Visit here for 8th grade resources for projects on To Kill a Mockingbird

Southern Life:

Library of Congress: Discrimination Photos

American Memory: America from the Great Depression to World War II  Search through over 160,000 photographic images

Walker Evans - Biography and photos; Evans is famous for his starkly realistic photos of life in America during the Great Depression

The Scottsboro Boys

Famous American Trials: The Scottsboro Boys

African-American musicians - 1920 to 1945

Bessie Smith - Includes biography and lots of full audio recordings from the classic blues singer (Red Hot Jazz Archives)

Louis Armstrong - Another site from the Red Hot Jazz Archive, with bio and recordings

NPR Music - Louis Armstrong - A wealth of material under the NPR umbrella

Duke Ellington - One more site from Red Hot Jazz; music galore!

NPR Music - Duke Ellington

Paul Robeson - From Wikipedia, but then visit YouTube and rummage through audio clips to hear one of the great voices of the century

"Hellhound": Robert Johnson - NPR broadcast discussing bluesman Johnson and a song named one of the top 100 songs of the 20th century

Strange Fruit

                                                                           Southern trees bear a 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,

                                                                           And the sudden smell of burning flesh!

                                                                           Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck,

                                                                           For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,

                                                                           For the sun to rot, for a tree to drop,

                                                                           Here is a strange and bitter crop.