“Strange Fruit” Lyrics by Lewis Allan aka Abel Meeropol (Jewish teacher from New York) Sung by Billie Holiday in 1939

What is lynching? Lynching is an act of mob violence which results in the death or maiming of a person often suspected, charged, or convicted of a serious crime. Lynching is a group killing under the justification of serving justice, race or tradition. Lynching often occurs outside of the legal justice system.

Lynching in the RGV For 90 years, most Mexican Americans in South Texas have known the truth behind the myth — that during a reign of terror in 1915, Texas Rangers randomly lynched, shot and killed Tejanos, whose farms, ranches and land were coveted by Anglo land speculators.

Kirby Warnock, an Anglo baby boomer and Dallas filmmaker who grew up in Texas watching "The Lone Ranger," also grew up on alternative stories about the Rangers from his grandfather, Roland Warnock, a cowboy who worked on Guadalupe Ranch near Edinburg in the mid-1900s.

On Sept. 30, 1915, Roland Warnok witnessed the murder of two unarmed Tejanos — 68-year-old Jesus Bazan and his son-in-law Antonio Longoria — by Rangers in a Model T Ford. Bazan and Longoria were shot in the back, off their horses, as the Rangers passed by. Warnock found their bodies two days later and buried them where they remain today, on a lonely stretch of road 18 miles north of Edinburg.

Border Bandits Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAQhD4Iazjw

Discussion Were you aware that these atrocities happened to Mexicans? Did you know this happened in the RGV?

Lyrics 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. Pastoral scene of the gallant south, The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth, Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh, Then the sudden smell of burning flesh! Here is fruit for the crows to pluck, For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck, For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop, Here is a strange and bitter crop.

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.

Pastoral scene of the gallant south,

The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,

Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,

Then the sudden smell of burning flesh!

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,

For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,

For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,

Here is a strange and bitter crop.

Questions What is the author’s tone? What is the mood?

Strange Fruit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4ZyuULy9zs

Reflection When you finish annotating the song, cut it out and paste it in your journal. You will then write down the following reflection questions and answer them on your own.

Reflection Questions Does the tone of the song the way Billie Holiday performs it match up to the tone of the poem? Why do you think that when Abel (Lewis Allen) initially wrote the poem, he did not get a favorable response? Do you think that seeing people like Holiday and Allen have the courage to share their opinions on such a controversial topic encouraged others to do the same?