freedmen, although "free," want to sing the blues?

Activity 2: Lynch Law and African-Americans

1. Tell students that they are going to learn about lynching in relation to one of the most famous recordings in jazz history, Billie Holiday's Strange Fruit (1938).
2. Introduce Billie Holiday to the class by showing the section about her early life in Episode Five, approximately 107 minutes into the film. (It begins with a discussion of Duke Ellington and a film he made.)
3. Introduce lynching by showing a segment from Episode Two. It begins approximately 31 minutes into the video with a scene of the KKK marching, and ends four minutes later with a blackout, followed by flappers dancing.
4. Ask students what they think "lynching" means.
5. Then ask students to look up the terms "lynch" and "lynch law" in the dictionary. According to Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, "to lynch" means to put to death (usually by hanging) by mob action without due process of the law or legal sanction. The term was coined in the 1830s after a vigilante, William Lynch. Explain to students that throughout American history, many types of people have been lynched, from outlaws in the American West to immigrants in American cities, but that the vast majority of lynching victims have been African-American men.
6. In discussing "lynch law" introduce the following questions:
   • What might motivate a mob to lynch someone?
   • What is the relationship of lynching to scapegoating?
   • Why do you think the lynching of African-American men began primarily after the end of Reconstruction, when federal troops were withdrawn from the South?
   • What sections of the Constitution specifically guarantee that all citizens are entitled to due process of law? (Refer specifically to the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Fourteenth amendments.)
   • When, if ever, might a lynching be justified?
   An article and teaching activities about lynching and hate crimes can be found at the Constitutional Rights Foundation Web site at http://www.crf-usa.org/bria/bria10_3.html. According to the Constitutional Rights Foundation, between 1882 and 1968, mobs lynched 4,743 persons in the United States, over 70 percent of them African-Americans. Lynching peaked after the end of Reconstruction when federal troops were removed from the South. In 1892, vigilantes lynched 71 whites and 155 blacks. After that the number of lynchings decreased nationwide, but increasingly, lynching became a crime of the South. By the late 1920s, 95 percent of U.S. lynchings occurred in the South.
   The white mobs who lynched African-American men often justified their actions as a defense of "white womanhood;" the usual reason given for lynching black men was that they had raped white women. But early on, journalists like Ida B. Wells (1862-1931) saw through this sham and proclaimed that the lynch mobs' real motive was the determination to keep African-American men economically depressed and politically disenfranchised. Ida B.Wells (a.k.a. Ida Wells-Barnett) headed the Anti-Lynching League and was a member of the Committee of Forty which led to the founding of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
   While the Constitution leaves law enforcement up to the states, a movement spearheaded by the NAACP sought to pass anti-lynching laws at the federal level, since Southern state governments appeared ineffective in fighting this crime. During the Great Depression, when Billie Holiday recorded "Strange Fruit," lynchings of African-Americans were again on the increase. Although a law at the federal level was consistently blocked by Southern senators, lynchings virtually disappeared by 1950. In part this can be attributed to improved economic conditions and the success of the anti-lynching campaign spearheaded by the NAACP.
   

Activity 3: Analyzing Documents Related to Lynching in the United States

1. Tell students that they are going to study the history of lynching from 1893 to 1938, when Billie Holiday recorded her song. Students will place the information they gather from the documents on a class timeline along with a group of original "documents" the class creates.
2. Assign four or five students to create the timeline itself. It can be as simple as a string posted on a long wall with dates tacked on to it. It should begin in 1890 and end in 1940. Students should allow a minimum of one inch per year (a 50" timeline) but aim for double that if there is room to post it. Alternatively, students might use various computer programs such as HyperStudio or Inspiration to generate a timeline or graphic organizer.
3. Tell students that you will divide the class into teams and that each team will be responsible for analyzing five or six documents related to lynching. Students should do the following for each document assigned to their group:
   1. Fill in the appropriate Document Analysis Worksheet from the National Archives. For written documents download: http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/worksheets/written_document_analysis_worksheet.pdf
      For posters download: http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/worksheets/poster_analysis_worksheet.pdf
      For photographs download: http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/worksheets/photo_analysis_worksheet.pdf
      
