Strange Fruit by Billie Holiday (1939)
Strange Fruit is a song based on a poem written by Abel Meeropol, a white Jewish high school teacher from the Bronx and a member of the Communist Party who protest against Lynching of black American people. [1]
The blues-jazz song was released on April 20, 1939 popularized by singer Billie Holiday and has been called as "a declaration of war" and "the beginning of the civil rights movement." [2]
Strange Fruit reminded Holiday of her father who died from a fatal lung disorder at 39, after being turned away from a hospital because he was a black man. [3]
Controversy
The song of the same name to the poem, Strange Fruit, was inspired by a well-known photograph of two black teenagers who had been lynched in 1930 in the town of Marion, Indiana. The jail had been broken down by a mob where being held for allegedly murdering a white worker and raping his female companion. Then, they dragged the boys outside, killed and hung them into a tree to all see. [4]
The song of the same name with the Poem titled, Strange Fruit
Check the part of the lyrics of Strange Fruit by Billie Holiday :
Southern trees bearing strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the roots
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees [5]
References
- ↑ https://www.harlemworldmagazine.com/billie-holiday-strange-fruit/
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_Fruit
- ↑ https://www.biography.com/news/billie-holiday-strange-fruit#:~:text=To%20great%20controversy%2C%20Lady%20Day,some%20believe%20it%20killed%20her.&text=In%20March%201939%2C%20a%2023,final%20song%20of%20the%20night.
- ↑ https://ig.ft.com/life-of-a-song/strange-fruit.html
- ↑ https://www.insidehook.com/article/music/25-songs-about-racism-that-are-still-sadly-relevant-today