Billie Holiday Performs "Strange Fruit" Live in 1959
This Billie Holiday "Strange Fruit" video
features the iconic jazz musician singing
her revolutionary Civil Rights song live
in 1959, the year of her death. The
anti-lynching song describes the battered
bodies of people who had been lynched
hanging from the trees. The "Strange
Fruit" song begins with the lines:
Southern trees bear a strange
fruit,Blood on the leaves
and blood at the root.The
song led to Billie Holiday being targeted
by the federal government in an effort to
silence her, which is depicted in the 2021
movie
The United States vs. Billie
Holiday, in which she is
portrayed by musician Andra Day.
Related Article: The United States vs. Billie Holiday: History vs. Hollywood
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