When Music broke Racism

"Strange Fruit
by Lewis Allen (pseudonym)

Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the Southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.
Pastoral scene of the gallant South,
The bulging eyes and twisted mouth,
The scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.
Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop."

(copyright unknown and used as fair use, no assertions of ownership implied)

This was sung by Billie Holiday in 1939, about lynchings in the south, and outraged those who proudly clung to segregation as well as those in the North unaware of the numerous African Americans slain by such practices.  It was not a legal entity nor was it a maker of great amounts of money. But it stands in America as one of the first great challenges of what is true but unspoken, in mass entertainment.

Billie Holiday had an incredible voice, was a woman of grace and intelligence, and is a hero to many for many reasons. For me she shines in being willing to make people notice something they'd rather ignore, but should in fact stare upon.

This link may change, as things do on Youtube, but it should never be unavailable. It is a cultural gem.