The Story Of The Man Who Wrote 'Strange Fruit'

Abel Meeropol watches as his sons, Robert and Michael, play with a train set.
Courtesy of Robert and Michael Meeropol

In 1999, Time magazine named Strange Fruit the "song of the century." The lyrics address racism in the US and became singer  Billie Holiday's signature song. It was inspired by a photograph of a lynching and was written by Abel Meeropol, a white Jewish teacher from the Bronx.

Southern trees bear a strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black body swinging in the Southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Meeropol and his wife Anne also raised the two sons of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg who were executed for conspiring to give atomic secrets to the Soviet Union. It's a fascinating tale about a principled man.

Listen to the story at  NPR