   2. Write one index card per document for the timeline. Each index card should be headed with the title of the document and its date. It should contain a concise summary of the document's contents and focus on the following:
      If the document reports on a specific lynching it should:
      
      • Summarize the facts of the situation (who, what, when, where and why) and highlight any tragic dimensions of the case.
      • Include information about anyone who tried to prevent the lynching in question, and if so, report on whether or not this person was successful.
      • Recount whether anyone who perpetrated the lynching was brought to justice.
      If the document is about lynching patterns or statistics it should:
      
      • Include a summary about the trends reported on in the article.
      • Give some specific numerical facts (how many lynchings, when and where) and comment on their significance.
      • Recount who created this analysis and for what purpose.
      • In addition, students should create separate cards for each date for which there is a statistic about lynchings (e.g. "In 1892 155 blacks were lynched").
      If the document represents or recounts an effort or strategy to stop lynchings it should:
      
      • Report on the strategy used.
      • Report on who proposed and/or implemented the strategy.
      • Report on how successful the strategy has been to date.
4. When teams have completed steps 1 and 2 ask groups to hold a discussion about the documents they reviewed. What forms of protest or social action did they encounter? Of these, which do they think would have been the most effective in the fight against lynch law? The team should now create a fictional lynching. They should imagine the facts of the case (who, what, when, where and why). Each team member should create one "original" document about the lynching from the following group:
   
   • A letter from a family member of the lynched person describing their reaction to the tragedy.
   • A news article with a headline describing the incident
   • A letter to the editor of the newspaper suggesting a specific remedy to the lynching problem.
   • A call by a political action group (such as the NAACP) for some kind of political action.
   • A letter, speech or address about the lynching delivered by a prominent American.
   • A visual protest, such as a poster.

Activity 4: Creating the Time Line and Analyzing the Fight Against Lynching

1. When the timeline is posted and all teams have completed their analysis sheets, index cards and facsimile documents, reconvene the entire class. Then distribute the Fight Against Lynching Summary Sheet. Tell students that it is now time to post all the index cards on the timeline (in chronological sequence) and analyze them.
2. Start with 1893 and ask if any team has an index card for that date. If so, a team member should come up, read the index card out loud and post it on the chart. If more than one team has a card for that date, place the cards in vertical rows above that date. Continue for all dates through 1940. When you have reached 1940, ask one member from each team to come up and post their team's facsimile documents around the timeline.
3. The Fight Against Lynching Summary Sheet can be used in a number of ways. You can use the questions to guide a discussion as students affix their index cards to the timeline, or after students finish posting all their information. You can ask students (instead or in addition) to write essays which address these questions, or to create visual charts which analyze them. The documents in this activity were accessed through the National Archives and the Library of Congress.

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TEAM I

"A Terrible Blot on American Civilization" Broadside, 1922 from the Library of Congress. "Setback for Anti-Lynch Movement," Cleveland Gazette, 1893. Accessed through the Library of Congress.
"Alarm the Race in National Capitol" 1918 (lynchings during World War I) from The African-American Experience in Ohio accessed through the Library of Congress
"Tulsa Lynching Will be Sifted" 1920 from The African-American Experience in Ohio accessed through the Library of Congress
"Petition Drive for West Union Lynching 1894" from The African-American Experience in Ohio accessed through the Library of Congress

TEAM II

"A Protest Against the Burning and Lynching of Negroes" by Booker T. Washington, 1904 accessed from the Library of Congress. "'AutoDrag' is the Latest Fad of South's Lynchers" 1920 from The African-American Experience in Ohio accessed through the Library of Congress.
"Lynching Spreading Northward" 1893 from the African-American Experience in Ohio accessed through the Library of Congress
"Race Protests Lynching to President Wilson" 1918 from the African-American Experience in Ohio accessed through the Library of Congress.
"Report of the Secretary to the Anti-Lynching Committee" NAACP 1921 accessed through the Library of Congress.
for more information see:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart6b.html
"Lynch Law in Georgia" by Ida B. Wells-Barnett, 1899 accessed through the Library of Congress.
For more on this document, scroll down after accessing http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart6b.html

TEAM III

"A $5,000 Lynching" 1901 from The African-American Experience in Ohio accessed through the Library of Congress. "Anti Lynching Law Again in Congress" Cleveland Advocate, 1920 accessed through the Library of Congress.
"Stringent Against Lynching" 1903 from the African-American Experience in Ohio accessed through the Library of Congress.
"Another Great Victory" 1901 from the African-American Experience in Ohio accessed through the Library of Congress.
"Federal Law for Lynchers" 1919 from the African-American Experience in Ohio accessed through the Library of Congress.

