On the same day that Martin Luther King gave his famous "I Have a Dream" Speech, William Zantzinger (dubbed Zanzinger by Bob Dylan in "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll") was convicted to a six month sentence in county jail on counts of manslaughter and assault. Hattie Carroll, the victim of said slaughter, was nothing more than an African American barmaid that happened to take too long to make his drink. Dylan just so happened to be one of the celebrities who was present for King's delivery of his iconic speech. Before King's address, Dylan performed one of his other songs from the same album (The Times They Are A-Changin') as "Hattie Carroll." In the early sixties, Dylan's music shaped the image surrounding racism among the white community, in a society that was still highly segregated.
On a more singular level, "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" particularly criticized the legal system and how Lady Justice was not actually blind in this society. In Virginia today (where Carroll and Zintzinger lived) the sentence for manslaughter is "imprisonment of not less than one year nor more than 10 years or confinement in jail for not more than 12 months, and a possible fine of not more than $2,500" (statelaws.findlaw.com/virginia). But if the crime is found to be "wanton," the sentence can be raised to twenty years. If Zantzinger had been going around attacking people all night before getting to Carroll, his actions are the epitome of wanton - deliberate and unprovoked. But because he was a white socialite and plantation owner, and she was a black bartender, he was let off with six months in a county jail after beating her with a toy cane and causing her brain to bleed. He served a longer jail sentence (19 months) for tax fraud and deceptive practices. The song juxtaposes Zantzinger and Carroll, comparing their standings in society, while continuing to prompt us not to cry during the story of her death. Where he urges us to cry is in the last verse where he describes the fairness of the legal system, and irony that they just let this man go after he murdered an innocent woman.
After doing this kind of background research, I would hope that students would have a better understanding of how appearances and race can effect an opinion or a decision. I would also like for them to know about what kind of world 12 Angry Men is taking place in. I would use this as a post-reading activity so the group can maybe bring different lenses to the events of the books, and maybe create a different interpretation. I think the song is a good way to incorporate different mediums into a lesson and change it up from the usual read and analyze. Researching topics like this allows students to make their own connections as they continue finding facts and different perspectives. The positive thing about using this song after the book is that while the book uses minimal appearances, the song is hinting that the justice system is controlled entirely by people who fit the "normal" profile. It helps students understand that this incident was not a one time thing, even though the book neer blatantly said the killer was black (although it was implied).
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