Billie Holiday and "Strange Fruit"

A presentation and worksheet with some civil rights history. The presentation includes a brief video from the History channel on the civil rights movement, a discussion of lynching (what it is, why it happened, where it occurred), slides about the author of the poem "Strange Fruit" (Abel Meeropol), and a video clip, lyrics, and discussion questions of the song version of the poem, popularized by Billie Holiday.

Also included is a worksheet with the song lyrics and discussion questions.

Teacher will need to know/research a bit about Abel Meeropol and Billie Holiday to provide background information on these two figures.

Used for a 12th grade ESL class during Black History Month but also a great resource for other levels and for social studies/history classes.