Blog 2 - African American Lit

Sarah Rodriguez

Blog: Continue the idea of values and what ideias are being presented in these protest songs that echo back to the older works we've looked at.

I think that the song, “We Shall Overcome” has the idea of the other songs we have listened to. The song was about; “overcoming the trails of enduring a fallen world” (p. 45) I think this quote explains a lot of the different stories and songs we have listened to. We shall over come clearly talked about how we shall all be free and how everyone should have peace. I think that “Strange Fruit” explains the horror in what happened for black people to make these songs and poems. In “Strange Fruit”, the song talks about how 2 black men were getting hanged. “Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck. For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck. Here is a strange and bitter crop.” This was the 3^rd paragraph in “Strange Fruit”. This specific idea hasn’t really shown its value in our past readings. The idea of suffering and pain has but not the idea of hanging. “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round” is a great example of values from our previous readings and this song. “Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me ‘round, Im gonna keep on a-walkin’, keep on a-talkin’, Marching up to freedom land.” This is a phrase from “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round.” This phrase is talking about how not letting what you want be taken from someone. In this song, they have someone as the sheriffs. I think all these songs have the ideas that the other songs we have looked at.