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Artistic Responses to Social Injustice

Artistic Responses to Social Injustice. Pearl Primus and Strange Fruit. “Strange Fruit”. http://acceleratedmotion.wesleyan.edu/primary_sources/video/identities_stage_fruit/stage_fruit.php?vid=stage_fruit_sm&siz= sm. What was that?. What is the dance about? How can you tell?

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Artistic Responses to Social Injustice

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  1. Artistic Responses to Social Injustice Pearl Primus and Strange Fruit

  2. “Strange Fruit” • http://acceleratedmotion.wesleyan.edu/primary_sources/video/identities_stage_fruit/stage_fruit.php?vid=stage_fruit_sm&siz=sm

  3. What was that? • What is the dance about? • How can you tell? • What movements were particularly meaningful to you? • What does the costume tell you about the character? • Who do you think the woman is?

  4. “Strange Fruit” by Lewis Allan • “Southern trees bear a 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”

  5. “Strange Fruit” by Lewis Allan • “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.”

  6. “Strange Fruit” by Lewis Allan • “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.”

  7. Discussion • How do you feel after hearing and reading the poem by Allan? • What do you know about the South in the early 20th century? • Do you have any guesses about the life of author? • Do you have any guesses about the life of the choreographer?

  8. “Strange Fruit” by Pearl Primus • http://acceleratedmotion.wesleyan.edu/primary_sources/video/identities_stage_fruit/stage_fruit.php?vid=stage_fruit_sm&siz=sm

  9. Discussion • How do you feel now? Is there a greater impact with the poem and the dance together? • What role do you think the woman plays? • Is art of this sort important to our society? Why or why not? • What will you take away from this experience?

  10. Pearl Primus • Born November 29, 1919 in Trinidad • Raised in New York City • Earned BA in Biology, 1940 • Began studying dance in 1941 with the New Dance Group, first interracial arts organization • Choreographic debut 1943 • Dances were political statements • Story in “Strange Fruit” told from a white woman’s perspective

  11. Abel Meeropol • Born February 10, 1903 in New York City • Jewish schoolteacher, social activist, writer • Known for adopting Robert and Micahel Rosenberg, orphaned children of executed communists Julius and Ethel Rosenberg • Wrote “Strange Fruit” under pseudonym Lewis Allan, as response to gruesome photograph of a lynching • Poem was set to music and first recorded by Billie Holliday in 1939

  12. Sources • Allen, Z. (2001). A Tale of Two Pioneers. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wnet/freetodance/behind/behind_tale2.html • Margolick, D. (September 1988). Strange Fruit. Originally published in Vanity Fair. Retrieved from http://www.ladyday.net/stuf/vfsept98.html. • http://www.pbs.org/wnet/freetodance/biographies/primus.html • http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/billie+holiday/strange+fruit_20017859.html • http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/strangefruit/film.html

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