I'm really excited about teaching tomorrow. Today 8th grade finished To Kill a Mockingbird. To conclude, I'm going to have them listen to Billie Holiday's song "Strange Fruit" and discuss its meaning. I'm really excited! This song is fascinating. Haunting, chilling, and moving. It's a perfect way to conclude the novel and its themes. Then we're going to talk about the Scottsboro Boys trial to make the novel "more real," I guess you could say.
Here is the song we're going to talk about. The lyrics are below.
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 suddent 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.
Music & Lyrics by Lewis Allan
8 comments:
Very eery. It will indeed tie in very well. I am sure that will bring it more to life for them and give them some things to bring the story more to life and relate it to.
I hope they don't get creeped out though! lol. Let me know how it goes!
You are a very creative teacher!!!
That's one of my favorite books! I remember how it challenged me to consider injustice and racial discrimination when I was in 8th grade.
And that's a great song to tie it to. It'd be great to teach it.
Great ideas! Let me know how it goes. :)
I recently watched the movie Mississippi Burning. I was disturbed deeply to think all that happened in my lifetime not too many miles from where I grew up. Then yesterday I saw a clip in a history class of a man being tarred and feathered. It's unthinkable to me how human beings torture other human beings for God knows what.
I hope the reading and the study makes a difference in your student's attitudes and lives.
correction "students'"
What a great way to end a unit! I hope they love it! I love the way you're "integrating" (important teacher ed word) the subjects. And that is a really haunting and beautiful song... thanks for putting the video up. It was even more haunting, getting to watch her sing it. Beautiful, beautiful.
So, on further review of the comments I leave on your blog I realized I should read them over before publishing them. I can only imagine how much you are cringing having to read my sentences. They are really horrible, especially for an english person like you! I apologize. Maybe I will actually start proof reading things more! Lol.
Wow, that clip was full of meaning/emotion. Good and creative choice. I had never heard that song before.
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