Strange Fruit Sexism

Not everyone is blessed with musical talent but when someone has an extraordinary ability, he or she should get the chance to please others with it. Sometimes a career can be made out of musical endowment, and that is what Billie Holiday did. Billie had a life that she may not have dreamed of since it started out rough with her mistreatment from adults and discouraging misfortunes, but she was ambitious and that showed through her singing career. Billie could usually adapt to her life’s problems except for her drug addiction and alcohol abuse, which unfortunately led to her demise. She was a talented woman who sang and helped create hit songs that aided her to rise to fame. Billie Holiday bravely stood up to racism, showed the world her talent, and inspired many of her beloved fans, all while continuing to be herself and not allowing the issues in her life hold her back.

With every aspect of our lives we are making a point, arguing a belief, or refuting some other aspect of our existence. Aesthetic pieces, most avidly poems and songs, argue a message both in the lyrics and in the meaning posed between the lines. “American Pie,” in a multitude of ways, argues that American lives and memories are closely intertwined with the music of the time period. Not only does “American Pie” argue a message it also pulls many generations together. Today, thirty years after the initial release, “American Pie” still has an effect in our music and continues to be popular with all age groups. Don McLean accomplishes this task through using the context of the time period, placement of words, the words

Oranges are not the Only Fruit starts out when Jeanette is seven years old and living with her adoptive parents in England. Jeanette’s mother is very religious, and her father is not around much. She gets pretty lonely; until she is seven years old she has been homeschooled. Her mother is so religious that she even taught Jeanette how to read from the Bible. Because Jeanette’s mother is so religious, she almost brainwashes her daughter to become a missionary. However, once Jeanette begins school things change. When Jeanette is seven years old, she loses her hearing. Her mother and the church think it is something religious when it is really just a sickness, so she is admitted into the hospital. When Jeanette is well again so goes back

The story “Sonny’s Blues” By James Baldwin is about a jazz musician and his brother in 1950’s Harlem. The story centers on Sonny who uses jazz music as an escape from his depression. James Baldwin captures the art of jazz during this time period. The themes in this short story are perhaps varied, but all of them revolve around some form of suffering. One theme shows how music can promote change and understanding within relationships. A second theme reveals suffering caused by guilt. Yet another theme references the results of suffering brought about by searching for ones’ identity and how that leads to misunderstanding. There are also subthemes concerning racism and poverty.

In Alice Walker’s, Nineteen Fifty-Five, a young white singer, Traynor, acquires song rights from an African American rhythm and blues singer, Gracie Mae. The song makes Traynor rich and famous. Obsessed with finding out the song’s meaning, Traynor remains in contact with Gracie Mae through letters, gifts, and visits. The conflict of the story is in Traynor’s inability to ascertain the meaning of the song. Traynor eventually passes away, without ever resolving the conflict.

The 1930’s was a decade of extremely hard times, following the stock market crash and an extreme depression. In spite of the tremendous hardships in America during this decade, it also became a time of great music that is still remembered today. Jazz music was highly popular in this time, and Billie Holiday was a famous jazz performer. She stood out from many other musicians because of her intense and passionate performances. Jazz arose from “unacceptable” segments of society, but quickly grew like wildfire. We often think of the 1930’s as the decade that jazz became civilized, and famous throughout popular culture through the work of pioneering artists like Billie Holiday. People did not own televisions or cable, so radio was their main source of entertainment, and music during this decade was both up beat and a source of relaxation. “Strange Fruit” defied musical category because it was considered too artsy to be folk, and too explicitly political to fit into jazz. This is why “Strange Fruit” became such a powerful phenomenon. Many other artists later took on this song, changing the genre but still portraying the same message. Nina Simone dramatized “Strange Fruit” in the context of the Civil Rights Movement. More important artists like Jeff Buckley, Rene Marie, Labor Camp Orchestra, and many others made their own rendition on the song, still leaving all of their audiences moved by the powerful imagery of the lyrics.

Educationally, Billie was deprived. Never getting beyond the fifth grade, Billie was the victim of the educational restrictions that were imposed on many of those who dwelt in Black Ghettos (BB 67). As Billie grew older her education became a limitation. "This woman's talent and her looks, and yet in some ways she really had the mind of a 12-year-old" (BB 67). This lack of education would haunt Billie later in her career, a startling reminder of her childhood, and its definite shortcomings

For my second paper I decided to research Ethel Waters. Not knowing who she was prior, but once looking up her name my interest was sparked immediately. I learned a lot about who this extraordinary woman was. Ethel Waters was a famous African American blues, jazz, gospel vocalist and actress during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. Her life was truly a “Rags to Riches” story.

At the end of her life Billie’s personal life and career suffered. She didn’t have a cabaret card which is what was needed to work in New York City clubs at the time. She had no many in her bank account because she was cheated out of it. While she was dying she was arrested due to her heroin addiction. (www.numberonestars.com, 2010)

The bop era, which lasted from about 1945 to 1960, was also the period of cool

The instrumental of the song starts off very slow at the beginning we can hear a piano in the background that slowly begins to play. Over this soft piano sound we hear Nina Simone break through. She sets us up with an interesting imagery of strange fruit hanging. But she doesn’t get to the part that they are bodies just yet. The listener is confused by exactly what she means by the meaning of “strange fruit” since there is no context of what she is referencing inside of the song. Almost

Born on November 7th, 1943, in Fort Macleod, Canada, Joni Mitchell was quick to success. “After teaching herself how to play the guitar, she went off to art college and quickly emerged as one of the leading folk performers of the late 1960s and ‘70s.” (“Joni Mitchell”). Some of her most notable songs include “Big Yellow Taxi”, “Both Sides Now”, and “A Case of You”. “A Case of You” is arguably her most successful song. It was written in 1970 and later released on her album, Blue, in 1971. It has been covered by a multitude of artists and given her outrageous success in this music industry. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997, and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2007. She released her nineteenth, and final studio album, Shine, in 2007 which was her first album in nearly a decade. Since then, she has been battling a long line of ongoing heath issues. She contracted polio at the age of nine and has sought treatment for Morgellons disease. Additionally, in 2015 she suffered from an aneurysm, but has since then made a full recovery and is said to be living comfortably on her own.

In the novel Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, by Jeanette Winterson, most of the important, decision-making, characters are female. Jeanette, the female protagonist, is greatly influenced by her mother, a strong, overbearing, eccentric woman, and by Elsie, a prominent member of the family parish who becomes Jeanette's only friend and closest confidant. Elsie and Jeanette's mother act as polar forces in Jeanette's life, with the mother encouraging suppression of "unholy" or "unnatural" feelings and thoughts, and Elsie encouraging expression of feelings and accepting oneself for who one really is.

The poem’s words echo through your mind, revealing a haunting display. Eleanora Fagan, professionally known as Billie Holiday, performed Strange fruit. She sang the poem not in a melody, but in a screeching tone creating an alarming show. The timbre of her voice’s pitch was intense. In other words, the way Billie Holiday sang Strange Fruit in a serious voice, confirms that the poem is not to joke about because it is based on a true story. It is important to realize, that the poem relates to history because it demonstrates how demented racism dominated in the

Samuel can be seen as positive male character as he is shown to be a