In 1937, Abel
Meeropol, a Jewish school-teacher and member of the American Communist
Party from New York, saw a photo of the lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram
Smith. The picture haunted him so much he was moved to write the above
poem, Strange Fruit.
Two years later he
approached Billie Holiday showing her his poem and with the help of Sonny
White the once short poem became the over powering cry of pain it still is
63 years later.
Holiday first
performed Strange Fruit when she was 24-years-old at the Cafe Society, a
fashionable night-spot for both blacks and whites in Greenwich Village.
The song became Holiday's
signature song and, more than that, a song that foretold the civil rights
movement and changed the world.
I believe this is the most
bittersweet song I've ever heard. I hope it moves visitors as much as it
moves me.