Strange Fruit was Billie Holiday's signature song, but it also seems to have been part of her undoing. I learned this today while listening to NPR's On the Media. They did a show exploring the so-called "war on drugs" from the 1900's post Civil War until President T"s current focus on the opioid crisis.
Henry Anslinger was the government agent first assigned to tackle the illegal use of alcohol during Prohibition. He became the first director of the Federal Bureau of Tobacco, Alcohol and Firearms.
While laudanum was broadly used by white middle/upper class women for nervous conditions - "the vapors" - and were the highest incidence of "addicts" in the early 20th century, Anslinger demonized minorities and particularly jazz musicians for use of marijuana and heroin. He felt Strange Fruit was far too suggestive and subversive o be performed in public especially by a black female jazz singer with a heroin habit. Written by Jewish Bronx school teacher Abel Meeropol, as a reaction to images of lynched black men hanging from trees in the south, it became and anthem for the civil rights movement decades later. Billie Holiday continued to perform it in defiance of the suppression of her voice and the songs powerful message. I have always admired Billie Holiday's voice and artistry, but not till now have I considered her a political activist. Anslinger essentially destroyed her career as a result. She became a martyr and a cult hero in the face of white supremacist attitudes in the government.
Seems highly relevant in the wake of recent violence in Charlottesville.
Henry Anslinger was the government agent first assigned to tackle the illegal use of alcohol during Prohibition. He became the first director of the Federal Bureau of Tobacco, Alcohol and Firearms.
While laudanum was broadly used by white middle/upper class women for nervous conditions - "the vapors" - and were the highest incidence of "addicts" in the early 20th century, Anslinger demonized minorities and particularly jazz musicians for use of marijuana and heroin. He felt Strange Fruit was far too suggestive and subversive o be performed in public especially by a black female jazz singer with a heroin habit. Written by Jewish Bronx school teacher Abel Meeropol, as a reaction to images of lynched black men hanging from trees in the south, it became and anthem for the civil rights movement decades later. Billie Holiday continued to perform it in defiance of the suppression of her voice and the songs powerful message. I have always admired Billie Holiday's voice and artistry, but not till now have I considered her a political activist. Anslinger essentially destroyed her career as a result. She became a martyr and a cult hero in the face of white supremacist attitudes in the government.
Seems highly relevant in the wake of recent violence in Charlottesville.
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