Good morning Motley Meese! She’s baaaack! Hope your weekend was lovely.
PLEASE Don’t Recommend the check-in diary!
Fierces on the weather jar comment are still welcome.
The check-in is an open thread and general social hour. Come back when time allows through the day – the conversation continues.
It’s traditional but not obligatory to give us a weather check where you are and let us know what’s new, interesting, challenging or even routine in your life lately. Nothing is particularly obligatory here except:
I post a weekly diary of historical notes, arts & science items, foreign news (often receiving little notice in the US) and whimsical pieces from the outside world that I often feature in “Cheers & Jeers”.
OK, you’ve been warned – here is this week’s tomfoolery material that I posted.
ART NOTES – an exhibition entitled When the Greeks Ruled Egypt is at the Art Institute of Chicago through July 27th.
IN ITS LOOK in the run-up to the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War, the BBC has a look (in photos) of Paris in 1914 before the “lights went out” in Europe.
THE OTHER NIGHT yours truly hosted the Top Comments diary with a look at the 1939 anti-lynching song Strange Fruit – quite possibly the most important song of the 20th Century.
REGARDLESS OF WHICH CANDIDATE is elected later this year, the city of Paris, France will have its first female mayor.
YUK for today – the blogger Ed Kilgore on the decreasing role of political conventions:
Now, conventions aren’t totally useless. There’s something to be said for the painfully obvious display of the GOP’s lack of diversity; every time the camera shifts from the podium to the delegates, it looks like a Lawrence Welk Show episode gone very bad.
THURSDAY’s CHILD is an Arizona kitteh who survived a townhouse fire (with help from a firefighter’s oxygen mask), was taken to a local veterinarian and is doing well.
ATTENTION, READERS – posted last month in this space was this year’s quiz from King William’s College (a prep school located on the UK’s Isle of Man) – with said quiz known as its General Knowledge Paper officially.
It consists of 18 groups of 10 questions – the first section on events 100 years ago, and the last on events of 2013. Each group has a common theme (though perhaps not immediately recognizable) that helps if you can answer at least one of that group’s questions – and is among the most difficult general knowledge quizzes on earth (quite British literature-laden, as you might well imagine) in part to being very cryptic.
At this link is the 2013-14 year’s quiz if you didn’t have a chance to take it.
Well, now the answers are available at this link – and yours truly maintained my blistering 2012-2013 total … of 2 (out of 180) correct.
FRIDAY’s CHILD is a West Virginia kitteh found frozen to an Ohio County bridge … but improving every day, and is now able to use the litter box and eat and drink on her own.
HAIL and FAREWELL to baseball Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner – a beloved broadcaster (from my youth) of the New York Mets since their inception in 1962 (although semi-retired the past decade or so) – who has died at the age of 91 …. and Maxine Kumin – the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet – who has died at the age of 88.
HANG TOUGH to the actor Leonard Nimoy – who revealed that is suffering from lung disease (despite stopping smoking 30 years ago) and urging his 808k Twitter followers to ‘quit now’.
FATHER-SON? – the late Dr. Zachary Smith (as portrayed by Jonathan Harris in “Lost in Space”) and venture capitalist Tom Perkins – whose use of the phrase Kristallnacht (in a Wall Street Journal “Oh, the pain” letter to the editor) garnered widespread criticism.
……. and finally, for a song of the week …………… a singer who cyclically falls in-and-out of mass appeal but never goes out-of-style is Patti LaBelle who has been recording since 1962 and has sold in excess of 50 million records. While her style of music isn’t always mine – and sometimes far from it – her voice is one that I’ll leave the radio/TV on whenever she is singing: you can always be surprised, it’s that special.
The Philadelphia native was born Patricia Holt in 1944 and after a stint in her church choir formed a vocal quartet that (in 1961) was named the Blue Belles. The head of Newtown Records thought her to be too plain to be the group’s lead singer … until he heard her voice. Then he suggested a name change: “LaBelle” to say “the beautiful”.
