On July 17, ...
... 1959, Billie Holiday, who'd been born Eleanora Fagan in Philadelphia 44 years earlier, died in New York City. The jazz great's work included "Strange Fruit," recorded April 20, 1939, a ballad that brought to tragic life lynchings in America at a time when politicians turned back bids to make the "strange and bitter crop" a federal crime. In a 2005, U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) cited the song in remarks supporting the Senate's apology for its failure to pass an anti-lynching law. (Lyrics are here, and a YouTube video of Holiday performing the work is below.)
