Strange Fruit by Billie Holiday

1022 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Racism in southern america between 1920 and 1960

Strange fruit is and amazing dark poem told by Billie Holiday as very powerful song. Strange Fruit is a terrifying protest against the inhumane acts of racism. Strange Fruit was about the murders and lynching going on in the south at the time from public hangings to burnings. The south has a cruel and terrifying past that haunts the very people who still live down there and remind them that only a short time ago was no one prosecuted for killing someone of dark skin since whole towns were involved in it.

While the lyrics never mention lynching, the metaphor is painfully clear:

Southern trees bear a strange fruitBlood on the leaves and blood at the rootBlack bodies swingin' in the Southern breezeStrange fruit hangin' from the poplar treesPastoral scene of the gallant SouthThe bulgin' eyes and the twisted mouthScent of magnolias sweet and freshThen the sudden smell of burnin' fleshHere is a fruit for the crows to pluckFor the rain to gather, for the wind to suckFor the sun to rot, for the tree to dropHere is a strange and bitter crop

The second and third line "Blood on the leaves and blood at the root/Black bodies swingin' in the southern breeze" Is a symbol to resemble how people in the south would brutishly beat down black people and then hang them in a tree and watch them swing back and forth when a wind blew. In line eight and nine "the sudden smell of burnin flesh/Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck" were both lines if imagery identifying that not only did they burn the bodies in the trees but most times people would try to get rid of crows but the people who were hung were practically hung for the crows to feed on instead of crops. Strange Fruit is a song that strikes pain and fear in many hearts and memories of ...

... middle of paper ...

... with children standing next to the corpse. Times were definitely scary back then and have changed over the years but the racism still exists within many communities.

Works Cited

Phillips, Caryl. "Blood at the Root." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 18 Aug. 2007. Web. 03 May 2014.

Blair, Elizabeth. "The Strange Story Of The Man Behind 'Strange Fruit'" NPR. NPR, 05 Sept. 2012. Web. 30 Apr. 2014.

Heft, Harold. "'Strange' Evolution of Legendary Song." The Jewish Daily Forward. The Jewish Daily Forward, 27 Mar. 2012. Web. 03 May 2014.

Daniels, Peter. "World Socialist Web Site." "Strange Fruit" The Story of a Song. International Committee of the Fourth International, 8 Feb. 2002. Web. 04 May 2014.

PBS. "The Murder of Emmett Till." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 02 May 2014.

Strange Fruit by Billie Holiday https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4ZyuULy9zs

Show More
Related

  • Brown Girl Dreaming By Jacqueline Woodson Essay

    611 Words  | 2 Pages

    For example, when Hope, Dell, and Jackie go with their grandpa to The Candy Lady’s house, “...the sound of melting ice cream being slurped up fast, before it slides past our wrists, on down our arms and onto the hot, dry road” (Woodson 71). Furthermore, symbolism plays a big part in the poems. At one point in the story, once the family is in New York, the narrator describes a single tree in a small square of dirt, and it represents the part of the south that she still holds with her, the fact that Greenville, South Carolina will always be a part of her. I appreciated the symbolism and the fact that it provided more depth to the book; some instances of symbolism were genuinely

    Read More

  • The Greatest Man I Never Knew by Reba McIntire

    524 Words  | 2 Pages

    Country music singer, Reba McIntire, recorded a song called "The Greatest Man I Never Knew." In the song, she speaks of how she never really knew her father. It exemplifies the way I feel about my own father. Everyone has a person who has made a deep impact on his or her life. For me, it was my father Donald Alexander. He was a great man with a wonderful sense of humor. He was the reason I wanted to become an attorney. He said I never lost an argument. I feel tormented that I was unable to know what a great person he really was.

    Read More

  • Roll Of Thunder Hear My Cry

    651 Words  | 2 Pages

    Them other trees all around… that oak and walnut, they’re a lot bigger and they take up more room and give so much shade they almost overshadow that little ole if. But that fig tree’s got roots that run deep, and it belongs in that yard as much as oak and walnut.” She shows this again when the kids describe the bus. On page 242, there is a small poem and it states “ Role of thunder hear my cry Over the water bye and bye Ole man comin’ down the line Whip in hand to beat me down But I ain’t gonna let him Turn me ‘round” This is another sign of symbolism.

