Billie Holiday Strange Fruit 1939 -

: Only a single beam of light illuminated Holiday’s face as she sang. Critical Impact

: Holiday always closed her set with it; no encore was allowed. Billie Holiday Strange Fruit 1939

Billie Holiday ’s 1939 recording of is widely considered the first great protest song of the 20th century. Originally a poem by Abel Meeropol, a white Jewish teacher from the Bronx, the song uses a haunting metaphor—fruit hanging from poplar trees—to describe the horrific reality of lynchings in the American South. The Performance: Art as Resistance : Only a single beam of light illuminated