Submitted by sam on Tue, 06/24/2008 – 12:22.
One of the greatest jazz singers of all time, Billie Holiday battled deep-seated racism and sexism throughout her career to make her unique and powerful voice heard. With her shattering 1939 rendition of “Strange Fruit,” a deeply moving song about lynching in the Jim Crow South, Billie Holiday leveled a searing attack on racial injustice that shook audiences of all races to the core and left an indelible mark on the fight for civil rights in this country.