In addition to Sarah Dash, the quartet featured two others who would make a name for themselves: Nona Hendryx and Cindy Birdsong as well. They began (in those pre-Beatles days) with a doo-wop sound: I Sold My Heart to the Junkman was a 1940’s tune they made popular, and they also recorded their versions of old chestnuts: “Danny Boy”, “You’ll Never Walk Alone” and “Over the Rainbow”.
After also singing back-up for Wilson Pickett’s 634-5789 in 1967, Patti was upset when Cindy Birdsong announced that she would be Florence Ballard’s replacement in The Supremes (and would not even speak to Cindy for nearly twenty years). The remaining group continued in a mainstream R&B mode for the rest of the decade.
In 1970, the band came under the management of Englishwoman Vicki Wickham – Dusty Springfield’s manager – who re-named the band LaBelle. Their music changed into a more funky (and even rock-oriented) sound. They performed with Laura Nyro on her Gonna Take a Miracle album and they even toured with The Who (which had an interesting twist years later).
The group by 1973 had also “gone glam” – with Patti taking to wearing silver wigs – and were (a) the first African-American act to perform at New York’s Metropolitan Opera House, as well as (b) the first black vocal group to make the Rolling Stone cover. 1975’s Lady Marmalade – the ‘Voulez-vous you-know-what’ tune – reached #1, which proved to be their peak. After seventeen years together, LaBelle disbanded in 1977 and its members began solo careers.
Patti’s own solo career began modestly; medium-sized hits with “Joy to Have Your Love” and “You Are My Friend”. She also appeared with Al Green in a Broadway Your Arms Too Short to Box with God revival. But it was her signing with hometown label Philadelphia International in 1983 that jump-started her career. The ballad If You Only Knew reached #1 on the R&B charts and did well on the pop charts.
Her two songs for the “Beverly Hills Cop” film, New Attitude and Stir it Up also sold well. She reached #1 on the pop charts again in 1986 with the On My Own duet with Michael McDonald. Her recording of If You Asked Me To was only a modest hit; she was upset that Céline Dion’s later, similar version charted much higher than hers, citing racial attitudes on behalf of the public.
In the past twenty-five years she’s had only one minor hit (“A New Day” in 2004). But she’s been quite busy: finally releasing an oft-promised Gospel album in 2006 …. a Christmas album the next year ….. and in 2008 she reunited with Sarah Dash and Nona Hendryx to release their first group album in thirty-two years.
She’s been just as busy off the concert stage: a role on the NBC A Different World sitcom, releasing her autobiography in 1995 and has not only recorded diabetes commercials: she even has her own food company (complete with cookbooks) for those living with the disease.
After nearly fifty years, her career has garnered many honors: among them, 2 Grammy Awards, a Songwriters Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement Award, an honorary degree from Temple University in 2010, and in 2009 was inducted into Harlem’s Apollo Theater Hall of Fame.
Such is her fame that while attending a recent Broadway show she was serenaded from the stage plus – acknowledging her large gay following – announced her support for same-sex marriage. Yet she balks at being called a diva – feeling that it is bandied about too freely. At age 69, it’s reasonable to expect that Patti Labelle may have some more surprises for us.
And while “If You Only Knew” can stand with the best of her material: I was surprised one night to see her performing an old rock standard on TV. When Ken Russell released his film version of Tommy in 1975, it was Tina Turner who played the role that calls for this song.
But in the 1989 reunion tour by The Who, it was their old touring friend Patti LaBelle whom they called upon to sing The Acid Queen – as this song gains so much by having a woman sing it.
And at this link you can see Patti LaBelle sing it with The Who and hear for yourself.
Fierces on the Weather Critter Comment are obligatory welcome.
The morning check-in is an open thread posted to give you a place to visit with the meeses. Feel free to chat about your weather, share a bit of your life, grump (if you must), rave (if you can). The diarist du jour sometimes posts and runs, other times sticks around for a bit, often returns throughout the day and always cares that meeses are happy … or at least contented.
