Blood on the leaves and blood at the root, black bodies swinging in the Southern breeze, strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.” Pull up a plate, this is “Strange Fruit” served to you by Billie Holiday. Hopefully this imagery was morbidly descriptive enough for you to visualize. Maybe you are turned off by this, but this was the stark reality that Afrikan American people suffered through between 1880 and 1920. This era saw the rise and fall of black progress during what was considered the Reconstruction period. In order to maintain the white power structure in the South, death of Afrikan(a k is used in Afrika instead of a c, because we hold contempt for the colonization that imposed on our continent) people through hanging, or lynching was the apparent solution. Thus the reference to “Strange Fruit”, the lynching of black bodies(men, women and children).

Holiday’s inflection and coarsely crafted vocals are unmistakably sorrowful, yet beautiful. There are few crooners who evoke emotions in you that the artist felt when designing the song, this is why we celebrate Billie Holiday.”Strange Fruit” is a testament to these feelings, and the collective spirit of black folk no less. Last but certainly not least, the subtle and sentimental outcry of the piano testifies for our agonized past. Each key strikes a cord emotionally, plucking heartstrings like the Beatles gently weeping guitars. Although it is a new day, we must not forget, you cannot hide the scars of the past. Just as Billie’s voice liberates itself from the pain of “Strange Fruit,”we must do the same through each prescribed dosage of music.

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