Happy birthday to activist artist Billie Holiday, born #OnThisDay in 1915. She is perhaps best known for her performances of Abel Meeropol's powerful anti-lynching song, "Strange Fruit."
Meeropol originally wrote the stark and haunting song as a poem entitled “Bitter Fruit” before changing the name and setting it to music. Billie Holiday made the iconic recording in 1939 and continued to perform the song despite great personal cost, including being targeted by the FBI. Numerous other artists have since released their own versions. Strange Fruit still inspires a vast array of art and culture around the world today.