    Read More

  • Symbolism In Billie Holiday's 'Strange Fruit'

    1138 Words  | 3 Pages

    Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit “is probably one of the greatest songs composed telling the chilling story about lynching. A little unknown fact is that it was written by a Jewish man by the name of Abel Meeropol. Initially “Strange Fruit” originated as a poem written by Abel Meeropol, as a protest against lynching of African Americans. Meeropol meet Holiday in a bar, where she read the poem, and decided to make the poem into a song. The record made it to No. 16 on the charts in July 1939. This song is probably Holiday’s most famous song she ever sung throughout her whole life. In the end Strange fruit forces listeners to relive the tragic horrors of living in America as an African American. The vivid lyrics paints a picture that causes a person

    Read More

  • Strange Fruit Essay

    1232 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Strange Fruit” by Billie Holiday conveys the inhumane, gory lynchings of African-Americans in the American South, and how this highly unnatural act had entrenched itself into the society and culture of the South, almost as if it were an agricultural crop. Although the song did not originate from Holiday, her first performance of it in 1939 in New York City and successive recording of the song became highly popular for their emotional power (“Strange fruit,” 2017). The lyrics in the song highlight the contrast between the natural beauty and apparent sophistication of the agricultural South with the brutal violence of lynchings. Holiday communicates these rather disturbing lyrics through a peculiarly serene vocal delivery, accompanied by a hymn-like

    Read More

  • The Cone By H. G. Wells

    297 Words  | 1 Pages

    This is taken as the speaker allowed his wrath and anger to their foe grow and develop into a seed of revenge, illustrated as the apple on this tree grow with hate. The foe recognizes this apple as a tangible reincarnation of the speaker's desire for revenge and it is understood that through some manner this apple kills the foe and the speaker is glad that it has done so, showing no remorse. This is seen in the lines “In the morning I was glad to see;/ My foe outstretched beneath the tree”. The speaker's reaction to the death has an effect on the theme because although the speaker has killed someone he has no

    Read More

  • A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry

    1849 Words  | 4 Pages

    A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, has often been dubbed a “black” play by critics since its debut on Broadway in 1959. This label has been reasonably assigned considering the play has a cast that consists primarily of African American actors; however, when looking beyond the surface of this play and the color of the author and characters, one can see that A Raisin in the Sun actually transcends the boundaries of racial labels through the universal personalities assigned to each character and the realistic family situations that continue to evolve throughout the storyline. As seen when comparing A Raisin in the Sun to “The Rich Brother,” a story for which the characters receive no label of race, many commonalities can be found between the characters’ personalities and their beliefs. Such similarities prove that A Raisin in the Sun is not merely a play intended to appeal only to the black community, nor should it be construed as a story about the plights of the black race alone, but instead should be recognized as a play about the struggles that all families, regardless of race, must endure in regard to their diversity and financial disparity. A succinct introduction and excellent writing!

    Read More

  • Our Day Out by Willy Russell

    3325 Words  | 7 Pages

    Mrs Kay firstly asks Carol why she does not and go and look round the

    Read More

  • Blackbird, by The Beatles

    1245 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the White album, formally known as The Beatles album, Blackbird is deemed as an underrated song. Why do I say this? YouTube’s commentators told me, repeatedly. I personally discovered the song after reading the book The Perks of being a Wall flower during middle school.It was one of the songs that Charlie , the protagonist , had on his mix tape, and I, being the curious soul that I am, looked the songs up. Blackbird completely outshone all of the other songs. Back then, I felt like it was written for me. Thus, when I picking the songs, Blackbird was naturally one of my top 5 songs. Although, I have to admit that I did not realize that it was so popular, until I noticed that a lot of my peers are going to be writing about it as well. Back on track, Blackbird is two minutes and eighteen seconds long. It is listed as number three on the second side of the White album, and it is beautiful. In context of The White Album, the song Blackbird creates an uplifting and hopeful experience through the use of raw instrumentation and vocalized repetitive lyrics that ultimately enchant the listener.

