STRANGE FRUIT AND ITS IMPACT ON THE CIVIL RIGHTS ERA
DeVry University

Submitted to
Professor Scott Gessford
December 17, 2014
HUMN 303: Introduction to the Humanities

INTRODUCTION

Southern trees bear a strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black body swinging in the Southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.
Pastoral scene of the gallant South,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh,
And 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 a tree to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.
By
Lewis Allan, 1940

These words paint a picture and speak of an unpleasant time in American history, where blatant racism, lynchings and inequalities were committed against African Americans. Strange fruit can be considered a protest song of the pre-civil rights era. Its importance to the movement can be felt in the lyrics of the song paving the way for protest songs of the civil rights era and its impact on the world today. Strange Fruit was composed by Abel Meerpol, a school teacher from the Bronx, NY who wrote a poem under the pseudonym Lewis Allan (Independent Lens, 2003) about the horrors of racism after seeing graphic photos of a lynching of two teenagers, Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith. These teenagers, who were accused of killing a white man, were taken from an Indiana jail and lynched by a mob of angry whites (Koppes, 2010). Their bodies badly beaten and burned, left hanging from a tree their bodies blowing with the wind for the world to see. Although there were lynchings in the North, the majority of lynchings were in the South (Stone, 2004). The victims, most often African American were guilty of nothing more than being black. They were tortured, abused and murdered in ritualized killings (Carvallo, 2013) by racist white mobs. Meerpol wanted the world to recognize the horror of lynching through a poem he later set to music and beautifully recorded by a jazz musician, Billie Holiday. Billie’s recording label, did not want to record the song, but Billie persisted and recorded the song on a smaller label (Independent Lens, 2003). The song became her most popular song, and one that was most often requested by her audience.; If you listen to the song, you can hear the pain, the anguish and the haunting melody. Holliday captures the pain, heartache of the song beautifully (Carvallo, 2013). This song was adopted as a anti-lynching protest song and can be considered one of many protest songs prior to and leading into civil rights movement. During the civil rights era, fighting for justice and equality, tired of being mistreated and not receiving the same rights as whites, Dr. Martin Luther King decided to fight for justice by leading non-violent marches to gain the attention of the nation. These marches included songs of protest to help tell the story, get the message out to the masses through music to draw attention to the political movement. Music empowered the movement in the South and was a direct call to action. Many artists during the civil rights era composed songs that spoke about the struggle, artists such as James Brown (Say it Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud), Marvin Gaye’s (Inner City Blues), Curtis Mayfield’s (Keep on Pushing or People Get Ready), My Mind Set on Freedom and Keep Your Eyes on the Prize (Mahalia Jackson). The climate and historical events that lead to the struggle for equality were in response to the political movement of the era (Werner, 2012). “We shall Overcome”, was a protest song that really spoke volumes about the message and the realities of political movement.

Music, like humanities is a source of information. It is informative, entertaining, enlightening and provides historical information that can be shared with the world. Strange Fruit was shared with the world as an anti-protest against lynching in the South and North. It embodies the spirit of protest and can be considered one of the pre-civil rights songs of that era.

REFERENCES
Carvalho, J. M. (2013). 'Strange Fruit': Music between Violence and Death. Journal of Aesthetics & Art Criticism, 71(1), 111-119.
Independent Lens . STRANGE FRUIT . The Film | PBS. (2003, March 28). Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/strangefruit/film.html
Koppes, C. (2010). Lynching and Spectacle: Witnessing Racial Violence in America, 1890–1940 (review). Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 41(2), 318-320.
Stone, C. (2004, January 1). Blood at the Root: "Strange Fruit" as Historical Document and Pedagogical Tool. OAH Magazine of History., 54-56.
Werner, C. (2012, January 1). "Meeting Over Yonder": Using Music to Teach the Movement in the North. OAH Magazine of History, 41-45.