TEAM IV

"Anti-Lynch Society Forms in London, England" 1894 from the African-American Experience in Ohio accessed through the Library of Congress. "Lynchings for 1922" from the African-American Experience in Ohio accessed through the Library of Congress.
"Does Lynching Protect Womanhood: No Say White Louisiana Women" 1923 from the African-American Experience in Ohio accessed through the Library of Congress.
"National Lynching Conference" 1919 from the African-American Experience in Ohio accessed through the Library of Congress.
"Letter, Eleanor Roosevelt to Walter White", 1936 accessed through the Library of Congress

TEAM V

"A Man Was Lynched Yesterday" flag flying from the offices of the NAACP, New York City 1938 accessed from the Library of Congress. "Lynch Law" 1896: A resolution introduced at the Republican National Convention from the African-American Experience in Ohio accessed through the Library of Congress.
"South Carolina Arrests White Lynchers" 1916 from the African-American Experience in Ohio accessed through the Library of Congress.
"Lynch Law Condemned" 1899 (news article on speech by President McKinley) from the African-American Experience in Ohio accessed through the Library of Congress

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Activity 5: Can a Song Be an Effective Form of Protest, and If So Why?

The Role of Technology
1. Given the enormous effort made by so many segments of society to stem the tide of lynchings, what impact could a song make and why? Pose this question to students and discuss it for a while.
2. Now ask students to consider how music was disseminated via new technologies at just the same period of time that jazz burst on the scene. Assign one team to make index cards for significant new technologies that helped to disseminate jazz and add these to the class timeline.
3. Jazz musicians were among the greatest celebrities of the 1930s. To convey how popular they were you may wish to show a segment from Episode Five, the segment that begins with the title "Like Taking A Drug." It starts approximately 53 minutes into the film and ends at approximately 5 minutes later.
4. List some of these technologies on the board and discuss which had the power to convey music to the largest audience at the least expense. When did these technologies arrive in relation to the recording of "Strange Fruit"? The Role of the Lyrics
   
5. Show the sequence from Episode Four of JAZZ in which Billie Holiday sings "Strange Fruit." It appears approximately 119 minutes into the video and begins with the title on the screen "Strange Fruit." Ask students how this song makes them feel and ask them to generate a list of adjectives that express their feelings. List these on the board.

   "Strange Fruit"
      by Lewis Allen 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 twisted mouth,
   The scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
   Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.
   Here is a 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.

6. Then pose the following questions:
   • Why were most lynching victims hung from trees? Would they have died this way had they been convicted of a crime in a court of law?
   • What kinds of fruit do trees usually bear? Ask students to generate the cycle a fruit-bearing tree would go through in the course of a season: the tree blossoms, the fruit begins to grow, ripens, and falls to the ground as perhaps the wind blows. On the ground it might be eaten by crows, etc.
   • How do we know from the lyrics that the "strange" fruit here means the bodies of lynching victims?
   • Why is it that Southern trees bear the "strange fruit"?
   • What contrast is made between the "gallant South" and the South which bears strange fruit? What is ironic about this contrast?
   • Why do you think the word "lynching" never appears in the song?
   • Do you think the song is more powerful, or less powerful, because its topic [lynching] is implied instead of stated?
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   Music and Feelings
   
7. Now play several of the songs students brought in to illustrate how music conveys emotion.
8. Ask students to analyze what about the music conveys feelings, such as the rhythm, harmonies, instrumentation, tempo, and/or vocal style of the singers.
9. Ask students what is "blue" about "Strange Fruit." How does the blue feeling in this song make you feel? Earlier in Episode Five a commentator said that Billie's songs were usually blue, but still ebullient. Is there anything joyous about this song? The Artistry of the Singer
   
