Miller says he was surprised to learn the song was written by a white Jewish guy from the Bronx. Strange Fruit, he says, took extraordinary courage both for Meeropol to write and for Holiday to sing. The 60s hadnt happened yet, he says. Things like that werent talked about. They certainly werent sung about. New York lawmakers didnt like Strange Fruit. In 1940, Meeropol was called to testify before a committee investigating communism in public schools. They wanted to know whether the American Communist Party had paid him to write the song. They had not — but, like many New York teachers in his day, Meeropol was a Communist.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Dec 2014 16:19:09 +0000
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