Protest Music as a Communication Method; Research on Teaching Strange Fruit

Abstract

The great economic power of the United States of America allowed its attitude towards the African American population living on its land to be ignored for a long time. However, the lives of the African Americans and the time they have lived have started to manifest itself in music as well as various visual arts. Protest music is written and performed with the aim of encouraging cultural and political change to be a part of the movement. The emergence of protest music in the United States coincides with the period of the Civil Rights’ Movement of the 1954’s. The protest music, which started with the aim of drawing attention to the elements of war and slavery, was composed and performed with the aim of drawing attention to the racist attacks against black people in South America, shedding light on violence and oppression, and helping the white people face this situation. The jazz style song “Strange Fruit” sung by African American female singer Billie Holiday, which addresses these issues and is considered as one of the first original example of protest music, started a change by creating the intended effect on the white people and African American people living in the United States. The song/poem "Strange Fruit", the photograph that inspired the composition, the photograph and video of Billie Holiday singing the song will be analyzed with Roland Barthes' semiotic theories. The result of this study shows that protest music, performed in the best possible way, is an important and effective element of communication to draw attention to the efforts of African-Americans involved in the construction of a great piece of labor.