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

Some Abbey Lincoln for #jazz friends. A musical career that spanned from #BillyHoliday - adding lyrics to #Monk Bluemonk #BlackLiberation #civilrights with #WeInsist! - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbey_Lincoln - videos to follow

Billie Holiday performing “Strange Fruit” at Café Society (NYC’s first integrated nightclub) - 1939

#history #historic #music #billyholiday #segregation #racism

Billie Holiday performing “Strange Fruit” at Café Society (NYC’s first integrated nightclub) - 1939

#history #historic #music #billyholiday #segregation #racism