“Strange Fruit” and “Blood on the Leaves” The song “Strange Fruit” written by Billie Holiday was very iconic. There was a big story behind the song that demonstrated the inhumanity of racism. Billie Holiday was inspired to write this song because he saw a photograph of someone being lynched. His song tied into an important moment in America’s history. The man behind the song “Strange Fruit” was Abel Meeropol. In the late 1930’s Meeropol was very disgusted at the continuation of racism in America. Once he seen a photograph of someone being lynched, that put him right over the edge. He felt as if the photograph he saw haunted him for many days, so he wrote a poem about it and it was later published. Meeropol set the words to music, that was later given to Billie Holiday. “Strange Fruit” is a metaphor for all of the Blacks that were lynched. The song “Strange Fruit” is about how many African American people were hung and the way their bodies look as they hung there. They were seen as another thing being hung and burnt up. They were seen as if they meant nothing. …show more content…
It told a tale of the love he had lost. West believes that we still face with same problems as when Meeropol wrote the poem about Strange Fruit. He also tries to show how we are still slaves to the white man. Not by trees, but by drugs, money, and poverty. The song had a small political tone, and with the tree presented in was very relevant. It depicts the Strange Fruit political message, and its historical significance. The main thing West was trying to justify was the juxtaposition of the song which is where in contrasted himself as an African American slave who was lynched, with the modern day, strong and successful African American man. He also still believes that we live under white