Today In Labor History April 7, 1915: Jazz legend, Billy Holiday, was born. She was one of the first to sing Abel Meeropol’s, “Strange Fruit,” and performed the most well-known version of the anti-lynching song. Soon after her first public performance of the song, in 1939, the new Federal Bureau of Narcotics started gunning for her. Harry Anslinger, who was a racist, prohibition zealot, led the assault. He hired a black agent provocateur, Jimmy Fletcher, to befriend her and sell her drugs. And Fletcher conducted her first drug bust.

https://youtu.be/-DGY9HvChXk

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #jazz #BillyHoliday #StrangeFruit #racism #addiction

Today in Labor History March 29, 1951: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage. They were executed at Sing Sing in 1953. The Rosenberg’s sons, Michael and Robert Meeropol (adopted by Abel Meeropol, the composer of “Strange Fruit,”), maintained their parents’ innocence. However, after the fall of the Soviet Union, decoded Soviet cables showed that their father had, in fact, collaborated. They continued to fight for the mother’s pardon, but Obama refused to grant it.

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #DeathPenalty #rosenbergs #espionage #ussr #soviet #communism #prison #SingSing #obama #StrangeFruit

Today in Labor History February 11, 1953: Cold War: U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower denied all appeals for clemency for Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. The government executed them at Sing Sing in 1953. They had been convicted of espionage for the USSR. Their sons, Michael and Robert Meeropol (adopted by Abel Merepol, composer of the anti-lynching song “Strange Fruit,”), maintained their parents’ innocence. However, after the fall of the Soviet Union, decoded Soviet cables showed that their father had collaborated. They continued to fight for the mother’s pardon, but Obama refused to grant it.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #rosenbergs #espionage #deathpenalty #execution #ussr #soviet #obama #eisenhower #StrangeFruit

#AngelaDavis “If those who were touched by [#BillieHoliday’s]‘#StrangeFruit’ were left feeling pity for Black victims of #racism, instead of compassion and solidarity, this pity would have recapitulated rather than contested the dynamics of racism. It would have affirmed rather than disputed the superior position of #whiteness.”

#UpcomingBirthdays #music

7 April

#BillieHoliday
#StrangeFruit with Lyrics on Screen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bckob0AyKCA

Thinking about Vacaville
& the blueIm flag down the street
& the big trees that i loved & grew up with
& the white neighbor boy who I once called a friend who yelled slurs at me
& who’s mom was afraid of me
& I can’t help but wonder if it could happen at home too. #StrangeFruit