United States vs Billie Holiday

Southern trees bear a strange fruit, Blood on the leaves and blood at the root, Black bodies swinging in the Southern breeze, Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees. A song that has been controversial since its first release. Originally written in 1937 by Abel Meeropol, “Strange Fruit” is a dark and intense song centred around the lynching of African Americans in the Southern United States during the Jim Crow Era. The dark lyrics portray Black victims as fruits that hang from a tree before rotting and decomposing a comparison to the lynching and disposal of victims.“Strange Fruit” gained popularity and attention following Billie Holiday’s 1939 cover. The song very quickly formed into a protest song, which Holiday continued to perform live despite the threats she received from angry white supremacists and the United States government. This song marked the beginning of the United States putting a target out for Billie Holiday. During the 1930’s very few black artists dared to sing a “political” song that questioned our morals as a country and our government allowance for these crimes. At this time if you become a successful black singer and or performer you would sing what pleased your audience and in this case majority-white audience. Unlike most Billie Holiday became the exception by defying the social norms and having “Strange Fruit” become one of her most popular songs. One night in 1936 Billie Holiday rode the service elevator in a midtown Manhattan hotel on her way to sing on stage. Of course, the hotel had a front door, but Holiday wasn’t allowed to use it because she was Black. Little did she know this was just the beginning of the troubles that would follow her that night. Holiday stuck to her setlist, including singing “Strange Fruit”, But that night she received a warning from the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) which said she was never to sing the song again. When Henry Anslinger first took on the role in the new agency that was part of the Treasury Department, he was determined to “eradicate all drugs, everywhere.” He had previously been part of the Department of Prohibition, but since the prohibition had been abolished, he was more determined than ever to take a strict stance on drugs. Among his strategies was his belief that jazz music was a part of the problem. In a memo, he wrote said, “It sounded like the jungles in the dead of night.” The reason for his targeting of a genre of music came down to his widely-known bias, in the 1920’s he was considered an extreme racist due to his wide use of the N-word in official government memos.

    So the controversial nature of “Strange Fruit” among the music genre at the time gave him the excuse he needed to go after Holiday. During this time there weren't many political pop songs, and to have a black woman standing in front of a white audience singing a song against white supremacy and its violence was shocking at that moment, and throughout the years Holiday became known for her struggles with alcohol and drug addiction over the years and that was what made Anslinger became even more hyper-focused on taking Holiday down. Around the time, Holiday would often show up to her performances beaten by her husband, Louis McKay, so she eventually cut him off. He was so angry that he was quoted saying, “I got enough to finish her off.” McKay went down to Washington, D.C., met with Anslinger and they decided that McKay would set Holiday up. Holiday was caught and put on trial. The trial ended up being called The United States of America versus Billie Holiday. It was an ironic title for the court case due to Holiday feeling like a target in which she was in which Holiday later wrote in her autobiography. Despite telling the judge that she simply wanted the opportunity to recover and find “the cure,” she was sentenced to a year in prison in West Virginia. Fast forward to July 1959, Holiday collapsed and was rushed to the hospital. Later on, in the hospital Holiday started to suffer from heroin withdrawals later in her hospital stay Holliday's friend Maely Dufty managed to insist that she was given methadone, and she began to recover. Heroin withdrawal is very dangerous if you're extremely physically weak, which she was. And then Holiday’s biggest worry came true, Anslinger’s team arrested her on her hospital bed. For the public, it became clear what was happening, and protests were held outside the hospital as people carried signs saying, “Let Lady Day Live!” referring to her by her nickname. But sadly after 10 days, the methadone was cut off on Anslinger’s instruction and On July 17, 1959, Holiday died in the hospital with her feet chained to the bed. In the words of Billie Holiday herself, Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck,For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck , For the sun to rot, for the tree to drop ,Here is a strange and bitter crop.