Strange Fruit

A detailed Summary of Strange Fruit

Jazz music has always existed as a voice for black musicians and audiences. The sounds and rhythms are extremely unique and colorful. It certainly changed America in the 1920's with the swing movement and it put jazz on the map. During this time many white people started to be influenced by this infectious music, and started to enjoy it. Many white people also discriminated against blacks and treated them as less than equal. A goal for an artist named Billie Holiday was to make America listen to the cries of a black man, a black man who was just lynched. Jazz music had to be recognized with its roots. Billie Holiday believed Jazz music had to defend the black people. No better way of being heard than through the voice of Holiday. She attempted to fight for black rights through her song " strange fruit", a political song that struck a chord for many Americans.

Her original name was Eleanor Fagan, born April 7, 1915. Billy Holiday was an American jazz singer, one of the greatest from the 1930s to the 1950s. Also known as "Lady Day, Holiday first acquired a taste of music listening to her father, who was a traveling musician. She was fortunate not to be deprived of music during the popular

For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,

Around her time jazz was being listened to by many people. Many white people were swinging to the beats of Duke Elington, who was probably one of the most famous swing composers. A large majority of the white society was definitely wrapped up in the new phenomenon of jazz. What's so amazing is that many whites were racist towards the composers of the music they enjoyed. The roots of jazz come from Africa, and it is derived from African rhythms and the blues. During the birth of jazz, the political situation for blacks in America was horrible. Black's were oppressed and discriminated by whites. They were hated in society, and during this time many blacks were being lynched in the South. I guess one could say that Jazz was an outlet for the blacks. It was their anthem of pride, and their creation to rightfully claim in a society that believed blacks shouldn't have rights. If white people in society were going to kill blacks simply because they were black, but at the same time enjoy their music, then wasn't this a contradiction? Billie Holiday was an artist who made this point clear. She saw it as her duty to spread the truth about the horrors of black oppression. If the people were going to listen and enjoy black music, then they would also have to know about the violence and hate black people lived with in the South.

Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,

For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,

At the height of her career the infamous song she sang was "strange fruit", which was a highly charged political song. The song was about blacks being lynched in the south; a horrible and abhorrent act. Holiday was one of the first black musicians with the guts to release such an important political message in a song. A schoolteacher named Lewis Allan had written it for her. He was able to create a vision of how mobs of white men killed black men by hanging them from trees. His work wouldn't have had half the impact if Holiday didn't make it her own. Many people objected to the song. It was unlike any other popular song, b

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Approximate Word count = 1412
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Music