Strange Fruit Lynching According to the Center for Constitutional Rights, between 1882 and 1968, mobs lynched 4,743 persons in the United States, over 70 percent of them African-Americans. Billie Holiday will sing it in 1939.

Mob violence against African-Americans served four functions within southern society during the lynching era: to eradicate specific persons accused of crimes against the white community; as a mechanism of state-sanctioned terrorism designed to maintain a degree of leverage over the African-American population;

as a symbolic manifestation of the unity of white supremacy". Mob violence against African-Americans served four functions within southern society during the lynching era: to eliminate or neutralize competitors for social, economic, or political rewards; and as a symbolic manifestation of the unity of white supremacy".

The Reasons Given for Black Lynchings: Acting suspiciously Gambling Quarreling Adultery Grave robbing Race hatred; Race troubles Aiding murderer Improper with white woman Rape Arguing with white man Incest Rape-murders Arson Inciting to riot Resisting mob Assassination Inciting trouble Robbery Attempted murder Indolence Running a bordello Banditry Inflammatory language Sedition Being disreputable Informing Slander Being obnoxious Injuring livestock Spreading disease Boasting about riot Insulting white man Stealing Burglary Insulting white woman Suing white man Child abuse Insurrection Swindling Conjuring Kidnapping Terrorism Courting white woman Killing livestock Testifying against white man Criminal assault Living with white woman Throwing stones Cutting levee Looting Train wrecking Defending rapist Making threats Trying to colonize blacks Demanding respect Miscegenation Trying to vote Disorderly conduct Mistaken identity Unpopularity Eloping with white woman Molestation Unruly remarks Entered white woman's room Murder Using obscene language Enticement Non-sexual assault Vagrancy Extortion Peeping Tom Violated quarantine Fraud Pillage Voodooism Plotting to kill Voting for wrong party Frightening white woman Poisoning well The Reasons Given for Black Lynchings:

Lynching of African American male, victim hanging in a tree, stripped, lower body wrapped in coarse blanket. Lynch mob. Circa 1900, location unknown. Remember dehumanization was the key to lynching, many were beaten and stripped and then lynched.

the lynching of an unidentified African American male in a coastal Georgia swamp. 1902 On back: Warning The answer of the Anglo-Saxon race to black brutes who would attack the womanhood of the South

Garfield Burley Curtis Brown Nebern, TN October, 1902 The lynching of Garfield Burley and Curtis Brown. October 8, 1902, Newbern, Tennessee.

Will James Cairo, IL November 1909 The lynching of Will James. Lynching scene.  Commercial Avenue jammed with spectators below the electrically lit Hustler's Arch. November 11, 1909, Cairo, Illinois. Will James Cairo, IL November 1909

Joseph Richardson Leitchfield, KY September, 1913 Joseph Richardson was removed from the county jail in Leitchfield by a mob and lynched on the public square at 1:00 a.m. on September 26, 1913. The mob presumed he had assaulted an eleven-year-old white girl named Ree Goff. The photographer who took this picture peddled the cards door to door. A descendent of the original purchaser expressed the remorse the townspeople felt upon recognizing the victim as the town drunk, who had "merely stumbled into the child, and not even torn her dress."

Jesse Washington Robinson, TX May, 1916 Charred corpse of Jesse Washington suspended from utility pole. May 16, 1916, Robinson, Texas Jesse Washington Robinson, TX May, 1916

Elias Clayton, 19 Elmer Jackson, 21 The lynching of nineteen-year-old Elias Clayton, nineteen-year-old Elmer Jackson, and twenty-year-old Isaac McGhie. June 15, 1920, Duluth, Minnesota. Elias Clayton, 19 Elmer Jackson, 21 Isaac McGhie, 21 Duluth, MI June, 1920

Unknown Center, TX August, 1920                                                  Unknown Center, TX August, 1920 Postcard depicting the lynching of Lige Daniels, Center, Texas, USA, August 3, 1920. The back reads, "This was made in the court yard in Center, Texas. He is a 16 year old Black boy. He killed Earl's grandma. She was Florence's mother. Give this to Bud. From Aunt Myrtle."

James Clark Eau Gallie, FL July, 1926 The lynching of James Clark, handcuffed. July 11, 1926, Eau Gallie, Florida. Ink inscription on reverse: "July 8, 1926. Rocky Water Camp Fla." Local newspapers reported that the chief of police and the sheriff were overtaken by a mob while transporting James Clark to trial in Titusville. It was the third lynching of a black man in that region in two months.

. Lynching of gagged black male hanging from a tree in autumn. Large crowd of onlookers, mostly boys. Circa 1920, location unknown

Lynchings were not reported in major newspapers like the New York Times, therefore the NAACP would hang this flag out of their office window whenever they heard of one in the South.

Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, lynched in Marion, Indiana, on August 7, 1930 is the inspiration for “Strange Fruit”

Strange Fruit 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. 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. Southern trees bear 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.