Earlier this month on April 20th marked the anniversary of Billie Holiday recording "Strange Fruit" in 1939. The song was originally written by Abel Meeropol, a Jewish activist, poet, and high school English teacher, in protest against the lynchings of Black Americans. (Abel and his wife Anne later adopted the…

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."

Today's Strange Fruit Mention of the Day comes to us from Torri Williams, a Coalition Leader of the Marion Community Remembrance Project. The city of Marion in Indiana served as the inspiration for Abel Meeropol's anti-lynching song, "Strange Fruit," when he came across a gruesome photo of the 1930 lynching of…

Happy birthday to activist artist, feminist and civil rights icon Nina Simone, who would have turned 90 today.

In 1965 Simone recorded her own harrowing rendition of "Strange Fruit," the powerful anti-lynching song penned by Abel Meeropol and made famous by Billie Holiday.

Simone once called it "…

On this day (February 14, 1910) Abel Meeropol was born. He was a teacher and a poet, most famous for writing the anti-lynching poem, "Bitter Fruit," which he would later adapt to music and retitle as the song, "Strange Fruit."

He once said, “I wrote ‘Strange Fruit’ because I hate lynching, and I hate…

Today's Strange Fruit Mention of the Day comes all the way from Spain, where our former Granting Coordinator Tori Montemurro now lives and works. She reached out to share an interesting connection to the Rosenberg Fund for Children (which was founded by the adopted son of Abel Meeropol, author of "Strange Fruit")…

Strange Fruit Mention of the Day: Tomorrow (Jan 19th), PEAK Performances has announced a slate of five films to be released capturing live stage productions, with footage edited and directed by Alla Kovgan. Among them will be Donald Byrd and Spectrum Dance Theater's "Strange Fruit" performance, named for the anti-…

A new #StrangeFruitMOTD courtesy of NBC's recent video clip celebrating Black Music History month. The clip highlights Billie Holiday and her performance of "Strange Fruit," originally a poem by Abel Meeropol protesting the brutal practice of lynching.

This exciting news & programming from the National Black Theatre in Harlem is today’s #StrangeFruitMOTD and comes to us via WBGO.org:

“These are exciting times for the National Black Theatre in Harlem.

Today's #StrangeFruitMOTD comes from Genevieve Gaignard's solo exhibition, "Strange Fruit," for Los Angeles Vielmetter, "a collection of pieces which agitate against the historical and modern-day lynching of Black Americans." This mixed-medium collection includes "…

Today's #StrangeFruitMOTD is a haunting reimagining of Abel Meeropol's anti-lynching song, "Strange Fruit." Tony award winner Tonya Pinkins delivers a powerful performance of "Strange Fruit, Revisited," a George Floyd protest song which tells a modern story of anti-…

Today's #StrangeFruitMOTD comes from Tank and The Bangas' song, “Stolen Fruit,” which they released ahead of their latest album, "Red Balloon." The song is a commentary on slavery in the U.S. and draws inspiration from Abel Meeropol's anti-lynching protest song, "…

#StrangeFruitMOTD: Violinist Jennifer Koh and singer Davóne Tines recently premiered their collaboration, a multimedia show “Everything Rises,” which is "an hourlong work that [the pair] have been collaborating on since they met. It has been a project of evolution…

Today's #StrangeFruitMOTD comes from Austin, TX where a Houston native high school student, Douglas Mills, Jr. auditioned for this season of American Idol with a powerful rendition of "Strange Fruit."

The song, written by Abel Meeropol and made famous by…

Strange Fruit Mention of the Day: Congratulations to the hugely talented Andra Day for her Grammy win last night for "United States vs. Billie Holiday" in the "best compilation soundtrack for visual media" category!

