Strange Fruit, she sang.

Billie Holiday...was a force of gentle female nature

Brave and fierce...gusting like a strong yet untamed wind

Undeterred by threats of danger...of imminent death

She stepped onto the stage of Cafe Society Jazz club, New York, Greenwich Village in 1939

Strange Fruit...she would sing.

Southern trees, bear strange fruit

Blood on the leaves, and blood at the roots

Black bodies swinging in the Southern breeze

Strange fruit hanging, from the poplar trees

Pastoral scene f the gallant south

The bulging eyes, and the twisted mouth

Scent of magnolia, sweet and fresh

Then the sudden smell of burning flesh

Here is the fruit, for the crows to pluck

For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck

For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop

Here is a strange and bitter crop

Dim tainted Light breaking blood soaked water...

Of a past, remembered in the telling...

Slowly disappearing from the history books

Of the first powerful anti-racist stance in popular music from an unlikely source -

Billie Holiday dared to perform the haunting protest against lynching.

A black telling of thousands of Black people...publicly murdered in the United States between 1877 and 1950

Yet, did it really ever stop

Still, she sings the song...ever called "a declaration of war" - "the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement",

"Best Song of the Century" - 1999.

Holiday's performance was significant, representing one of the earlier high-profile musical protests against racism,

Garnering support for the civil rights movement.

Bravely and courageously she Recorded "Strange Fruit"... a young artist defiantly putting her career and life at stake.

Holiday stood up for what she believed in, moving America one step closer to achieving racial equality.

A song's impact so profound, it attracted government persecution,

With the FBI targeting Holiday for her refusal to stop performing it.

Dignified she stood

Her essence freely flowing

Waves thrashing at her feet

The sounds of solitude dispersing

To the wind

Her voice sultry, her emotions ripe

Courage unfaltering

Her light breaking the waters of injustice

For us all!

.....................................

"Strange Fruit" by Billie Holiday (1939)