Elizabeth Kennedy
Steph Brown
ENG306
09/10/2016
Stranger Fruit
Strange Fruit, sent a message throughout history since Billie Holiday first performed it in 1939 at Café Society in New York City, with a solitary beam of light on her face, to a small, dead quiet crowd at the end of her set and well after the dinner service. The song was published in the New York Times, originally titled “Bitter Fruit”, two years before it ever hit the stage. The poem was spurned by the rage Abel Metropol, a teacher and activist, felt when he saw a now famous photograph of a lynching in Marion, Indiana of Tom Shipp and Abe Smith, the ‘strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees’. America at the time was either collectively ignoring the inhumanity of lynching, and the implications it would have for the prevailing white supremacy, or actively engaging in the act as though it were a spectacle, an ordinary amusement. Billie Holiday did what Mr. Metropol never could. She gave Strange Fruit a voice, indeed Tom and Abe got a voice and subsequently became a part of a much larger group of people who needed justice. The dead who by the power of song refused to be forgotten and the living who would demand equality.
Lynching has been used as a tool for punishment without due process for as long as America has been a free nation. A punishment that would range from hanging and shooting the victims to burning them at the stake or torture and mutilation. The history and statistics of lynchings leave a little accuracy to be wanted, but most experts agree that while it was not exclusive to the African American community, it was an effective and unfortunate method of terrorism against them. Before 1882 there are no reliable recorded statistics of lynchings in the United States and not for another ten years after did Tuskegee Institute begin to make a systematic collection and tabulation of lynching statistics and 1912 the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) began their independent record of lynchings in the United States. It’s hard to imagine a community that would attempt to excuse and justify such horrific acts of violence, but many lynchings were recorded with a ‘cause’, rape was the third greatest cause of lynchings behind homicides and 'all other causes'.
From 1930 to 1939 there were 202 lynchings in the United States. As far as anyone knows Billie Holiday never personally witnessed a lynching, she was from Baltimore, Maryland which wasn’t as saturated with lynchings as states further South. Ms. Holiday shared nothing more with the victims than racial identity and humanity, much in the same way that Mr. Metropol shared nothing more with Tom and Abe then fellow humanity. The metaphor in the song implies a beauty lost in the most grotesque way.
Works Cited
Margolick, David, and Hilton Als. Strange Fruit: Billie Holiday, Café Society, and an Early Cry for Civil Rights. N.p.: Harper Perennial, n.d. Print.
Sanburn, Josh. "ALL-TIME 100 Songs." Time. Time Inc., 21 Oct. 2011. Web. 14 Sept. 2016. references an originally printed Time article
Gibson, Robert A. "The Negro Holocaust: Lynching and Race Riots in the United ..." Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute. Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2016.
"History of Lynchings." NAACP. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2016.
"Lynching Statistics." For 1882-1968. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2016.
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ReplyDeleteLet us begin with the rhetorical situation. I like that you provided the context of the object, especially regarding how a photograph inspired the poem; however, when I was reading the first paragraph, I was confused about the relationship between Abel and Holiday until I saw your original topic post. Firstly, you wrote, “The poem was spurned by the rage Abel Metropol…”; I understood the sentence to mean that he wrote the poem, but I was unsure if the poem was the song. Thus, you should explain how the poem eventually became a song to clarify that. Regarding the audience and the purpose, I did not see those explicitly stated. You did say, “she gave Strange Fruit a voice, indeed Tom and Abe got a voice and subsequently became a part of a much larger group of people who needed justice”; I see an intimation of what could be the purpose of the performance. Thus, in the following sentence, you can state the purpose and the audience. Regarding the lynching statistics and the third paragraph, I do not think they will be necessary for understanding the rhetorical situation. Moving on to the rhetorical strategies, I did not see any analysis of ethos, pathos, or logos, but I assume that because your essay is a bit short, maybe you haven’t started to analyze them, but had plans to? I also did not see a thesis; unfortunately, with the lack of a thesis, the paragraphs seem to be disorganized, although the individual paragraphs themselves are nicely organized with a topic sentence.
ReplyDeleteOverall, I think what you have written is a good start to the essay. It is unquestionably interesting; you definitely captured my attention with the first sentence, which was wonderfully written by the way (very descriptive). My suggestion is that you finish your essay by analyzing the rhetorical strategies utilized and consider my other aforementioned suggestions.
For the beginning of the piece, the context is very clear and visual. In fact, you mention “the solitary light on her face.” I assume you weren’t actually present during Holiday’s performance in this situation, and if that’s the case, I would explain how you would know that specific piece of information because if a reader if skeptical, then it could damage your ethos. Other than that, the detail about the performance (when, where, etc) is very specific and hooks the reader into the piece.
ReplyDeleteWhen looking at the details of the lynching, it may be too specific. The sections with the statistics I feel is a bit excessive. It elucidates the extent of the lynching, but if you think it’s effective and not too distracting when looking at the rhetorical analysis of the song, then you can keep the statistics. I also feel when the statistics were being complied isn’t relevant and can be excluded.
It’s clear the paper isn’t complete so I understand there isn’t ethos, logos, pathos. That would be the global revision that would be needed. However, the specific rhetorical strategies should be mentioned in the thesis statement. That would better formation the paper around the rhetorical strategies to help guide the analysis. Also, for local revisions, I would change the language a little bit. Specifically, the sentence “the dead boy by the power of the song refused to be forgotten” makes the analysis a little more abstract in terms of figurative language. The language is beautiful, but the audience of this paper is academics.
Going with Kathy, I also didn’t see an audience stated as well. It would be a good idea to mention the audience early on as well to provide a framework for who the audience is directed to.
A) Finish paper i.e. rhetorical analysis
ReplyDeleteB) clarify audience
C) extrapolate context from source of inspiration photograph as apposed to statistical information
D) clarify details i.e. poem as context, Metropol as author of poem
E) Maybe consider actually writing a thesis?
Elizabeth, I’m really glad to see you chose to write about this song. It’s a powerful song, a great piece of art. It’s a perfect song to use because of its meaning and because of the dark history which it was birthed from. In the beginning of the paper you should maybe explain how the song was an adaptation of the poem, because as a reader when I see the two names you mentioned, I question if they knew about each other of if they worked together, or things like that. Also, its good that you touched on the photograph of the lynching’s in Indiana but maybe it goes too hard for the analysis?? However, as a reader, the info and the stats you provided in the draft kind of adds credibility to the content but maybe it shouldn’t all be in there. I don’t know if it would really be needed to get the rhetoric of the analysis, but I know where you’re coming from and what you’re trying to accomplish, but we’re in the same page, we need to be really nit picky here and be critical or what goes and doesn’t. You should just make the thesis clearer and more direct. The organization could also be improved but you’re not far off. If there was a clear thesis it would set the whole thing up for success and the organization will come easier. I like the whole idea of doing it on this song and whatever approach or rhetorical situation you want to analyze is great, but you should include some ethos, pathos and logo analysis, and don’t worry so do I, so I know this from looking back at my stuff as well. I understand it’s a work in progress so no worries, but also address more of who the audience is or was. There was an audience watching Billie perform it back in the day, like at that café, but who’s the audience now and who really was it then? Who’s the audience in society? You know? It’s a good start and it definitely has the potential to be interesting, informative and moving. You’re not far off, keep the good ideas flowing!
ReplyDelete