We could not be more thrilled for her and the production team. If you still have not seen the…

Today’s #StrangeFruitMOTD is a haunting, a cappella rendition of Nina Simone's cover of the protest song originally made famous by Billie Holiday – "Strange Fruit." The stripped-down track allows the powerful lyrics to stand alone and “you can hear the talent and the…

This #StrangeFruitMOTD highlights “Dammit Wesley,” a visual artist from Charlotte, NC. “One of his most iconic murals ... named ‘Strange Fruit’ is a nod to the words from the songs [popularized] by Nina Simone and Billie Holiday.

When his artwork leads to one…

This Strange Fruit MOTD comes from Pittsfield, MA where the Black Legacy Project, a national initiative to foster racial unity, will premiere on March 6.

"[Todd] Mack and his colleagues from Music in Common have been gathering musicians from different backgrounds to record present-day interpretations of…

This visceral, deeply upsetting #StrangeFruitMOTD features a dance/theater piece by Donald Byrd’s Seattle-based Spectrum Dance Theater currently in production at Montclair State University in NJ.

This video from SALT was produced in 2014 to honor the 75th anniversary of Billie Holiday's first recording of "Strange Fruit."

The narrators take a faith-based/religious lens, which we think is pretty interesting, drawing parallels between the story of the Marion, IN lynching that inspired the writing of…

One day after her birthday, another Nina Simone-focused Strange Fruit Mention of the Day highlights her “five greatest isolated vocals”: “Billie Holiday is the artist...most intrinsically linked with ‘Strange Fruit’... During the ’60s, Simone paid tribute to Holiday by covering the classic. Sadly, the lyrics were…

#StrangeFruit Mention of the Day: A news segment discusses the origin of the anti-lynching protest song, "Strange Fruit," written by Abel Meeropol and performed by Billie Holiday. The segment includes interviews with Abel's sons, RFC Founder Robert Meeropol and his…

#OnThisDay, February 14, 1910 Abel Meeropol was born. He was a teacher and a poet, most famous for writing the anti-lynching poem, "Bitter Fruit," which he would later adapt to music and retitle as the song, "Strange Fruit."

He once said, “I wrote ‘Strange…

The PBS series Poetry In America devoted their latest episode to a poem entitled "you can say that again, billie" by Evie Shockley, inspired by the anti-lynching song "Strange Fruit," written by Abel Meeropol and first recorded by Billie Holiday in the late 1930s.

Strange Fruit Mention of the Day // Chuck D, frontman for Public Enemy and RFC Advisory Board member, collaborated with Audible to create "Songs That Shook the Planet" about Black protest songs, including the anti-lynch protest anthem, "Strange Fruit."

Today’s Strange Fruit Mention of the Day features “Tony-nominated and Bessie-winning choreographer Donald Byrd and his Seattle-based company Spectrum Dance Theater” and their Feb 10-13 dance-theatre performance of Strange Fruit at Montclair State University.

As Byrd explains, "For 100+ years, there's been…

We love everything about this Strange Fruit Mention of the Day, which comes to us from Australia courtesy of a recycling, socially aware gospel chorus: “The Canberra community choir—named after two iconic songs ‘Strange Fruit’ and ‘Stormy Weather’—features a repertoire of folk, contemporary, African, Indigenous as…

This Strange Fruit Mention of the Day highlights Activist Artists using “the live play format [to allow] audience members to see themselves in the characters and understand the depth of the commitment necessary for reconciliation.”:

"On August 18, 1916, five Black community members were lynched in Newberry…

We received an interesting message recently from a French writer/director, Vincent Hazard, who wrote a radio play about "Strange Fruit" and Abel and Anne Meeropol (Abel is the song's author). As the younger son of Abel and Anne, RFC Founder Robert Meeropol contributed background information for the play.

Powerful words spoken at a ceremony to unveil a monument to a man lynched more than a century ago are today’s Strange Fruit MOTD:

“More than 115 years after an angry mob lynched Ed Johnson from the Walnut Street Bridge, area residents got their first look Sept. 19 at the memorial to the innocent man and his…

Today’s visually stunning Strange Fruit #MOTD comes from an exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Available through Jan. 17, 2022, “Fabric of a Nation: American Quilt Stories,” highlights 50 quilts spanning 300 years.

