As Reconstruction passed into the Jim Crow Era, predominately African-American music such as jazz and blues evolved. This music explored and reflected the lived experience of African-Americans in America. This music also began advocating for social change. Songs that promoted social activism were rare before the mid 1960s. One of the earliest of these songs, “Strange Fruit,” was sung by the blues singer, Billie Holiday. She first sang it in a New York club in 1938. The song condemned American racism, particularly the lynching of African Americans that had occurred chiefly in the South but also in all regions of the United States. Holiday’s version of the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1978. It was also included in the list of Songs of the Century, by the Recording Industry of America and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Holiday said that because the imagery in Strange Fruit reminded her of her father, she persisted in singing it. The song begins with a paradox: Southern trees bear strange fruit/ Blood on the leaves and blood at the root. Holiday then reveals the strangeness of the trees: black bodies swinging in the southern breeze/ strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees. The song became a regular part of Holiday’s live performances. The song became an instant success and was most identified with Holiday. Numerous other singers have performed it. The song ultimately became the anthem of the anti-lynching movement. The dark imagery of the lyrics struck a chord. It also contributed to what would later become the Civil Rights movement of the 50s and 60s.