Did you know it was a Jewish communist teacher and civil rights activist from the Bronx, Abel Meeropol, who wrote it, first as a poem, then later as a song. His inspiration? Meeropol came across a 1930 photo that captured the lynching of two Black men in Indiana. The visceral image haunted him for days and prompted him to put pen to paper.

​After he published “Strange Fruit” in a teachers union publication, Meeropol composed it into a song and passed it onto a nightclub owner, who then introduced it to Holiday.

When Holiday heard the lyrics, she was deeply moved by them — not only because she was a Black American but also because the song reminded her of her father, who died at 39 from a fatal lung disorder, after being turned away from a hospital because he was a Black man.

Because of the painful memories it conjured, Holiday didn’t enjoy performing “Strange Fruit,” but knew she had to. “It reminds me of how Pop died,” she said of the song in her autobiography. “But I have to keep singing it, not only because people ask for it, but because 20 years after Pop died, the things that killed him are still happening in the South.”

​Despite her tragic demise, Holiday has a lasting legacy in the world of jazz and pop music. She garnered 23 Grammys posthumously and was recently inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame.

Among the many songs that Holiday is celebrated for, “Strange Fruit” will always be one of her defining works. It allowed her to take what was originally an expression of political protest and transform it into a work of art for millions to hear.

In 1999 Time designated “Strange Fruit” the “song of the century.”