“The shocking story of APPROVED KILLING IN MISSISSIPPI”
This article is the infamous confession of J. W. Milam and Roy Bryant to the kidnapping and killing of Emmett Till. Reporter William Bradford Huie reportedly paid the men $4,000 for their story. It appeared in Look Magazine January 24, 1956: 46–50.
The man behind “Strange Fruit” is Abel Meeropol, a poet and a social activist. In the 1930s Meerpol “was very disturbed at the continuation of racism in America, and seeing a photograph of a lynching sort of put him over the edge.” When Holiday decided to sing “Strange Fruit,” the song reached millions of people.
Southern trees bear a strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.
Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.
Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.