"Strange Fruit." Abel Meeropol and Billie Holiday

"Strange Fruit" is an important poem/song in American history. It gives historical insight to a legitimate fear that most black people had in the south, the fear of being lynched. I reflects on the murders and lynchings of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, two men hanged in Indiana by a mob of both civilians and police officers without ever being given a fair trial for their suspected crimes. Although the practice of lynching was nothing new to many southerners, the publicity and attention the song/poem brought to the issue made many people see it in a different light. By comparing fruit to rotting bodies was an eye opening realization for many people that no matter the skin color, people are people, and deserve better treatment than that.