Anti-lynching anthem's Jewish roots
By Enid Weiss
April 11, 2008

When the 57-minute film "Strange Fruit" ended, the audience at Highland Park Conservative Temple-Congregation Anshe Emeth was silent for a moment before applauding.

Likewise, they were attentive to two speakers discussing the film, but asked few questions. For a group that usually has several questions and comments, there were only a couple at the most recent showing from the synagogue's Jewish Film Series. The film's title refers to an anti-lynching anthem by the same name, performed by Billie Holiday and written by a Jewish schoolteacher from the Bronx.

"For me ‘Strange Fruit' didn't begin with the writing of the song, but with the substance of history of blacks in this country," said Pearl Bowser, director of African Diaspora Images, a collection of historical and contemporary films documenting black film history. Her book, "Writing Himself into History: Oscar Micheaux, his Silent Films, and his Audiences," was published in 2000 by Rutgers University Press.

"There's a whole residue -- research, stories told in church, stories told by my grandparents and other stories people share," Bowser said. "Lynching is not just a hanging. There are a whole lot of other issues going on."

"Strange Fruit" was written by Lewis Allan in the late 1930s. Allan was a pseudonym for Abel Meeropol, a Jewish teacher from the Bronx who wrote songs, poems, and prose. Meeropol later adopted the children of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg after their execution for treason. While Meeropol and his wife, Anne, were never officially members of the American communist party, he had strong ties to it and was an active member of the teachers' union.

The film included comments from several black musicians and Meeropol's adult sons (Robert and Michael) who discuss the anti-lynching movement, popular culture, the labor movement, and Judaism. It also includes comments about Meeropol's libel suit against Holiday. In her autobiography, Holiday insinuated she, fellow musician Sonny White, and Meeropol wrote the song together. Meeropol was the sole creator of both lyrics and music.

"I think what's interesting is the relationship between Jewish and blacks," said Leslie Fishbein, a member of the film series committee and associate professor of American Studies at Rutgers University, as she introduced "Strange Fruit". She asked whether the protests depicted are "peculiar to blacks or endemic to racism and anti-Semitism? Very seldom does Judaism and lynching get put together."

The two came together when Leo Frank was lynched in 1915. Fishbein discussed how Frank was arrested and convicted of the 1913 murder of a 13-year-old girl. His sentence was later commuted to life in prison but a lynch mob attacked prison guards, kidnapped Frank, and hanged him.

"Jews are not people who simply [watch] lynching, but are also victims," Fishbein said. "Look at the film and consider whether the film intends to be universal or a black film."

Synagogue President Samuel Kamens was in the audience and walked out thinking about the documentary, the song and pondered Fishbein's question and Bowser's comments.

"The fact that the song was written by a Jewish composer highlights the role that Jews played in the Civil Rights movement," Kamens said. "The song continues to resonate with listeners today; it's just too bad there are still times when it still needs to be invoked."