He was also a poet and a social activist, says Gerard Pelisson, who wrote a book about the school. Meeropol graduated from Dewitt Clinton in 1921 he went on to teach English there for 17 years. So did Countee Cullen, Richard Rodgers, Burt Lancaster, Stan Lee, Neil Simon, Richard Avedon and Ralph Lauren. They both begin at Dewitt Clinton High School, a public high school in the Bronx that has an astonishing number of famous people in its alumni. The man behind "Strange Fruit" is New York City's Abel Meeropol, and he really has two stories.
But they might not realize that he's also tied to another watershed moment in America's history. Many people know that the man who wrote the song was inspired by a photograph of a lynching. Gordon was right in his assumption about Holiday-with her smoky-voice and raw emotion, she owned the song, and within a year she was asked to record the tune.One of Billie Holiday's most iconic songs is "Strange Fruit," a haunting protest against the inhumanity of racism. It was during Duncan's performance when Robert Gordon, who worked with the talent at a new jazz club Cafe Society, heard the tune and thought Holiday, who was set to be the club's headlining performer, would do it justice, according to a 2011 Guardian report. The poem was soon picked up and published in a New York teachers union publication with its new title, "Strange Fruit." Meeropol later set the words to music and began performing it with his wife at parties and gatherings in 1938, and the song even made it to Madison Square Garden when Black singer Laura Duncan belted it out that same year. Gérard Pélisson, who wrote The Castle on the Parkway, a book about the school and its impact on American culture in 2008, recalled Meeropol's inspiration for the poem, noting that the teacher was "was very disturbed at the continuation of racism in America, and seeing a photograph of a lynching sort of put him over the edge." According to a 2012 NPR report, Meeropol was allegedly "haunted" by the image of the 1930 lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abe Smith, who were hung side-by-side from a poplar tree in Indiana, and the words of the poem just spilled out of him. Originally titled "Bitter Fruit," the song actually began as a poem written in 1937 by Abel Meeropol, a poet and teacher at the DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, which was attended by notable figures like James Baldwin, Robert Klein, Ralph Lauren, Stan Lee and Neil Simon, among others. In the film, the FBI wanted Holiday to stop singing "Strange Fruit," so they sent in a Black federal agent to infiltrate Holiday's inner circle and help the department nab her on narcotics possession. Billie Holiday," premiering on February 26. Holiday spent a year behind bars, and 10 days after her release, she performed the song as her closing number during a showcase at New York City's Carnegie Hall, according to author Dorian Lynskey's 2010 music history book, 33 Revolutions Per Minute.Īndra Day appears as Billie Holiday in the Hulu film, "The United States Vs. So, they sent in a Black Federal agent to infiltrate Holiday's inner circle and help the department nab her on narcotics possession charges in 1947. The department was concerned that the themes and painful lyrics of "Strange Fruit" would incite a riot and further fuel the burgeoning civil rights movement.Īs viewers see in the Lee Daniels–directed film, which released on Friday, the FBI wanted Holiday to stop singing the song. endured in the early 1900s-that essentially put Lady Day on the agency's hit list. But it's the song-its powerful messaging surrounding the harsh reality many Blacks in the U.S. Sure, she's battled heroin addiction, and it's drugs that ultimately help the FBI convict her. The song serves as the basis of the legal drama depicted in the new Hulu film, in which a haggard and tired-looking Holiday-played by Andra Day-shares an account of her life's highs and lows during an interview. 61 Women Who Broke Barriers in the Music Industry.The Best Movies Streaming in February to Celebrate Black History Month.Who Killed Fred Hampton? True Story Behind 'Judas and the Black Messiah'.
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