On weekends (and holidays), you may find the check-in thread earlier or later than normal because … it is the weekend! Moosies need their beauty rest:
For those new to the Moose, Kysen left a Moose Welcome Mat (Part Deux) so, please, wipe your feet before you walk in the front door start posting.
The important stuff to get you started:
– Comments do not Auto-refresh. Click the refresh/reload on your tab to see new ones. Only click Post once for comments. When a diary’s comment threads grow, the page takes longer to refresh and the comment may not display right away.
– To check for replies to your comments, click the “My Comments” link in the right-hand column (or go to “My Moose”). Comments will be listed and a link to Recent Replies will be shown. (Note: Tending comments builds community)
– Ratings: Fierce means Thumbs Up, Fail means Thumbs Down, Meh means one of three things: I am unFailing you but I can’t Fierce you, I am unFiercing after a mistaken Fierce … or Meh. Just Meh. (p.s. Ratings don’t bestow mojo, online behaviour does).
– The Recommended list has a prominent place on the Front Page because it reflects the interests of the Moose. When people drive-by, we want them to see what we are talking about: news, politics, science, history, personal stories, culture. The list is based on number of recs and days on the list. Per Kysen: “The best way to control Rec List content is to ONLY rec diaries you WANT to see ON the list.”
– Finally, the posting rules for a new diary: “Be excellent to each other… or else”
(Some other commenting/posting/tending notes for newbies can be found in this past check-in and, of course, consult Meese Mehta for all your questions on meesely decorum.)
The Raging Grannies of the Triangle region, a local chapter of a larger international organization, will be out in full force Saturday at Raleigh’s Historic Thousands on Jones Street protest, clad in flowered hats and knitted shawls. The grannies advocate for progressive issues like women’s rights, education reform, racial equality and environmental protection.
“We are so frustrated by having to do this all over again,” said Vicki Ryder, a 71-year-old member of the Raging Grannies, who remembers marching for civil rights and advocating for safe, legal abortions. “We feel like we’re just being dragged back 50 years – and walking backwards is not a happy walk.”
When the Rev. William Barber II was 5 years old, he remembers his mother crying, bent over a black-and-white television screen, and his father returning from work stricken with tears.
He later learned that his parents were grieving the death of Martin Luther King Jr.
It is his only memory from the civil rights era, the decade that Barber missed, as he was born two days after the 1963 March on Washington.
But now, 50 years later, Barber is the face of a new kind of civil rights movement – Moral Mondays. He’s the president of the state branch of the NAACP, and has orchestrated statewide demonstrations that have steadily gained momentum, culminating in the march that will encompass downtown Raleigh on Saturday.
In this week’s address, President Obama says he will do everything he can to make a difference for the middle class and those working to get into the middle class, so that we can expand opportunity for all and build an economy that works for the American people
Hi, everybody. In my State of the Union Address, I talked about the idea of opportunity for all.
Opportunity is the idea at the heart of this country – that no matter who you are or how you started out, with hard work and responsibility, you can get ahead.
I ran for President to restore that idea, and I’m even more passionate about it today. Because while our economy has been growing for four years, and those at the top are doing better than ever, average wages have barely budged. Too many Americans are working harder than ever just to get by, let alone get ahead – and that’s been true since long before the recession hit.
We’ve got to reverse those trends. We’ve got to build an economy that works for everyone, not just a fortunate few. And the opportunity agenda I laid out last week will help us do that.
It’s an agenda with four parts. Number one: more new jobs. Number two: training folks with the skills to fill those jobs. Number three: guaranteeing every child access to a world-class education. And number four: making sure that hard work pays off, with wages you can live on, savings you can retire on, and health insurance that’s there when you need it.
I want to work with Congress on this agenda where I can. But in this year of action, whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American families, I will. I’ve got a pen and a phone – a pen to take executive action, and a phone to rally citizens and business leaders who are eager to create new jobs and new opportunities. And we’ve already begun.