10. Ask students to visit the Biographies (http://www.pbs.org/jazz/biography/) section of the PBS JAZZ Web site for information about Billie Holiday's life. Review what students have learned from the video clips from Episodes Five and Six of JAZZ about Holiday's life. Then ask students:
    • What qualities of Holiday's voice convey her life experiences? In what ways was Holiday herself the victim of racism? How does the song turn her into an activist?
    • How do you think her life experiences enhance her singing of "Strange Fruit"? Ask the class to generate a list of several singers living today. Among these artists, who would students choose to sing "Strange Fruit" today and why?
    • Why do you think she, of all jazz artists, undertook the creation of this song?
    • What artists today connect their personal lives to songs they write and/or sing? Do students think personal experience enhances songs?

Assessment Suggestions

• Students may be assessed for the work they placed on the timeline, such as their index cards and facsimile documents.
• Students may be assessed on any concluding essay or graphic organizer you may assign which summarizes what the class learned through generating the timeline.
• Students may be self-, peer-, or teacher-evaluated for their effectiveness as members of a team, and for their contributions to class discussion.

Extensions/Adaptations

1. The Effect of Songs on Political Consciousness
   1. At the time Billie Holiday was ready to record "Strange Fruit" her record company thought the song was too controversial to release. It was eventually put out by the Commodore label. It was an immediate success and to this day it remains Holiday's most famous song.
   2. Ask students to discuss whether or not the song might have had an impact on racism in the '30s. Do students think social scientists or historians can gauge the effects of a song on the public, and if so how?
   3. To extend this idea, ask students to interview an adult who lived through the Civil Rights or the Vietnam War eras. What music does the adult associate with those times? What feelings and associations does that music evoke? Did the music "move" the interviewee to new awareness of a problem or into social action? What impact do students feel rap music makes on our society today? Why does it remain controversial?
   4. Lynchings and Hate Crimes The Constitutional Rights Foundation writes that Hate crimes, motivated by race, color, creed, religion or gender are on the rise around the world, including the United States where over half of such crimes are committed by people under the age of 21 [but] the line between punishing hate and protecting speech and free thought can be difficult to draw."
      
   5. What do students feel should be done about crimes motivated by hate? Should they be treated differently from crimes motivated by other emotions, like greed, and if so why? What are proper punishments for hate crimes, such as the murder of the gay student Matthew Shepard in Wyoming in 1998? How are these crimes similar to lynchings and how are they different? Hold a debate about what should be done about hate crimes.
   6. Write a Song About an Urgent Issue of Today
   7. Ask students to write a poem about an issue they care about and set it to music. Students can look at the Jazz Lounge (http://www.pbs.org/jazz/lounge/) section of the PBS Web site for help in music theory. They can pattern their song on "Strange Fruit": three stanzas with an AABB CCDD EEFF rhyme scheme.
   8. Interview With Billie Holiday
   9. If Billie Holiday were alive today, what kinds of questions would students want to ask her about her life, singing and politics? For further information about Billie Holiday's life, view Episode Six beginning approximately 47 minutes into the video with the title "Musical Kinship" and ending about five minutes later. It is about the collaboration of Lester Young and Billie Holiday. Episode Seven has a short but moving account of Holiday's personal problems and struggle against racism. It begins about 111 minutes into the video and ends about five minutes later. Finally, Episode Nine deals with the last years of Holiday's life and her final collaborative effort with Lester Young. It begins approximately 101 minutes into the film with a jam session and ends about 12 minutes later with the title "Inside Out."

Standards This lesson correlates to the National Standards for History, National Center for History in the Schools located online at http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/nchs/standards/:

• Explain the rising racial conflict in different areas including the rise of lynching in the South.
• Analyze the arguments and methods by which various minority groups sought to acquire equal rights and opportunities guaranteed in the nation's charter documents.
• Analyze how radio, movies, newspapers, and popular magazines created mass culture.

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