People write poems, articles, stories, and other public works to express their opinions and feelings about specific social issues and concerns. Some write to give voice to the oppressed who otherwise have little or no representation.
Black lynchings, one of the social injustices of the not-so-distant past, were atrocities and immoral acts that weren’t uncommon in the South during segregation and Jim Crow. There was an appetite to deny blacks their dignity, due process, and God-given freedoms in America. The U.S. Constitution, which declares all men are created equal with unalienable rights didn’t protect blacks and prevent lynchings.
Lynchings and other murders counter God’s law, the natural law of humanity, and the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
The poem Bitter Fruit is among the many written volumes about the injustice of black lynchings. Abel Meeropol wrote the poem under the pen name of Lewis Allen.
Abel Meeropol was a Jewish American who taught English at Dewitt Clinton High School in New York City. He wrote poetry and was an amateur songwriter.
Stunned and disturbed by a lynching photograph of two black teens, Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, Meeropol transcribed the horrible images from his head to paper. He described fruit that the trees, unable to protest or refuse, bore. He described black bodies hanging in the Southern breeze as if they were the fruit of poplar trees.
There is no definitive account of how many black lynchings occurred in America before and after Meeropol wrote Bitter Fruit in 1936. The New York Teacher, the teachers’ union journal, published the poem in 1937. The poem, with its verifiable violence, was haunting in the light of day as well as the dark of night.
Violence and hatred weren’t foreign to Meeropol, a communist and civil rights activist whose family was victimized by social ridicule and cruelty. Similar to racism against blacks, antisemitism against Jews was also common.
After he set the poem to music, Meeropol, his wife Anne, and black activist and jazz singer, Laura Duncan performed the song various times at civil rights protest rallies.
This Bitter Fruit isn’t any sweeter by its renowned name Strange Fruit whereby most of us know the lyrics and painting of black lynchings so well.
Billie Holiday, who made the song, Strange Fruit famous, hesitated to sing Meeropol’s song when first approached due to its political nature. But not long after, she consented and performed her rendition of the song one night in a club; the rest is history.
Strange Fruit isn’t your run-of-the-mill entertainment song!
It’s understandable why many blacks had mixed opinions and feelings about the song, especially in the South. Some radio stations and other media refused to play Strange Fruit after Holiday recorded it.
Recorded in 1939, Strange Fruit had a slow start but gained popularity. A million copies of the song sold making it Billie Holiday’s best-selling record. Time Magazine dubbed Strange Fruit ‘the song of the century’ in 1999.
Who could forget the shocking and graphic details, charred flesh, and bulging eyes?
Some think of Strange Fruit as a song of protest that paints a vivid picture of the inhumanity against blacks in America. A poem, song, or written painting, Strange Fruit is forever a part of the legacy of one of the greatest jazz artists, Billie Holiday.
Strange Fruit is a part of American Black History.
Happy Black History Month!
Be well.