In Wisconsin, I ordered an across-the-board reform of our training programs to train folks with the skills employers need, and match them to good jobs that need to be filled right now.
In Pittsburgh, I directed the Treasury to create “my-RA,” a new way for working Americans, even if you’re not wealthy, to start your own retirement savings.
In Maryland, I rallied the leaders of some of America’s biggest tech companies to help us make sure all our kids have access to high-speed internet and up-to-date technology to help them learn the skills they need for the new economy.
And at the White House, I brought together business leaders who’ve committed to helping more unemployed Americans find work, no matter how long they’ve been looking. And I directed the federal government to make hiring decisions the same way – based on whether applicants can do the job, not when they last had a job.
So when you hear me talk about using my pen and my phone to make a difference for middle class Americans and those working to get into the middle class, that’s what I mean. And I’m going to keep asking students and parents and business leaders to help – because there are millions of Americans outside Washington who are tired of stale political arguments, ready to move this country forward, and determined to restore the founding vision of opportunity for all.
And so am I. Thanks, have a great weekend, and to our Olympians in Sochi, go Team USA!
Bolding added.
~
Editor’s Note: The President’s Weekly Address diary is also the weekend open news thread. Feel free to leave links to other news items in the comment threads.
Fierces on the Weather Critter Comment are obligatory welcome.
The morning check-in is an open thread posted to give you a place to visit with the meeses. Feel free to chat about your weather, share a bit of your life, grump (if you must), rave (if you can). The diarist du jour sometimes posts and runs, other times sticks around for a bit, often returns throughout the day and always cares that meeses are happy … or at least contented.
On weekends (and holidays), you may find the check-in thread earlier or later than normal because … it is the weekend! Moosies need their beauty rest:
For those new to the Moose, Kysen left a Moose Welcome Mat (Part Deux) so, please, wipe your feet before you walk in the front door start posting.
The important stuff to get you started:
– Comments do not Auto-refresh. Click the refresh/reload on your tab to see new ones. Only click Post once for comments. When a diary’s comment threads grow, the page takes longer to refresh and the comment may not display right away.
– To check for replies to your comments, click the “My Comments” link in the right-hand column (or go to “My Moose”). Comments will be listed and a link to Recent Replies will be shown. (Note: Tending comments builds community)
– Ratings: Fierce means Thumbs Up, Fail means Thumbs Down, Meh means one of three things: I am unFailing you but I can’t Fierce you, I am unFiercing after a mistaken Fierce, or Meh. Just Meh. (p.s. Ratings don’t bestow mojo, online behaviour does).
– The Recommended list has a prominent place on the Front Page because it reflects the interests of the Moose. When people drive-by, we want them to see what we are talking about: news, politics, science, history, personal stories, culture. The list is based on number of recs and days on the list. Per Kysen: “The best way to control Rec List content is to ONLY rec diaries you WANT to see ON the list.”
– Finally, the posting rules for a new diary: “Be excellent to each other… or else”
(Some other commenting/posting/tending notes for newbies can be found in this past check-in and, of course, consult Meese Mehta for all your questions on meesely decorum.)
In 1497, the “bonfire of the vanities” occurred when supporters of Girolamo Savonarola (who made a habit of this sort of thing) burned thousands of objects like cosmetics, art, and books in Florence, Italy.
In 1795, the 11th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified. The amendment ruled that federal courts had the authority to hear cases in law and equity brought by private citizens against states and that states did not enjoy sovereign immunity from suits made by citizens of other states in federal court.
In 1898, writer Émile Zola was brought to trial for libel for publishing J’Accuse, an open letter that accused the French government of anti-Semitism in their jailing of Alfred Dreyfuss.
In 1962, President John F. Kennedy imposed a full trade embargo on Cuba.
In 1964, the Beatles arrived in New York for their first American tour, kicking off rock ‘n’ roll’s “British invasion.”
