https://padlet.com/mctschatz/h0f321jfdhhp 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. en-us 2018-08-01 21:08:13 UTC 2025-12-07 11:12:23 UTC hello@padlet.com mctschatz https://padlet.com/mctschatz/h0f321jfdhhp/wish/271709437 This is a haunting, powerful and disturbing poem written by a white, Jewish man named Abel Meeropol. He wrote it in protest to white supremacy and the inhumane treatment inflicted upon African Americans. The the poem was written as a response to a photograph of the 1930 lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith who were from Indiana.]]> 2018-08-01 21:43:59 UTC https://padlet.com/mctschatz/h0f321jfdhhp/wish/271709437 mctschatz https://padlet.com/mctschatz/h0f321jfdhhp/wish/271711130 1903-1986: Meeropol was an American writer, teacher, songwriter and poet born in the Bronx, New York. His pseudonym publishing name was Lewis Allen which was the names of his two stillborn children.]]> 2018-08-01 22:15:15 UTC https://padlet.com/mctschatz/h0f321jfdhhp/wish/271711130 mctschatz https://padlet.com/mctschatz/h0f321jfdhhp/wish/271711757 The poem, written in 1937 darkly paints a vivid image of the brutality and injustice of lynching in America. The poem does not use the word "lynch" directly but, alludes with imagery, ironic language and metaphoric speech.]]> 2018-08-01 22:25:59 UTC https://padlet.com/mctschatz/h0f321jfdhhp/wish/271711757 mctschatz https://padlet.com/mctschatz/h0f321jfdhhp/wish/271712812 A national memorial dedicated to over 4,000 that were lynched in Montgomery, Alabama. This museum remembers all those who have been long forgotten. The hope is to tell the story about lynching and to never allow racism and bigotry to happen again.]]> 2018-08-01 22:40:08 UTC https://padlet.com/mctschatz/h0f321jfdhhp/wish/271712812 mctschatz https://padlet.com/mctschatz/h0f321jfdhhp/wish/271713061 Tina Washington tells the story of her grandfather's lynching in 1935 while on trial for charges of killing a white farmer. She speaks honestly, emotionally, and factually about how her grandfather was lynched by a mob of 100 to 150 people as his jury deliberated.]]> 2018-08-01 22:45:30 UTC https://padlet.com/mctschatz/h0f321jfdhhp/wish/271713061 mctschatz https://padlet.com/mctschatz/h0f321jfdhhp/wish/271714182 A loop with a running knot, tightening as the rope or wire is pulled and typically used to hang people or trap animals. It's known as the hangman's knot or noose and symbolizes the powerful use of fear and the brutality of death. What does a noose represent today? Some say nothing, others strongly disagree saying it represents racism and hate.]]> 2018-08-01 23:05:31 UTC https://padlet.com/mctschatz/h0f321jfdhhp/wish/271714182 mctschatz https://padlet.com/mctschatz/h0f321jfdhhp/wish/271715982 In 1939, Holiday was the first to set the poem to music during the Harlem Renaissance period. She sings in an eerie and haunting melody with the knowledge that her rendition can have the power to facilitate change.]]> 2018-08-01 23:35:26 UTC https://padlet.com/mctschatz/h0f321jfdhhp/wish/271715982 mctschatz https://padlet.com/mctschatz/h0f321jfdhhp/wish/271716194 Simone covered the song 26 years later in 1965 during the civil rights movement. Her chilling version is even more astounding because of the use of brutal and sobering images while the song plays in the background. She simply states at the beginning of the song, "This is a black and white problem."]]> 2018-08-01 23:38:29 UTC https://padlet.com/mctschatz/h0f321jfdhhp/wish/271716194 mctschatz https://padlet.com/mctschatz/h0f321jfdhhp/wish/271794535 In 2015, R&B singer Andra Day connects with Holiday and Simone in an emotional, painful version of the famous protest song. Her version is just as harrowing with her soulful vocals as she visually ties the song to social injustices by wearing broken handcuffs around her wrists and a hat lined with metal chains.
.  ]]> 2018-08-02 15:48:53 UTC https://padlet.com/mctschatz/h0f321jfdhhp/wish/271794535 mctschatz https://padlet.com/mctschatz/h0f321jfdhhp/wish/271797182 On the painful past of American history, such as lynching.
" You might want to stay away from it, but when you can see that truth and deal with those painful realities of our history...it's the only way we can move forward and heal as a country."]]> 2018-08-02 16:14:15 UTC https://padlet.com/mctschatz/h0f321jfdhhp/wish/271797182 mctschatz https://padlet.com/mctschatz/h0f321jfdhhp/wish/271797791 After seeing Billie Holiday's performance live in a theatre in New York, he said,
"She gave a startling, most dramatic and effective interpretation which could jolt an audience out of its complacency anywhere. This was exactly what I wanted the song to do and why I wrote it."]]> 2018-08-02 16:21:41 UTC https://padlet.com/mctschatz/h0f321jfdhhp/wish/271797791 mctschatz https://padlet.com/mctschatz/h0f321jfdhhp/wish/271798405 In 1915, the following excerpt is from a reporters account of a scene at the Thomas Brooks lynching. His murder occurred in Fayette County, Tennessee.
"Hundreds of Kodaks clicked all morning at the scene of the lynching. People in automobiles and carriages came from miles around to view the corpse dangling from the end of a rope. Picture card photographers installed a portable printing plant at the bridge and reaped a harvest in selling postcards showing a photograph of a lynched Negro. Women and children were there by the score. At a number of country schools the day's routine was delayed until boys and girl pupils could get back from viewing the lynched man."]]> 2018-08-02 16:28:13 UTC https://padlet.com/mctschatz/h0f321jfdhhp/wish/271798405 mctschatz https://padlet.com/mctschatz/h0f321jfdhhp/wish/271800338 Today the song “Strange Fruit” still represents the power of a protest song and a metaphor for the many who were murdered by lynching in America. It is also a symbol of the brutality of bigotry and cruelty at the hands of white supremist

