Billie Holiday Strange Fruit 1939 (TRENDING)

: Holiday always closed her set with it; no encore was allowed.

Billie Holiday ’s 1939 recording of is widely considered the first great protest song of the 20th century. Originally a poem by Abel Meeropol, a white Jewish teacher from the Bronx, the song uses a haunting metaphor—fruit hanging from poplar trees—to describe the horrific reality of lynchings in the American South. The Performance: Art as Resistance Billie Holiday Strange Fruit 1939

: Only a single beam of light illuminated Holiday’s face as she sang. Critical Impact : Holiday always closed her set with it;