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.
Lynching Every year in the early 20 th century many black people were grabbed by crowds of white people in the southern states of the USA. They were accused of some ‘crime’ – which might even just be talking to a white woman – and then murdered. The usual method was ‘lynching’ which meant they were hung from a tree.
No-one was ever prosecuted for these murders
Here is a strange and bitter crop
What is the most disturbing thing about these pictures? People were happy to be photographed – they knew there would be no punishment Young children were encouraged to take part and would grow up with the racist views
There were other ways they had of keeping black people ‘in their place’ Jim Crow Laws stopped people from voting Segregation – white only restaurants and bus seats, separate schools for white and black children Low paid jobs – ‘last hired, first fired’ Terror – the Ku Klux Klan But in the end, it was all about violence and murder
The Story Of Emmett Till, 1955 Fourteen year old Emmett Till was born in Chicago, Illinois, and lived there with his mother. Emmett was a fun-loving teenager who left his home in the north to visit his great-uncle’s family in Mississippi. Although his mother warned him to be careful, Emmett didn’t understand how bad racism was in the south. As soon as he got off the train in the town of Money, he went to buy some sweets at a local grocery store. As he left the store he called out, “Bye baby, ” to the white female clerk.
Shortly after, Roy Bryant, the clerk’s husband his half-brother, J. W. Milam, appeared at the home of Emmett’s 64 -year-old great-uncle. The dragged Emmett out the house. They slashed out one of Emmett’s eyes and tied a 75 -pound cotton gin fan around his neck. Emmett was beaten, shot in the head, and thrown dead into a river. Everyone knew who did it. The culprits admitted to the lynching in a Look magazine article and received $4, 000 for their story! But an all white jury found them not guilty.
Emmett in life… …and death Emmett’s remains were returned to Chicago and displayed in an open casket funeral, on his mother’s insistence. The lynching became international news with approximately 50, 000 people attending the funeral services. Three months later, the Montgomery Bus Boycotts began.
Years of anger about their mistreatment had been building up in the Black Community. The story of Emmett Till added to that anger and frustration. But the spark was a woman simply refusing to give up her seat on a bus Rosa Parks had a long day at work stitching cloth. She was on her way home, sitting in the black section of the bus in the town of Montgomery, Alabama. There were no seats left in the white area, so the bus driver asked her to stand up to let a white passenger sit down. She refused. She was arrested. When she was released she went to discuss this at her local church. The church minister was called Martin Luther King. Together, with others, they decided to organise a BOYCOTT of the buses by black people.
The Bus Boycott lasted for over a year. Black people walked to work. Martin Luther King’s house was bombed in that time and he was arrested, together with Rosa Parks, on a number of occasions. But finally the bus company in the town gave up and desegregated the buses. This was a victory in one town and just on the buses – BUT people everywhere saw that Black people (and white supporters) could get together and MAKE A DIFFERENCE and they also had a leader now – Martin Luther King.
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