]]> 2018-08-02 16:47:19 UTC https://padlet.com/mctschatz/h0f321jfdhhp/wish/271800338 mctschatz https://padlet.com/mctschatz/h0f321jfdhhp/wish/271802058 The BBC article makes the case that lynching African Americans is rooted in rituals of Southern evangelicalism.  It's somehow justified by being rooted and weighed down by Christian symbolism and its implication. At the core of the belief, the question is posed, does religion justify these acts of in-humanness and barbaric acts of cruelty?

]]> 2018-08-02 17:04:57 UTC https://padlet.com/mctschatz/h0f321jfdhhp/wish/271802058 mctschatz https://padlet.com/mctschatz/h0f321jfdhhp/wish/271804450 The  film was made for the 2002-2003 Atlanta exhibition and is based from a photograph album of the historical atrocities of lynching. The film interviews various people who communicate and contextualize the photographs and the emotional state of mind during this time.]]> 2018-08-02 17:34:42 UTC https://padlet.com/mctschatz/h0f321jfdhhp/wish/271804450 mctschatz https://padlet.com/mctschatz/h0f321jfdhhp/wish/271808684 As a black man he advocated self-defense to resist the oppression of lynching. He explains his stance in the following writings from 1916.
"If we are to die, in God's name let us not perish like bales of hay. Lynching would stop in the South when the cowardly mob is faced with effective guns in the hands of the people determined to see their souls dearly."

]]> 2018-08-02 18:14:39 UTC https://padlet.com/mctschatz/h0f321jfdhhp/wish/271808684 mctschatz https://padlet.com/mctschatz/h0f321jfdhhp/wish/271812011 A woman who was lynched in 1911 along with her 15 year old son. Her crime? She was accused on killing a deputy-sheriff. The mob raped and dragged Nelson six miles to the river and hanged her from a bridge. The reason her child was included in the lynching is still a mystery.]]> 2018-08-02 18:48:15 UTC https://padlet.com/mctschatz/h0f321jfdhhp/wish/271812011 mctschatz https://padlet.com/mctschatz/h0f321jfdhhp/wish/271813787 Shaw, a 42 year old man from Georgia was accused of attacking a white woman named Ola Franklin. He was dragged from his jail cell and hanged before his trial.]]> 2018-08-02 19:09:16 UTC https://padlet.com/mctschatz/h0f321jfdhhp/wish/271813787 mctschatz https://padlet.com/mctschatz/h0f321jfdhhp/wish/271814578 In 1934, Neal a farmhand, was lynched for the raping and murder of a white female. The lynching mob was estimated to be several thousand white people. Neal was brutally tortured with 18 bullet holes in his body, fingers and toes cut off for souvenirs and finally parts of his body were burned.  When the local sheriff cut the body down, the townspeople rioted and began attacking other blacks in the town in protest.]]> 2018-08-02 19:22:09 UTC https://padlet.com/mctschatz/h0f321jfdhhp/wish/271814578