History of Rock and Roll –
Day 3
GOALS: THE STUDENTS WILL LEARN
1.
HOW THE PAINTINGS OF JACOB LAWRENCE REPRESENTED AFRICAN
AMERICAN LIFE IN THE SOUTH BEFORE WORLD WAR II.
Entry Ticket Discussion
FOUR STUDENTS WILL SHARE THE
ENTRY TICKET SUMMARY.
Motivational Activity

Display two paintings created by the artist Jacob Lawrence. These images are
a part of Lawrence’s Great Migration Series, which he completed between
1940 and 1941, the same year Muddy Waters recorded his first songs in
Mississippi.

This series of sixty paintings is considered one of the most famous artistic expressions
of the Great Migration, a period between the 1910s and 1970 when over 6 million
African Americans left their homes in the South for new lives in the North, Midwest,
and Western parts of the country.

Describe what you see in each painting. Guide students through the specific details
in each image.

If the painting on the left is a “departure” and the painting on the right is an “arrival,”
what do you think the people are leaving behind? Where do you think they are
going?
Great Migration

What do you think were some of the reasons why so many African
Americans from the South wanted to move during the Great Migration
era?

What do you think it means to be displaced? How does the Great
Migration, as depicted in these paintings, continue the story of AfricanAmerican displacement in the U.S. that began during the era of slavery?

How might the reasons people moved during the Migration era compare
to the reasons people move today?
Burr Clover Farm Blues

Play song off of site.

According to the lyrics, what seem to be the singer’s feelings about the
possibility of leaving the farm? How do the lyrics convey the singer’s sense
of “displacement”?

Why might some audiences have identified this sound as “sharecropper
music”? How do you visualize the setting for a song such as “Burr Clover
Farm Blues”?
Sharecropping and its Music

Display photos of plantation workers taken near Clarksdale, MS in 1936 and a
sharecropper’s cabin on a Mississippi cotton plantation in 1939. Muddy Waters
lived just outside Clarksdale.

What are your first impressions of the photograph on the left? How many
people do you see, and how would you describe the way they look in this
photo? What relationship do you think these people might have to each
other?

What are your first impressions of the photograph on the right? How would you
describe the size of the house?

Notice the proximity between the house and the cotton pile. What might this
proximity suggest about the relationship between work and home life for
someone working as a sharecropper? How much leisure time do you think a
sharecropper living in this cabin had?
Juke Joints

Display photos of “juke joints.”

Juke joints were places where many southern African Americans came
together during their limited off-hours from work to relax, gamble, dance,
and hear music. Private living quarters often doubled as juke joints. Some
historians argue that even Muddy Waters’s cabin on the Stovall Plantation,
where he entertained guests by playing the Blues on his guitar, doubled
as a juke joint.

How would you describe the mood of the juke joint patrons in the photo
on the left? How does the mood in this photo compare to the mood in the
photo of the plantation workers?

Why do you think so many African Americans living in rural communities
found music to be a source of relief in their everyday lives?

Where else do you think music provided relief for struggling populations of
African Americans in the South? (In church, and even at work, in labor
songs.)
“The Defender”

Distribute Handout 3: Letter to the Chicago Defender. Ask a volunteer to
read the handout introduction to the class, then discuss as a group:

How did the Defender reach African Americans who didn’t live in
Chicago?

What kind of content did the Defender publish to persuade African
Americans to leave the South?

How might northern business owners have benefited from having the
Defender distributed throughout the South?

Note: “The Defender” was banned and a TRO was issued against
distribution.
Can you get there from here?

How does the author of the letter describe his life in Lutcher, Louisiana in
1917? What is he trying to achieve by writing to the Defender?

Why does the author ask for the newspaper not to publish his letter?

The distance between Lutcher in southern Louisiana and Chicago is over
900 miles. What mode of transportation might have been ideal for such a
long trip if you did not own a car?
Illinois Central Railroad

Play video clip of Howlin’ Wolf performing “Smokestack Lightnin'” in 1964. Ask
students to follow along with the lyrics. To help make sense of the lyrical
imagery, read students the following quote attributed to Howlin’ Wolf: “We
used to sit out in the country and see the trains go by, watch the sparks come
out of the smokestack. That was smokestack lightning.”

Why might someone living “out in the country” be captivated by the image of
a train? Why do you think a train is such a potent symbol in Blues music?

Why do you think “Smokestack Lightnin’” encapsulated feelings relating to the
Great Migration so effectively? How does the song connect to the idea of
“displacement”?

How might you connect the lyrics of “Burr Clover Farm Blues” to “Smokestack
Lightnin’”? What story might these two songs tell us when looked at together?
Got My Mojo Workin’

Play video clip of “Got My Mojo Working” performed by Muddy Waters in
1963 with other Chess recording artists. After the clip, show two side-by-side
photos of Muddy Waters, the first on the plantation in 1941, and the second
from after moving to Chicago.

How has the sound of Muddy Waters’s music changed since his 1941
recording of “Burr Clover Farm Blues”? •Help students identify the other
musicians in the band, four of whom are mentioned on the Chess Records
handout - Sonny Boy Williamson on harmonica, Willie Dixon on bass, Otis Spann
on piano, and Matt Murphy on guitar. Based on information from the handout,
what do all these musicians have in common?

Display side-by-side photos of Muddy Waters: the first photo from when he
lived on the Stovall Plantation and the second photo from after he had
established his career in Chicago. How does Muddy’s “look” reflect his
transition from “country” to “city”?

Think back to Muddy Waters’s statement from “Got a Right to Sing the
Blues”: “Somebody once asked me what my blues meant. I answered him
in one word -- ‘trouble.’”

Discuss as a class: What kinds of “trouble” do you think African Americans
might have encountered living and working in large urban centers like
Chicago?

Why do you think the Blues continued to resonate in African-American
communities?
Summary Activity

Break students up into small groups. Distribute to each group Handout 5: African-American Life
in the North. Instruct groups to analyze the materials in the handout to gain a sense of what
living quarters, employment opportunities, and community activities were like for African
Americans who had moved to the North during the Great Migration era.

Each group will jointly compose one letter in the imagined voice of an African American who
has moved to the North and is writing to a relative back in the South. Students should reference
details from their handout to illustrate what their life is like in a northern city. Students should be
sure to answer the following questions:

What state are you originally from? Where do you currently work, and how does it compare to
the work you did before moving? How would you describe your living situation? How do you
spend your time when you are not at work?

How has your new life in the North met the expectations you had before moving? How has it
not?

What role has Blues music played in your life since moving from the South? Where, when, and
how do you most often listen to Blues music?

At the close of class, have a student volunteer from each group stand and read their letter
aloud. Each group must also explain what evidence from the handout they chose to highlight
in their letter.