Strange Fruit

Billie Holiday, Café Society, And An Early Cry For Civil Rights

David Margolick

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An exploration of the story of a song that foretold a movement, and the lady who dared to sing it. The powerful, evocative lyrics of "Strange Fruit" - written by a Jewish communist schoolteacher - portray the lynching of a black man in the South. In 1939, its performance sparked controversy (and sometimes violence) wherever Billie Holiday went. Not until 16 years later did Rosa Parks refuse to yield her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus. Yet "Strange Fruit" lived on, and in this work David Margolick chronicles its effect on those who experienced it first-hand: musicians, artists, journalists, intellectuals, students, budding activists, and even the waitresses and bartenders who worked the clubs.