In 1991, Jean-Bertrand Aristide was sworn in as Haiti’s first democratically elected president.
In 1992, European Community members signed the Maastricht Treaty, which led to creation of the euro.
In 2011, AOL Inc. announced the $315 million purchase of The Huffington Post website.
Born on This Day
1478 – Sir Thomas More, English statesman, humanist and author (d. 1535)
1606 – Nicolas Mignard, French painter (d. 1668)
1741 – Henry Fuseli, Swiss artist (d. 1825)
1804 – John Deere, American manufacturer (Deere & Company) (d. 1886)
1812 – Charles Dickens, English novelist (d. 1870)
1823 – George Washington Wilson, Scottish photographer and painter (d. 1893)
1830 – José Tapiro y Baro, Spanish painter (d. 1913)
1837 – Philip Sadee, Dutch painter (d. 1904)
1837 – José Jiménez y Aranda, Spanish painter (d. 1903)
1862 – Bernard Maybeck, American architect who designed some of the finest buildings in the Bay Area (d. 1957)
1867 – Laura Ingalls Wilder, American author (d. 1957)
1885 – Sinclair Lewis, American writer, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1951)
1887 – Eubie Blake, American musician and composer (d. 1983)
1889 – Harry Nyquist, important contributor to information theory (d. 1976)
1895 – Anita Stewart, American film actress (d. 1961)
1898 – Dock Boggs, American musician (d. 1971)
1908 – Buster Crabbe, American swimmer and actor (d. 1983)
1912 – Russell Drysdale, Australian Artist (d. 1981)
1912 – Roberta McCain, American, mother of John McCain
1915 – Eddie Bracken, American actor (d. 2002)
1918 – Markey Robinson, Northern Irish painter (d. 1999)
1927 – Juliette Gréco, French singer and actor and fashion icon
1934 – King Curtis, American saxophonist (d. 1971)
1934 – Earl King, American musician (d. 2003)
1946 – Pete Postlethwaite, English actor (d. 2011)
1949 – Joe English, American drummer (Wings, Sea Level)
1955 – Miguel Ferrer, American actor
1956 – Emo Philips, American comedian
1960 – James Spader, American actor
1962 – Garth Brooks, American singer
1962 – David Bryan, American musician (Bon Jovi)
1962 – Eddie Izzard, British actor and comedian
1965 – Chris Rock, American actor and comedian
1968 – Sully Erna, American singer (Godsmack)
1974 – J Dilla, American record producer (d. 2006)
1974 – Danny Goffey, British musician (Supergrass)
1975 – Wes Borland, American guitarist (Limp Bizkit)
1978 – Ashton Kutcher, American actor
Died on This Day
1801 – Daniel Chodowiecki, Polish etcher and illustrator (b. 1726)
1808 – Jan van Os, Dutch painter, specializing in seascapes and still life (b. 1744)
Good morning! It’s Friday! I’ve done this gig for a week now, and haven’t blown the place up yet! I’m even impressed.
Friday Coffee Hour and check-in is an open thread and general social hour. Come back when time allows through the day – the conversation continues.
It’s traditional but not obligatory to give us a weather check where you are and let us know what’s new, interesting, challenging or even routine in your life lately. Nothing is particularly obligatory here except:
A wide-angle look at one of the – if not the – most important songs of the 20th Century, seventy-five years after its recording, following the jump …………
This is not the first account (nor the last) you may read that will examine the impact and legacy of the 1930’s anti-lynching song Strange Fruit – indeed, our own Denise Oliver Velez has a personal connection with the song, and it has been touched upon by several others … that you likely may be quite familiar with it.
Still, not everyone is familiar with it (nor with its back-story). Plus, I think its lineage (from poem to song to performance to recording to legacy) is one that deserves an overview with photos of the critical figures – and that is what I will attempt to do here. Whether this account is successful … you’ll have to be the judge.
