lena horne

Lena Horne

Lena Horne• First performed as a chorus girl at the Cotton

Club, 1934• Sang for the troops in Germany, WWII• US Army was still segregated• Horne refused to sing to an audience in which

German POWs were seated in front of African-American US soldiers

• Walked off the stage and sang near the back of the room instead

KKK rally, 1996

Jim Crow Laws

Lynching• Common in times of social and economic

tension• Execution carried out by a mob usually by

hanging–Also includes burning at the stake,

stoning, and shooting• Used to punish “transgressor” and

intimidate others of that same group

Emmett Till

Emmett Till• 14-year-old boy from Chicago killed

in Mississippi in 1955• This event was a major catalyst for

the Civil Rights movement• Forced everyone to question the

“fairness” of Jim Crow laws, segregation, lynching, etc.

“Strange Fruit”• Poem written in 1936• Written by Abel Meeropol, a Jewish school

teacher in NYC• Used the pen name

“Lewis Allan”• Published in a teaching

union magazine• In reaction to the

lynching of two men

“Strange Fruit” by Abel Meeropol

Southern trees bear 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,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 tree to drop,Here is a strange and bitter crop.

Later set to music and sung by Billie Holiday

Minstrel Show, 1900

Bert Williams, 1910

1922, Advertisement

The Jazz Singer, 1927

• First “talkie”– full-length film with dialogue

• Al Jolson wears “blackface”to perform onstage

• Trying to hide his trueidentity as a Jewish immigrant

Dumbo, 1941• Jim Crow and friends• Critics accuse the film of racial stereotyping• Others reject this claiming . . .

– The crows are sympathetic characters– Free spirits who are

intelligent and self-confident

“Ribena” blackcurrant drink ad,

late 1940s

• “Blackface” virtually ended in U.S. with Civil Rights legislation in the 1960s

• Continues to be a “hot button” issue

• Beyonce in L’Officiel Parismagazine

• In their 90th-anniversary issue, the pop icon pays tribute to African culture, donning head wraps and gorgeous gowns. But one picture in particular seems to be getting the most attention. In it Beyoncé wears dark face paint, transforming her fair-skinned complexion to a dark brown one. Whoa, right? How could she? …Okay, America. Chill out. Not every blackened face is blackface. There’s a fine line between artistry and mockery. And several things must be considered before thinking that Beyoncé, of all people, would be the one to spit in the face of her own culture.—Brad Wete, EW

• Japanese “dakkochan” doll

1960, Time articleJapanese intellectuals, who can be pretty crazy themselves, have been

quick to discover social significance in the dakkochan's black skin. Citing the growing popularity of Negro jazz. Artist Setsu Nagasawa argues that "a Negro culture wave seems to be sweeping Japanese youth." Novelist Tensei Kawano, who has featured Negroes in four books, asserts: "We of the younger generation are outcasts from politics and society. In a way we are like Negroes, who have a long record of oppression and misunderstanding, and we feel akin to them." The Softies. Toymaker Suda, who would like to know how to do it again, has also tried to get at the reason behind the fad by tape-recording interviews with hundreds of customers waiting to buy dakkochans. The replies are sociologically disappointing. Some teen-agers say they are buying a dakkochan because their friends have bought dakkochans. The vast majority, however, reply with one or another variant of "It's so cute and lovable that I just have to have one."

A Raisin in the Sunmodern film trailer

A Raisin in the SunReading Schedule

• Due Friday, 3/18: Act I, scenes 1 & 2 (p75)• Due Monday, 3/21: Act II, scene i (p95)• Due Tuesday, 3/22: Act II, scene ii (p109)• Due Wednesday, 3/23: Act II, scene iii (130)• Due Thursday, 3/24: Act III (p151)• Friday, 3/25: Wrap-up discussion

• Times article “Dakkochan”:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,939182,00.html

• Blackface montage from Bamboozled: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C45g3YP7JOk

• Ribena blackcurrant drink ad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vQ90_PhSCM&feature=related