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

2. “Strange Fruit”
mary_sources/video/identities_stage_fruit /stage_fruit.php?vid=stage_fruit_sm&siz=s m
Watch without sound. Begins just over halfway through this link (or show from DVD “Dancing in the Light”)

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”
Read in silence. Then read aloud.

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.”
Read in silence. Then read aloud.

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.”
Read in silence. Then read aloud.

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
mary_sources/video/identities_stage_fruit /stage_fruit.php?vid=stage_fruit_sm&siz=s m
Watch with sound

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 nd_tale2.html
Margolick, D. (September 1988). Strange Fruit. Originally published in Vanity Fair. Retrieved from
/primus.html
e+fruit_ html
ilm.html