strange fruit abel meeropol

[9] It was recorded on April 20, 1939. Abel Meeropol (February 14, 1903 – October 29, 1986) was an American songwriter and poet whose works were published under his pseudonym, Lewis Allan. It protests the lynching of Black Americans, with lyrics that compare the victims to the fruit of trees. In her 1956 autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues, Holiday suggested that she, together with Meeropol, her accompanist Sonny White, and arranger Danny Mendelsohn, set the poem to music. How Robert and Michael were going to live—and who they were going to live with—remained an open question after their parents were executed. Meeropol, his wife, and black vocalist Laura Duncan performed it at Madison Square Garden. I think that misses the truth. The Meeropols were living back in New York City in 1954 when they adopted the Rosenberg boys. Perhaps we can use the time alone to think collectively, to reflect together on how we might reconstruct the public realm of our cities. Before Sorkin produces his take on the Rosenbergs, and we have to endure a walk and talk between Roy Cohn and Joseph McCarthy, I think it’s time to start sharing our own history. There was always a stream of writers and artists and performers coming and visiting. ... Jewish schoolteacher and union activist from New York City named Abel Meeropol, who was outraged after seeing a photograph of a horrific lynching in a civil-rights magazine. Its author recognized “Strange Fruit” as a necessary statement then–and it remains so now. Strange FruitWritten by Abel Meeropol as a poem.Famously performed by Billie Holiday and Nina Simone. He wrote "Strange Fruit" (1937), which was recorded by Billie Holiday. Thankfully though Abel Meeropol, a American songwriter, took the poem and turned it into something very distinguished. Emanuel Hirsch Bloch, the Rosenbergs’ lawyer and a renowned left-wing defense attorney who had defended numerous people accused of communist sympathies, acted temporarily as their guardian. It first appeared as a poem, “Bitter Fruit,” in the New York Teacher, a publication for the New York City Teachers Union. Bloch was informed of the Meeropols’ request to adopt the boys through Shirley Graham Du Bois, wife of W.E.B. Composed in 1937 by left-wing New York City school teacher, poet and songwriter Meeropol, it was a visceral call to action in a time when people of conscience fought for anti-lynching legislation. In 1940 Meeropol, a socialist, was called to testify before a committee investigating communism and asked whether the US Communist Party had paid him to write Strange Fruit. Abel Meeropol's biography and life story. Diana Ross recorded the song for her debut film, the Billie Holiday biopic Lady Sings the Blues (1972), and it was included on the chart topping soundtrack album. At that point we had been shuttled around so much… we said OK. Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were the first U.S. civilians to be executed for espionage during peacetime. I think that misses the truth. But we also need to do our own storytelling, to make creative narrative works that mythologize our own past. Ecosystem Destruction Fueled the Pandemic. They are waiting patiently for the orphaned sons of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg to arrive. Meeropol was a member of the American Communist Party, but would later quit. She said that singing it made her fearful of retaliation but, because its imagery reminded her of her father, she continued to sing the piece, making it a regular part of her live performances. Probably written for Spanish Civil War soldiers from the International Brigades, it was sung by Josh White for Franklin Roosevelt and by Holly Near and Ronnie Gilbert in memory of Sacco and Vanzetti (two Italian anarchists framed for murder and executed in 1927). Holiday recorded two major sessions of the song at Commodore, one in 1939 and one in 1944. Strange Fruit. "Strange Fruit" is a song recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939, written by Abel Meeropol and published in 1937. DSA understands that. [3], Meeropol set his lyrics to music with his wife and singer Laura Duncan and performed it as a protest song in New York City venues in the late 1930s, including Madison Square Garden. Billie Holiday was so well known for her rendition of "Strange Fruit" that "she crafted a relationship to the song that would make them inseparable". While Hollywood isn’t going to tell the real story of the Meeropols anytime soon, if I were to make that TV series, I would open it on a party scene in the front parlor of a Brooklyn brownstone. His type of artistry was ideal for writing politically powerful songs. Subscribe to the Monthly Review e-newsletter (max of 1-3 per month). They were the famous sons of communist spies. The new movement needs its own works of art, and the means to make those works are within reach. In an article written by BBC Meeropol is quoted saying, “I wrote Strange Fruit because I hate lynching, and I hate injustice, and I hate the people who perpetuate it.” Lynching was a practice that involved mob-style execution without trial, most often by hanging, and almost exclusively of … He published it in a union publication in 1937 and then set it to music. “There was this, that, and the other thing. “A lot of what he wrote was biting satire and had a nasty edge to it. ‘Strange Fruit’ has often been described as a dirge-like ballad. The photograph helped inspire the poem and song "Strange Fruit" written by Abel Meeropol -- and performed around the world by Billie Holiday. “We were told that we were going to go live with them,” Robert Meeropol, the youngest son of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, recently told me of meeting his adoptive parents for the first time. Directed by Joel Katz. But the Meeropols won the legal battle and we were reunited with them in the fall of 1954. Abel Meeropol (February 10, 1903 – October 29, 1986) was an American songwriter and poet whose works were published under his pseudonym, Lewis Allan. Du Bois. I think