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 the protest song, "Strange Fruit," and passages from the Bible.

The video also speaks to the power of art and performance. Of Abel Meeropol and his writing of "Strange Fruit," Rev. Dr. Frank A. Thomas (one of the two narrators) says,

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.

From the episode's description: "Shockley, jazz singer Cassandra Wilson, historian Robin D.G. Kelley, actor LisaGay Hamilton, novelist Beverly Lowry, and radio host Nick Spitzer join Elisa New to discuss the history of racism, violence, and artistic tradition in the American south."