Difference between revisions of "Strange Fruit"

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“Strange Fruit”, performed by Billie Holiday, was most commonly tied to a photograph taken by Lawrence Beitler of a lynching in Marion, Indiana on August 7, 1930. Billie Holiday first performed the song in a night club, Cafe Society in New York in 1939. After gaining widespread popularity, Holiday recorded the song and it was released later that year. Strange Fruit became an anthem for the anti-lynching movement.  
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“Strange Fruit”, performed by Billie Holiday, is commonly tied to a photograph taken by Lawrence Beitler of a lynching in Marion, Indiana on August 7, 1930. Billie Holiday first performed the song in a night club, Cafe Society in New York in 1939. After gaining widespread popularity, Holiday recorded the song and it was released later that year. Strange Fruit became an anthem for the anti-lynching movement.  
  
 
==History of a Song==
 
==History of a Song==
  
“Strange Fruit” began as a poem written by a Jewish school teacher, Abel Meeropol. Meeropol wrote under a different name, Lewis Allen. The poem was published to the New York Teacher in 1936. Meeropol asked others to make the poem a song, but he eventually made it a song on his own. His wife, Laura Duncan was the first to perform the song. The most notable performance by Duncan was at Madison Square Garden. It was at Madison Square Garden where Holiday’s director heard the song and asked her to sing it at the nightclub she performed at. She began to sing the song, and it soon became the closing act for Billie Holiday’s set.  
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“Strange Fruit” began as a poem written by a Jewish school teacher, Abel Meeropol. Meeropol wrote under a different name, Lewis Allen. The poem was published to the New York Teacher in 1936. Meeropol asked others to make the poem a song, but he eventually made it a song on his own. His wife, Laura Duncan was the first to perform the song. The most notable performance by Duncan was at Madison Square Garden. It was at Madison Square Garden where Billie Holiday’s director heard the song and asked her to sing it at the nightclub she performed at. She began to sing the song, and it soon became the closing act for Billie Holiday’s set.  
  
  

Revision as of 07:24, 25 May 2011

“Strange Fruit”, performed by Billie Holiday, is commonly tied to a photograph taken by Lawrence Beitler of a lynching in Marion, Indiana on August 7, 1930. Billie Holiday first performed the song in a night club, Cafe Society in New York in 1939. After gaining widespread popularity, Holiday recorded the song and it was released later that year. Strange Fruit became an anthem for the anti-lynching movement.

History of a Song

“Strange Fruit” began as a poem written by a Jewish school teacher, Abel Meeropol. Meeropol wrote under a different name, Lewis Allen. The poem was published to the New York Teacher in 1936. Meeropol asked others to make the poem a song, but he eventually made it a song on his own. His wife, Laura Duncan was the first to perform the song. The most notable performance by Duncan was at Madison Square Garden. It was at Madison Square Garden where Billie Holiday’s director heard the song and asked her to sing it at the nightclub she performed at. She began to sing the song, and it soon became the closing act for Billie Holiday’s set.


The Photo

The photograph taken by Lawrence Beiter has become repeatedly tied to “Strange Fruit.” The Beitler photograph is of two black men lynched in Marion, Indiana. This picture had become the face of lynching. It is a theory that the writer of “Strange Fruit”, Abel Meeropol, was inspired to write the poem once he saw the famous photograph by Lawrence Beitler. There is no evidence that this theory is true, but it is possible since the photo was so widely popular and was circulated nationwide.