——————————————————————————————
While it was the 1955 murder of Emmett Till that truly shook the nation to what was going on, it had been going on for decades. According to the Center for Constitutional Rights, between 1882 and 1968(!) mobs lynched 4,749 persons in the United States, over 70 percent of them African Americans. Often lynching photographs were sold as postcards if you can believe it.
Twenty-five years before the murder of Emmett Till, it was a 1930 photograph taken by Lawrence Beitler – of the lynchings of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith in Marion, Indiana – that begins our Strange Fruit journey.
While many have recorded the song over the years (as will be recounted later) it was the Billie Holiday version that remains the definitive one to most. One more recent (instrumental) version was recorded by pianist Herbie Hancock and Marcus Miller (playing bass clarinet). And like most people, Marcus Miller assumed that – if Billie Holiday did not write the song herself – surely it was another African-American whose life was touched by this crime. (Especially if one sees the writer’s credit attributed to Lewis Allan).
It turns out that ‘Lewis Allan’ was the pseudonym for Abel Meeropol – an English teacher at DeWitt Clinton high school in the Bronx, New York. He adopted that nom-de-plume after two children he and his wife were expecting were stillborn – and they gave them the names … Lewis and Allan. Meeropol often wrote poetry and at times would ask others to write music for some of his poems.
But when he saw the image of that lynching mentioned above, he was upset enough to write his famous poem, and also the music for it (as it was that stirring). Various accounts have him publishing this poem in a 1937 teacher’s union publication first, then performing it at a teacher’s union meeting. Meeropol, his wife and the African-American vocalist Laura Duncan performed it at a Madison Square Garden rally one summer.
Let’s pause for a moment to look at the rest of the life of Abel Meeropol, who eventually left teaching and made his way to Hollywood following the success of Strange Fruit. Before he left, he was called before a New York legislative hearing, where he (who, like many teachers, had been a member of the Communist Party) was asked if the Party had paid him to write the song? He said no, that anti-racism was a trait held by many in the Party.
In Hollywood, he left the Communist Party and had one other notable song as part of his legacy. In 1945, he wrote a song about tolerance called The House I Live In – which was sung by Frank Sinatra – in a film short that later won an Academy Award.
One other part of his life should be noted. He and his wife Anne were attending a 1953 Christmas party at the home of civil rights leader W.E.B. DuBois where they met two boys (ages six and ten) named Robert and Michael Rosenberg, the (now orphaned) sons of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg – who had been executed on espionage charges earlier (below photo left). In time, the two boys went to live with the Meeropols, who later adopted them (photo right, with Anne). Both became university professors, and are still alive and active in social issues today. Abel Meeropol died in 1986 of pneumonia at the age of 83.
Returning to the late 1930’s … accounts differ, but according to one account Abel Meeropol brought the song to the attention of Barney Josephson – the owner of Greenwich Village’s Café Society – believed to be New York’s first integrated nightclub. Josephson (photo left below) saw the power of the song … and knew just the performer to make it happen, whom he introduced to Abel Meeropol.
There has been so much written about the jazz singer Billie Holiday – some true, some arguable, some false – that it is beyond the scope of this essay to speak much about her. Indeed, another account of the song’s lineage is that her manager heard it at the Madison Square Garden performance and brought it to her attention first. Suffice it to say, the legacy of Billie Holiday (photo below right) as a singer during the golden age of jazz is secure. I agree with one writer who described her work as best heard on a Sunday morning … and I do at times.
She was fearful of performing the song – as the musician Marcus Miller notes, “The 60’s hadn’t happened yet. Things like that just weren’t talked about. They certainly weren’t sung about.” But because the imagery reminded her of her father, she made it a staple of her performances.
Barney Josephson had some house rules for her renditions:
1) It would be her closing tune, 2) no waiter service was available then, 3) the room would be in darkness but for a single spotlight on her, and 4) there would be no encore.
