V4 - Literature lesson 6: Black Voices - ROZK

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• Middelbare school
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• Leerjaar 4

Literature lesson 6: Black Voices

Pages: 21-29

The American whites used education as a tool
to suppress black people. How are
literacy and freedom related?

What do you know about Jim Crow Laws
& racial segregation in the US?

Strange Fruit

You will hear popular blues and jazz singer Billie Holiday sing the song Strange Fruit. It was based on a poem written by Abel Meeropol in the 1920s about a lynching. 

As the Civil Rights Movement gained momentum, Billie's song became
THE protest song of the movement. 

As you listen, focus on what she is saying and note down which words
or parts of the song have an impact on you.

Which words or parts of the song
had an impact on you?

Langston Hughes - The Weary Blues

What does 'weary' mean? 

Do you recognize the blues form in it?

What do you think of it?

And what is the message of this poem?

Blues and jazz

What is Blues?

The blues is the trickster of musical genres. It’s a joyful, exuberant music full of upbeat rhythms and playful humor – but it’s also a deeply sad music that deals with suffering and loneliness. It’s a music of dance halls and wooden porches, open fields and grimy factories, the city and the country, the North and the South. The blues captures something deeply familiar, yet impossible to describe.

That’s probably why it has had such an enormous influence on modern music. Every style of popular music today – hip-hop, R&B, EDM, country, rock, metal, and jazz – they all have their roots in the blues. 

Blues and jazz

What is Jazz?

Jazz is a kind of music in which improvisation is typically an important part. In most jazz performances, players play solos which they make up on the spot, which requires considerable skill. There is tremendous variety in jazz, but most jazz is very rhythmic, has a forward momentum called "swing," and uses "bent" or "blue" notes. You can often hear "call--and--response" patterns in jazz, in which one instrument, voice, or part of the band answers another.  Jazz can express many different emotions, from pain to sheer joy. In jazz, you may hear the sounds of freedom-for the music has been a powerful voice for people suffering unfair treatment because of the color of the skin, or because they lived in a country run by a cruel dictator.

What does the writer of this poem want to share here?

Have you ever thought about the position of Black soldiers in the American Army? 

Extra reading:

For some extra background on what life was like for African-American soldiers, read the article: "Are We Not American Soldiers?’ When the U.S. Military Treated German POWs Better Than Black Troops"

https://time.com/5872361/wwii-german-pows-civil-rights/

But there is hope