that misses the truth. I was new to the left, having joined DSA after volunteering for Bernie Sanders in 2016. Billie Holiday, “Strange Fruit” (1939) “Strange Fruit” was written by Abel Meeropol, a white English teacher from New York City, as a protest against the horrors of lynching. "Strange Fruit," written by Jewish schoolteacher Abel Meeropol in 1937, takes a harrowing and unflinching look at American racism. The left, however, is currently small (relatively speaking) and neoliberal cultural hegemony isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. [23] Journalist Lara Pellegrinelli wrote that Jeff Buckley while singing it "seems to meditate on the meaning of humanity the way Walt Whitman did, considering all of its glorious and horrifying possibilities". Anne Meeropol sang and played it on her nylon string guitar at Teachers’ … In the 1930s, the Communist Party USA swelled to about 80,000 members at the height of its popularity. To acknowledge this fact is to acknowledge the need for ambitious left-wing storytelling that can act as a counternarrative. It was in this era that an up-and-coming jazz singer named Billie Holiday was introduced to Abel Meeropol at Café Society, the first integrated nightclub in New York City. There she first sang his song “Strange Fruit” to hushed and astonished audiences. 3 The photograph so haunted Meeropol that he wrote a poem about it entitled "Bitter Fruit," published in 1937 in The New York Teacher, the journal of the teachers union. At the party, perhaps standing off to the side of the partygoers, is the poet-songwriter Abel Meeropol (also known by his pen name, Lewis Allan), the author of famous anti-lynching song, “Strange Fruit.” He stands beside his wife, Anne Meeropol, a public school teacher and union organizer. The point of ‘Strange Fruit’ was that it was an attack song. I’d stroll around that material, which I believe has been over examined and lost much of its humanity. For 30 years he has been a progressive activist, author and speaker. It was through the union that they came to know teacher and Party member, Alice Citron. Holiday approached her recording label, Columbia, about the song, but the company feared reaction by record retailers in the South, as well as negative reaction from affiliates of its co-owned radio network, CBS. Such lynchings had reached a peak in the Southern United States at the turn of the 20th century, and the great majority of victims were black. The sons of accused spies, taken under the wings of famous civil rights icons, wind up in the care of radical artists and activists. [22], Notable cover versions of this song include Nina Simone (whose version was sampled in Kanye West's "Blood on the Leaves"[23]), René Marie,[23] Jeff Buckley,[23] Siouxsie and the Banshees,[24] Dee Dee Bridgewater,[24] Josh White,[25] UB40,[24] Bettye LaVette[26] and Edward W. Hardy. "Strange Fruit: the first great protest song", Bettye LaVette Unleashes Cover of Billie Holiday’s ‘Strange Fruit’, "Video: Listen To Edward W. Hardy's Haunting String Quartet Arrangement Of 'Strange Fruit'", "Strange Fruit: The most shocking song of all time", "Music Is Love! It covers a range of contemporary themes: children separated from parents, the political persecution of dissidents, and social justice warriors doing battle against a racist, xenophobic, increasingly fascistic America. For his impertinence, Abel got written up by the Party functionary. On the recording, Holiday starts singing after 70 seconds. (1) Abel Meeropol, Strange Fruit (1939) 50+ videos Play all Mix - Strange Fruit by Abel Meeropol YouTube The Negro Speaks of Rivers poem by Langston Hughes music by Margaret Bonds - Duration: 4:07. Manny [Emanuel Hirsch] Bloch knew about Abel’s reputation as the author of “Strange Fruit” and knew that Abel and Anne were both supportive of my birth parents, Robert Meeropol told me. The song was highly regarded; the 1939 recording eventually sold a million copies,[7] in time becoming Holiday's biggest-selling recording. [11], The lyrics are under copyright but have been republished in full in an academic journal, with permission.[12]. My story would begin with the Christmas party at the Du Bois’ and end with Robert and Michael being reunited with the Meeropols, after they had won their legal battle. During their parents’ imprisonment, the boys lived with their grandparents, spent a brief period in an orphanage, and finally were sent out of New York City to the home of family friends in Toms River, New Jersey. [9] During the musical introduction to the song, Holiday stood with her eyes closed, as if she were evoking a prayer. VivreMusicale 1,277 views It encouraged cultural work and supported artists through organizations like John Reed Clubs for writers and the Pierre Degeyter Club for musicians. By 1953, photographs of Robert and Michael Rosenberg, in suits and Brooklyn Dodgers caps, had been plastered across newspapers for three years. When put to music by composer Fred Katz, “Beloved Comrade” became an anthem sung at socialist funerals. Vivian. It was here that a news bulletin interrupting their Yankees game informed them of the hour of their parents’ impending execution. As the tumultuous present unearths the radical past, Hollywood keeps putting out films that capitalize on public interest while propping up existing power structures. After being blacklisted in the 1940s and fired from her teaching job, Citron went on to work as Shirley Graham Du Bois’ personal secretary. It’s a story so fantastical, and containing so many celebrated names, that it’s hard to believe it hasn’t stuck better into the mainstream. As lefty public school teachers, the Meeropols were both heavily involved in the New York City Teachers Union. “Abel was no turn-the-other-cheek liberal,” said Robert Meeropol. The poem specifically focuses on the horrific lynchings that took place primarily across the American South, in which black individuals were brutally tortured and murdered—and often strung up from trees to be gawked at—by white supremacists. 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