John Fayson (XX), Titled: "Strange Fruit", Is An Exquisite Original And One Of A Kind Wood Carving Of A Tree Stump Depicting The Upward Struggle Of The African American With Scenes Of Slavery, Dance, Jazz, Arts, And Beauty. This Unique Artwork Is An Embodiment Of Perseverance And Strength. Size 51 inches x 18 inches x 16 inches. "Strange Fruit" is a song performed most famously by Billie Holiday, who first sang and recorded it in 1939. Written by teacher Abel Meeropol as a poem and published in 1937, it protested American racism, particularly the lynching of African Americans. Such lynchings had reached a peak in the South at the turn of the century, but continued there and in other regions of the United States. According to the Tuskegee Institute, 1,953 Americans were murdered by lynching, about three fourths of them black. The lyrics are an extended metaphor linking a tree’s fruit with lynching victims. Meeropol set it to music and, with his wife and the singer Laura Duncan, performed it as a protest song in New York City venues in the late 1930s, including Madison Square Garden. This Item Will Require Special Shipping. Estimated more than 50 yrs old. (Pangaea Auctions) (Photos Represent The Lot Condition.)

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