The next step was to have the song recorded … but Columbia Records was so fearful of reactions from record dealers in the South that it balked. Even her producer at Columbia, the legendary John Hammond – a civil rights advocate himself (photo left below) – did not want to be involved with the song (as he thought the imagery was too graphic and would harm her career).
She turned to the president of Commodore Records, which was a specialty label of the day that took on unusual recordings. Milt Gabler went on to a legendary career in the recording industry – enshrined in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a non-performer – and his nephew Billy Crystal put together a documentary on his career (photo right).
Gabler is reported to have cried when Holiday sang the song unaccompanied to him and – after securing a release from Columbia Records for Billie to record one session out-of-contract – arranged for one of his subsidiary labels to release the song. Gabler, worried that the song was too short, asked her pianist to put together a longer intro, to build the scene for the vocals when it was recorded on April 20, 1939 in New York.
Billie Holiday’s recording eventually sold a million copies. In October 1939, Samuel Grafton of The New York Post described “Strange Fruit”: “If the anger of the exploited ever mounts high enough in the South, it now has its ‘Marseillaise’.” Yet for years, it was not spoken of much in black families (where the subject matter was too painful) and its appeal was limited to progressive northern and western cities. Unsurprisingly, it was banned from South African radio during the apartheid era.
After the Emmett Till murder and the beginning of the civil rights era, that began to change. Bob Dylan was among those listing it as a personal inspiration (his song Desolation Row refers to the 1930 photo that began the process) and the late Ahmet Ertegun (of Atlantic Records) considered it to be a “declaration of war – the beginning of the civil rights era”. Among those who have recorded the tune are Nina Simone, UB40, Jeff Buckley, Diana Ross, Lou Rawls, Sting, Josh White, Nona Hendryx, Tori Amos and Cassandra Wilson.
Seventy-five years later, the song’s legacy is strong. In 1999, Time Magazine called it the Song of the Century, then in 2002 the Library of Congress added it to its National Recording Registry and was voted as Number One in the 100 Songs of the South by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. A 1944 novel entitled Strange Fruit was later made into an opera – which premiered in 2007. A documentary by PBS in 2003 told the story of the song, and a 2000 book by David Margolick set the story in the framework of the Café Society.
Let’s close with Lady Day singing it ….. I prefer a re-recording she made of it in the 1950’s (with a better recording quality of the day).
In 1788, Massachusetts became the sixth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
In 1820, the first 86 African American immigrants sponsored by the American Colonization Society (a coalition made up mostly of evangelicals and Quakers who supported abolition but who did not wish to socialize or interact with free blacks – in other words, racists) departed New York to start a settlement in present-day Liberia.
In 1899, the Treaty of Paris, a peace treaty between the United States and Spain, was ratified by the Senate, ending the Spanish-American War.
In 1900, the international arbitration court at The Hague was created when the Senate of the Netherlands ratified an 1899 peace conference decree.
In 1918, the Representation of the People Act 1918 was passed in the U.K., giving women over the age of 30 who met minimum property qualifications the right to vote. It was not until 1928 that the right was extended to all women over 21 with no property requirements.
In 1933, the 20th Amendment to the Constitution went into effect. It moved the start of presidential, vice-presidential and congressional terms from March to January.
In 1952, Elizabeth II became Queen of England on the death of her father, George VI.
In 1998, Washington National Airport was renamed Ronald Reagan National Airport, though most people I know refuse to call it that.
