Race and the Democratic Aesthetic: Jefferson, Whitman, and Holiday on the Hopeful and the Horrific (Draft) Melvin L. Rogers Assistant Professor Emory University 561 S. Kilgo Circle 214 Bowden Hall Atlanta, GA 30322
[email protected] Western Political Science Association Annual Meeting Panel: Political Theory and Aesthetics Hollywood, CA March 28-30 Introduction They [citizens of Wisconsin and Missouri] had never heard of Billie Holiday, let alone “Strange Fruit.” … They had never heard anything remotely like this. … I remember one girl just broke down and started sobbing. I was propagandizing, spreading the word. It made an impact on people. For the first time in their lives it made them think about the lynching victims as humans, as people.1 Southern trees bear strange fruit Blood on the leaves Blood at the root Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees Pastoral scene of the gallant south2 America’s history is marked by a striking image—black bodies swinging in the southern breeze. Abel Meeropol—a Jewish American—first articulated the line in his 1937 published poem, “Bitter Fruit,” after viewing Lawrence Beitler’s graphic and horrific photo depicting the lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith (figure 1). Although Meeropol eventually put the words to music, it was jazz singer Billie Holiday’s haunting rendition of the song, now titled “Strange Fruit,” first recorded in 1939 that made it a classic.3 The shift from bitter to strange marks an important transition in understanding the meaning of lynching in America. For Meeropol’s use of bitter captures the unsavory quality of the image—an image whose bitterness would otherwise make it an unfit subject for human consumption.