Strange Fruit Mention of the Day: "Broadway and TV Star, Tonya Pinkins, sings a new jazz ballad that was released [on Oct 14th] on George Floyd's birthday, to honor his memory. The song is called 'Strange Fruit, Revisited.' It is inspired by both the current racial inequities and the Billie Holiday classic.

Strange Fruit Mention of the Day: From WBUR’s “7 Albums to listen to this fall,” we’re excited for Naomi Westwater, 'Feelings':

🔳 “Boston’s Naomi Westwater uses their newest release, a kaleidoscopic six-track EP aptly called ‘Feelings,’ to better express a multitude of their own."

Strange Fruit MOTD: “‘The people on my quilt didn’t get funerals’: 10-ft quilt at ArtPrize honors victims of lynching"

"‘They were lynched. They were murdered. They were shot. So, I want [viewers] to look at it as memorial for ppl who have been murdered in this most horrific way,’ says April Shipp. Her quilt…

Strange Fruit Mention of the Day: Rolling Stone just updated their list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. Take a look (pay special attention to #21), then let us know if you agree with their top 50 🤔
https://…

This Strange Fruit Mention of the Day comes from our friends at the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI): “On July 17, the Tallahassee Community Remembrance Project gathered with EJI and community members in Cascades Park, under the oak tree at the corner of East Gaines and South Meridian Streets, to dedicate a…

ICYMI: A thorough and personal reflection from RFC Founder Robert Meeropol about his father Abel Meeropol and his anti-lynching protest song "Strange Fruit." This is a recording from the World Fellowship Center's June 28th virtual event, "Strange Fruit: the Inside Story" covering the history and origin of the song…

An alternative anthem that we love from Activist Artist, Jean Rohe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay1iC1zt24A.

#artistsasactivists #strangefruit

Strange Fruit Mention of the Day: Announcing a 2nd(!) opportunity next week to hear from RFC Founder Robert Meeropol: a new online event, "Strange Fruit, the Inside Story," hosted by the World Fellowship Center. As the son of Abel Meeropol, who wrote the music and lyrics to the anti-lynching anthem "Strange Fruit…

Strange Fruit Mention of the Day: The lyrics to "Strange Fruit" were not subtle; the song's author Abel Meeropol juxtaposed the "pastoral scene of the gallant south" against graphic depictions of lynching, which the article describes as a "sickening historical tale."

Strange Fruit Mention of the Day: "An artist's duty, as far as I'm concerned, is to reflect the times.” -Nina Simone #artistsasactivists #strangefruit

Which protest songs or other works of art were the most…

No more #strangefruit.

#artistsasactivists #justiceforgeorgefloyd

Strange Fruit Mention of the Day: Billie Holiday was initially hesitant to perform "Strange Fruit," an anti-racist protest song written by a communist poet and teacher, Abel Meeropol. And for good reason. She "was (rightfully) concerned about being targeted at her performances" but tested the waters and eventually…

Strange Fruit Mention of the Day: "Many decades after it was first recorded by Billie Holiday, 'Strange Fruit' continues to be terrifyingly resonant. The song, which verbalizes the horrors of racism in the American South, has been covered countless times by artists across genres, from Tori Amos to Andra Day. But…

Artists as Activists Mention of the Day: In his fascinating review of Aaron Leonard's new book, The Folk Singers and the Bureau: The FBI, the Folk Artists and the Suppression of the Communist Party, USA—1939–1956, Mat Callahan explores the targeting of political organizers (including Ethel & Julius Rosenberg)…

Sharing this excellent piece about the history of the iconic protest song "Strange Fruit" for today's joint Strange Fruit & Rosenberg Mention of the Day: From the article, "In the 21st century, 'Strange Fruit' has lived on, sampled in the 2000 song 'What’s Really Going On,' in which the singer Dwayne Wiggins…