Born on This Day
1577 – Beatrice Cenci, Italian noblewoman (d. 1599)
1613 – Gaspar van Eyck, Flemish marine painter (d. 1673)
1636 – Heiman Dullaert, Dutch painter (d. 1684)
1665 – Anne, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland (d. 1714)
1695 – Nicolaus II Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (d. 1726)
1730 – Januarius Zick, German painter (d. 1797)
1756 – Aaron Burr, American politician and 3rd Vice President of the United States (d. 1836)
1772 – Karl von Kügelgen, German landscape and history painter (d. 1832)
1800 – Achille Devéria, French painter and lithographer (d. 1857)
1819 – Baldassare Verazzi, Italian painter (d. 1886)
1833 – James Ewell Brown “Jeb” Stuart, American Civil War figure (d. 1864)
1838 – Sir Henry Irving, British actor (d. 1905)
1851 – Bartolomeo Bezzi, Italian painter (d. 1923)
1856 – Gerard Jozef Portielje, Belgian genre painter (d. 1929)
1866 – Vladislav Podkowinski, Polish painter and illustrator (d. 1895)
1879 – Othon Friesz, French artist (d. 1949)
1882 – Aleksandra Ekser, Russian painter (d. 1949)
1895 – Babe Ruth, American baseball player (d. 1948)
1895 – Franz Radziwill, German surrealist painter (d. 1983)
1899 – Ramón Novarro, Mexican actor (d. 1968)
1901 – Ben Lyon, American actor (d. 1979)
1911 – Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States and false idol (d. 2004)
1912 – Eva Braun, German mistress and wife of Adolf Hitler (d. 1945)
1914 – Thurl Ravenscroft, American voice actor with a great name (d. 2005)
1917 – Zsa Zsa Gábor, Hungarian-born actress
1931 – Rip Torn, American actor
1931 – Mamie Van Doren, American actress
1932 – François Truffaut, French film director (d. 1984)
1940 – Tom Brokaw, American news anchorman
1941 – Gigi Perreau, American actress
1942 – Sarah Brady, American gun-control activist
1945 – Bob Marley, Jamaican musician (d. 1981)
1946 – Kate McGarrigle, Canadian singer and songwriter (d. 2010)
1946 – Richie Hayward, American drummer (The Bedbugs, Little Feat) (d. 2010)
1947 – Bill Staines, American folk singer and songwriter
1951 – Huw Lloyd-Langton, English guitarist (Hawkwind and Widowmaker) (d. 2012)
1955 – Michael Pollan, American journalist (“The Omnivore’s Dilemma”)
1957 – Robert Townsend, American actor/filmmaker (To get his film Hollywood Shuffle made, he had to run up all of his own credit cards, because black people weren’t, and often still aren’t, considered bankable in Hollywood.)
1958 – Cecily Adams, American actress (d. 2004)
1962 – W. Axl Rose, American singer (Guns N’ Roses)
1966 – Rick Astley, British singer
And…. ::: drum roll please ::: our very own slksfca turns 29 today! Again. 😉
Died on This Day
1685 – King Charles II of England (b. 1630)
1941 – Maximilien Luce, French painter (b. 1858)
1783 – Capability Brown, English landscape gardener (b. 1716)
1806 – Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, French brigadier general (the first person of color in France to rise to that rank) and father of author Alexandre Dumas (b. 1762)
1816 – Gerrit Malleyn, Dutch painter (b. 1753)
1859 – Benno Friedrich Tormer, German painter (b. 1804)
1908 – Jan Frederik Pieter Portielje, Dutch painter (b. 1829)
1918 – Gustav Klimt, Austrian painter (b. 1862)
1923 – José Navarro Llorens, Spanish painter (b. 1867)
1931 – Motilal Nehru, Indian Leader (b.1861)
1938 – Marianne von Werefkin, Russian-Swiss painter (b. 1860)
1938 – George Auriol, French artist and graphic designer (b. 1863)
1839 – François-Louis-Thomas Francia, French painter (b. 1772)
1847 – Robert Léopold Leprince, French landscape painter (b. 1800)
1976 – Vince Guaraldi, American musician (b. 1928)
1989 – Barbara W. Tuchman, American historian (b. 1912)
1991 – Danny Thomas, American singer, comedian, and actor (b. 1914)
1991 – Natalie Kingston, silent film actress (b. 1905)
1993 – Arthur Ashe, American tennis player (b. 1943)
1994 – Joseph Cotten, American actor (b. 1905)
1994 – Jack Kirby, American comic book writer (b. 1917)
