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When I looked at source 3, I noticed that most of the lynching was in the southern states like Georgia and Alabama. Why was most off the lynching in the southern states? Did the lynching have to do with the education of the states, or just where they stood on the idea of slavery?

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In the video of the lady singing she brings up “strange fruits” and references some gothic elements like blood and burning flesh. Why would she use those references and “strange fruits” to tie the whole thing together?

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While reading Source 2: Background and History of Lynching and looking back on the brutal murders of innocent black people in the south, I thought about how white people could truly think they were more superior to black people because of their skin color. How did white people’s minds start to change from back then to now?

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In the second source, Mr. Brooks, a black man, had a horrible death after being accused of sexual assault towards a 3 year old girl.  If he had been white, what would have been the consequence for his actions, if they would be different at all?

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After closely analyzing all three sources, it became rather clear that lynching was a common event and displayed to the public in a careless manner. Back then, the process of lynching was considered a normal occurrence; however, today lynching is seen as a catastrophic behavior. What lead to others involving themselves in the lynchings of African Americans? Was there a reason they occurred more often in one area rather than another? What events are we doing today that will be considered devastating in the future?

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While looking at source #3, the map of lynchings, I noticed that most of the lynching was in one main area and in farther areas the numbers start to decrease. First of all, I wonder what made it seem okay to lynch people at the start and second of all what made people change to stop doing it over the years?

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The map and the article, “History of Lynching in the South . . .” by Campbell Robertson brought up a point that “ . . . like those of nearly every lynching in the United States, are not marked.” (4, Robertson). The article and the map describe and show the amount of lynching that had occurred from the years 1880 to 1940, is unbelievably high. Unfortunately, not many lynches were recorded. If these numbers of lynches were shown to the public in the 1800s’ and 1900s’, do you believe their thoughts and mindsets towards African Americans would’ve changed?

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In source #2 it said how a black man was accused of sexually a 3-year old white girl and he was hung for it because they saw that the man was black and believed what he was accused for. This reminded me of Tom Robinson from TKAM and Emmett Till from “The Untold Story of Emmett Till” because both Tom and Emmett lives were ruined by lies that were told against them that people believe solely because of  their skin color. What do you think possesses people to have such a drive to ruin others lives based on their skin color? Why would they go after someone who hasn’t done anything personal to them?

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In the second source I read about some of the brutal lynchings in Texas and I wondered why these did not attract the same amount of attention as Emmett Till’s murder? Also, in regards to the Equal Justice Initiative's plan of creating memorials to the lynchings, would it really be worth it to create memorials with information about these lynchings generally available on the internet and that these memorials can be easily desecrated like Emmett Till’s?

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When I read source number two it made me wonder if the people who were responsible for the lynchings ever considered telling the families of the victims that their loved one were hanged and under what charges they were killed for, or if the families had to find out for themselves. Like how Emmett Till’s mother found out her son was murdered over a phone call. How do you think the families of the victims reacted, aside from being devastated?

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If you listen closely to the words Billie Holiday sings in Strange Fruit, is sings about black men being hanged and then she sings about the smell of the flowers but then continues to sing about “the sudden smell of burning flesh”, Scent of Magnolias, sweet and fresh / then the sudden smell of burning flesh”, what is Billie Holiday trying to portray with mentioning these two highly controversial fragrances?

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In source 2, it states that there is not enough awareness and memorials for the history of all the lynchings in the mid-southern states. When I read this, I wondered if we had more awareness about this history what would change? Would people act different or would nothing change?

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Carolyn Bryant, the one who said Emmett Louis Till made “lewd advances” to, recently came out saying that she had made it all up, and that Emmett Till didn’t in fact try to grab her or sexually assault her in anyway. Years after her husband and his friend sold the story admitting to the murder of Emmett Louis Till. Everyone knew before Carolyn admitted to the crime, that Emmett was innocent, so I have to ask, what does Carolyn believe she is adding to the already tragic topic when the whole world already knew of the lies that she said under oath?

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When I watched the video of the lady singing, I noticed she connected African Americans with “strange fruit.” Out of all things to choose as to symbolize African Americans, why would she choose strange fruit? Is there possibly a deeper meaning that the viewers don’t know of? What could she mean by using strange fruit?

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When I watched the music video of a black woman singing about the, “blood on the leaves” and, “then the sudden smell of burning flesh”, it makes me vision the brutal situations that happened in this era. What is “Strange Fruit”? What is she symbolizing by using it in the song?

