Strange Fruit

Before I read "Strange Fruit" by Angela Davis I wasn't completely sure who Billie Holiday was.  I had heard her name tossed around before but I didn't actually know she was a female. I like that Billie considered her song "Strange Fruit" her personal protest against racism. I believe that music and lyrics are something that are very personal. A single song can say so much, not only for the artist or author, but also to those who are listening to and interpreting it.  I found it interesting that at first it almost seemed like Billie didn't know exactly what she was singing about and just how much meaning and power the song had. At first it seemed to me that she just sang the song because she was asked to, and after she first sang the song was when it started to have more meaning towards her. For Billie  the song hit close to home when her father passed away when he did not receive treatment from inhaling poisonous gas because of segregated hospitals at the time. I think seeing her father unable to receive the help he deserved motivated her intentions behind the song.  Billie could also relate to the song because she her self as a African American female artist had to deal with racism to the full extent. As a vocalist in an all white band many people didn't want to hear her sing.  I could never imagine witness a lynching right in front of my eyes.  The lyrics "black bodies swinging in the southern breeze" makes me feel uneasy. Those lyrics creates an unpleasant image in my head and makes me feel sympathetic and ashamed for the victims of those lynchings.  It disgusts me that anyone could let alone preform this act and then take a picture and sell it.   This song had the power to waken the political activism that some people didn't know that they had because it brought attention to acts they might have been blind. The power of music is a very strong thing.