    Read More

  • Yf Komunyakaa Blackberries

    730 Words  | 2 Pages

    Since the character is so young, it is obvious he does not fully understand why he is faced with discrimination based on merely the color of his skin. The child does not even mention the color of his skin, because to him it is irrelevant and should have nothing to do with how he is treated. With a young child being so innocent they cannot understand why the color of his or her skin would put them back in life, although they may know it does, he or she is only faced with feelings of confusion. By directly leaving the cultural context of the child's race out of the poem, the reader feels that he is extremely innocent and therefore does not deserve his battle of racism. By also including symbols and context clues of Jesus Christ the author builds the unfair racial treatment of the character. The author states that, “They fell among a garland of thorns,” which causes the reader to think of Jesus. Some readers may also think that the point of the berries is to resemble the Garden of Eden. Making the reader compare the child to Jesus not only makes the reader feel like he did not deserve his treatment, but also causes the reader to be emotional. Intense feelings of emotion leads the reader to not only feel terrible because of the characters racial setback, but also causes the reader to relate deeply to the character by including the most important part of anyone’s life, religion.

    Read More

  • Billie Holiday

    1345 Words  | 3 Pages

    Schoettler, Carl. "Tinged with Sorrow but Sung with Love; Blues: `Strange Fruit,' the Mournful Dirge about Lynching, is Forever Linked with Billie Holiday. A New Book about the Singer from Baltimore Recalls the Moment She Introduced it." The Baltimore Sun Jun 13 2000: 1.F. ProQuest Central. 16 Nov. 2011

    Read More

  • Walk Two Moons By Mrs. Cadaver

    475 Words  | 1 Pages

    One theme from Walk Two Moons is that You can’t keep the birds of sadness from flying overhead, but you can keep them from nesting in your hair. Throughout the book there is many people that go through some sort of sadness. In the book Sal says, “Gramps lay down in the bed and stared at the ceiling. “Chickabiddy,” he said, “ I miss my gooseberry.” He put one arm over his eyes. His other hand patted the empty space beside him” (259). This is one important sad thing that happened to Sal and Gramps because it was Gramps wife and Sals grandma and she was a really important to Sal cause she took her on the journey to find her mother and she had a lot of good times with her grandma. Sal says, “But for now Gramps has his beagle, and I have a chicken

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Lynching

    705 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many years ago, Abel Meeropol famously wrote “Southern trees bear a strange fruit, blood on the leaves and blood at the root, Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze, strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees...” The purpose of this poem was to describe the heinous lynching of African Americans in the south. They would be strung up to a tree and hung in front of crowds of hateful people spewing ignorance with no regard for human life outside of their own race. Sometimes their neighbors and loved ones would be present as well, while they struggled to free themselves and gasp for air before they eventually die. Although lynching is better known as the act of hanging a body up to a tree, there are also other acts that fit into the lynching

    Read More

  • Split Cherry Tree by Jesse Stuart

    719 Words  | 2 Pages

    The short story, Spilt Cherry Tree, was written by Jesse Stuart. In the beginning of the story, Dave and his classmates went with Professor Herbert on a field trip for biology class. They were all searching for lizards, bugs, snakes, frogs, flowers, and plants. Dave and five of his classmates had spotted a lizard in the old cherry tree up the hill, so all six of them ran up the tree after it, and the tree broke down. Eif Crabtree, the owner of the tree was plowing when it happened and he ran up and go tall the boys’ names. Dave’s five classmates who broke the tree with him were all able to get the dollar that they owed Mr. Crabtree, but Dave knew he wouldn’t be able to get his. Professor Herbert kept Dave after school and told him that he paid Dave’s dollar, but he would have to work four hours at the school to earn the full dollar, which means he would be getting paid twenty-five cents and hour to help the janitor. Dave really didn’t mind staying after school, but he knew that he would get a whipping from his father if he was two hours late getting home. Dave told Professor Herbert that he would rather have the professor whip him with a switch so he could go on home and help his dad with chores because he knew his dad would whip him if he was two hours late. Dave was also afraid that his father would make him quit school because he was a little old fashioned and didn’t understand the school system of that time.

    Read More

  • Ripe Figs by Kate Chopin

    593 Words  | 2 Pages

    Authors of every genre use images in their works to stand in as metaphors, similes, and more often as simple descriptions. Kate Chopin is very well known for her use of images in her writing. Kate Chopin uses imagery in her stories to build the characters and provide metaphors for their lives.

    Read More

More about Strange Fruit by Billie Holiday

Open Document