Strange Fruit

originally from 4/23/06 now with google video version of the linked slide show

Listening to Strange Fruit reminded me of some very powerful passages from Striver's Row where Kevin Baker provides the background for Elijah Muhammed's conversion to the Muslim faith. The scenes take place in Elijah's (born Elijah Poole) hometown of Sandersville, Georgia where he comes upon the sights of ritualistic lynchings. Later he would see postcards of these lynchings along with packets of fabric of the clothing of those murdered and other "memorabilia" for sale in local stores. It provides the impetus or his move to Detroit. I combined some of these archived images with Billie's version of Strange Fruit. Beware of the graphic nature. Many of the images come from this excellent sight called withoutsanctuary. The images include lynchings of perceived non-black outside agitators as well. There is also a new powerful film on the murder of Emmett Till (emmetttillstory). The library of congress has series on the anti-lynching crusades of the early 1900's.The pbs site also has a story on the show it produced on the fasscinating history of the song Strange Fruit