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When reading about the lynchings and brutal murders to the African Americans in the mid-southern states I thought to myself if people once thought this was okay to do when and why did people’s minds start to change about the way they dealt with these situations? Was it because they suddenly realized it was wrong or was the idea of the northern states not joining in the reason they stopped?

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when i read these they made me feel like the people that were lynched were mostly innocent and they were accused for rape and murder. The map of how many lynchings were in each county made me think about how the white people then practically lynched for fun in Phillips county
strange fruit and the county map made me think about how it affected the other black people that witnessed the lynchings

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While reading the story about Lassie, the dog who was shot for no apparent reason other than the fact that he was the dog of a black family it showed me how things of such innocence can be harmed for no apparent reason. Would it be an accurate representation to compare Lassie to a mockingbird in which Mrs. Maudie says don’t do anything “but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird” (Lee Page 30). Was the cop in the story of Lassie initially “killing a mockingbird” when he shot Lassie?

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Referring to source #1, the lyrics in “Strange Fruit” stood out to me. As the woman keeps repeating blood on the leaves, as it was during slavery and racist times in the south, she adds to say “and blood at the root.” Is she referring to black people have always been the target of hatred? Or does she mean it is just beginning?

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As I read the excerpt from “History of Lynchings in the South Documents Nearly 4,000 Names” by Campbell Robertson and read about the horrid things that are done to individuals such as Emmett Till and Pinky Powell, I wonder what drives people to act in such an aggressive way toward a certain race. Is there a sense of superiority when they have caused pain to not only the individual and their family, but to an entire community of people who are trying to move past their brutal history?

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Victoria Morris

All of the sources excluding the song had something to do with a man of color allegedly assaulting a white girl/woman.  Do you think the same action would have been taken if it had been a black woman allegedly assaulting a white man?

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As seen in the desecration and blatant disrespect displayed by an anonymous public toward the Emmett Louis TIll memorial and how modern hate crimes always have some kind of root in similar practices in the past, would producing memorials at the sites be ethically correct? Also, when seeing the Black student’s negative reaction to seeing the expletive “Nigger” in Huckleberry Finn, should these memorials really be put up if they will end up causing pain in the end?

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While reading Source 2 and examining Source 3 I wondered what was at the root of the segregation between whites and blacks. The portrayal of aggression towards black people is demonstrated in the article “The Curious Case of Trayvon Martin” by Charles Blow and in the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, as well as in Source 2 and 3. White people treated black people as objects and essentially thought of them as not only less than human, but also below them (the white people) in the social hierarchy. If white people believed that they were more powerful, why were they so outwardly aggressive towards black people when they weren’t threatened? Is the root of the segregation against black people hatred or is it something else?

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While examining source number two I realize how much effort the equal justice initiative puts in to make the nation recognize these horrific lynchings. Do you think it is a good idea to be reminded of how segregated the United States was or would it be better to forget about those tough times and move on? Explain why or why not

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I noticed on the map, source 3, that most lynchings occurred in the mid-southern states and the western states are not even on the map. What is the difference in safety when going from the west to the mid-south for black people? Where would the murders of Emmett Till and Trayvon Martin be on this map?

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When I read source number 2, it stated that there are seldom marking and memorials in the places of horrendous lynchings around America. Should we put up more memorials? What would be the purpose behind it? Would it have a positive or negative effect on people? The article also says that it takes an great amount of money to put them up. How could the money be raised?

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All crimes and lynchings of African American citizens occurred due to predisposed notions on the basis of skin color. As we look back, we are shaken by the blunt ignorance and violence in the hearts of these people. Today, are there any marginalized groups that we respond to (maybe not to the same extent) with the same negative connotation or with the same amount of ignorance?

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Task 1:Using the three sources provided for you below and your knowledge gained from StoryCorp, "The Curious Case of Trayvon Martin" and "The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till," and TKAM, create one higher level question and post it to this wall.
Sample sentence stems:
1. When I read/watch this....I wondered if....

2. This quote..... made me think about....

3.  ______ and _____ remind me of/make me think...

Task 2:Once everyone has a question posted, then each one of you will read through the posts and find one question that you want to respond to. In a detailed, well-written response, answer their question using evidence from any and all of the information covered during our study of Mockingbird.
Format for response:
Name, Responding to Peer Name

Paige Wilson, Responding to Rachael Johnson

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Source 2: Background and history of lynching

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Source 2: Background and history of lynching

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Source 1: Watch/listen to the video below. 

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Source 1: Watch/listen to the video below. 