Comments on: The Incredible Story of Strange Fruit

By: rochester

rochester — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 23:28:00 +0000

I already knew that Abel Meeropol was the future adaptive father of the Rosenbergs’ sons when he had a connection with
a song made famous by Billie Holliday about lynching black men. What I didn’t know was that he was a Communist, had written the song based on his poem, without his wife’s collaboration, and that he was inspired by the photograph of the lynching at Marion, Indiana.

But that is just my point. The picture that
gave him the words was taken not in the south, but in Indiana.

Lynchings were not confined to the ex Confederate states. Only three years after the crime in Marion, two white men were seized from their jail cells in San Jose, California and strung up
on tree branches. They had been arrested for the murder of a white man.

The poem is a powerfully beautiful condemnation of such atrocities but inaccurate.

By: Dark Lord Dixie

Dark Lord Dixie — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 10:49:31 +0000

Nice work, the pciture is haunting on it’s own but pulling all the info together and with the pciture. What a dark time, it’s easy to want to forget but important we remember what eveil we can cause when we forget we are all humans, all Americans and we are all equal regardless of color, creed or orientation

By: Hombre blanco del santo

Hombre blanco del santo — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 16:43:19 +0000

I do believe I was already aware of most of the individual components of the story; but you done a great job of bringing them together. I especially liked the line:

“It is an interesting fact that if an American citizen was born on, or before August 7th 1930 and was alive in 2009, then in a lifetime, that person has gone from Strange Fruit to Barack Obama being elected as president.”

By: Zaya

Zaya — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 09:07:41 +0000

Very very sad story, hope such it will never repeat. And let’s do our best to never let such things happen again!

By: Cathy

Cathy — Thu, 21 May 2009 22:54:44 +0000

I have seen the photo many times, but I did not know the story. I was amazed it did not happen in the South, but in the Mid-West. I read somewhere that race relations had been good in Marion, that it had a branch of the NAACP and two black policemen. If raw hatred can exist in a place like that, I suppose it can exist anywhere, simmering below the surface like a cancer. The thing I find the most terrifying about the Beitler photograph (apart from the appalling injuries that killed the two victims), is the man in the foreground pointing to them. He seems to be racism and hatred personified.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 21:10:48 +0000

I keep seeing comments from people who are proud and happy that we have come a long way. We have only come a long way if you only look at how some are treated. We still treat others just this badly. Abu Ghraib comes to mind as an example. There are too many people in the US who still think it is fine to torture, but since “torture” is not a nice word, let’s redefine “torture” and claim that water-boarding and other cruelties are not torture. People seem always willing to victimize, and it is especially easy for them when their victims are different from themselves in some way. It shouldn’t surprise us that non-human animals are treated worse than anyone else. Strangely, the same excuses are used to torture them, and the same responses are made when it is pointed out. The photo on this site of the lynching of Abram Smith and Thomas Shipp is a little cropped. If you saw the whole foreground you would see children, and a couple who look to be holding hands as if on a date. The crowd is happy and proud. They look no different from people going to a circus or sitting down to eat animals at dinner. Until we learn to stop victimizing animals we will continue victimizing each other because when we victimize animals we teach our children it is okay to be merciless to some, then where do we draw the line?

By: rutherfranc

rutherfranc — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 21:53:00 +0000

from 1930 to the election of Barrack Obama.. that`s still a long time.. very interesting and informative article.. glad I made a wrong turn somewhere that I was able to read this..but I`m checking the authors now instead of the sender..

By: Chris Stonecipher

Chris Stonecipher — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 17:48:11 +0000

Heartbreaking, emotional and informative. Thank you Chris!

By: thestickman

thestickman — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 00:20:07 +0000

I have wondered what the story behind that poem was :`-(

By: Lost in Arizona

Lost in Arizona — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:59:16 +0000

It’s difficult to wrap my mind around such horrific events in our history, but pictures such as the one shown is always the evidence behind such atrocities. Having grown up in the deep south of Arkansas in the 80’s, I can still remember to this day the ignorance of people. But look how far we’ve come now. By having Barack Obama as our president, hopefully now we can show how far we have come as a nation, and begin to work on a new nation where color is no longer a significance, and we are all the same.