Strange Fruit by Billie Holiday
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
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
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
Horrors of Racism in the south or anywhere can be the number one contributing factor as to why people refuse to return to their homes and migrate to other cities. The fear caused by racism can be soul shaking. These eye opening experiences can cause one to resolve never to expose themselves or their families to this terror ever again.
My maternal grandfather, Clyde Allen, was raised in Sopchoppy, FL, a little southern town not too far from Tallahassee. After WWII he relocated to St. Louis, Missouri and never returned to his hometown. So, I began to ask myself Why?.
He never spoke about his childhood with his family. Although, an early experience in his life may glean some light on why he never spoke about his upbringing. In early January of 1919, the Allen family experienced a horrific fire that destroyed their home. It is not known what started the fire. Who knows the fire could have been set by the Klu Klux Clan for racial reasons. Oral history is that Wesley, my grandfather’s father, went back into the fire to rescue his family. Later that month, he died of pneumonia. As a result, Clyde, his mother Rebecca, his brothers Peter and D.W. and his sister Beatrice went to live with Rebecca’s father, Berry Williams.
Because of this unfortunate house fire and probably racism experienced in Sopchoppy, FL, my grandfather never returned to his southern roots.
My grandfather was just one of the thousands of African Americans that left the south and migrated north in the Great Migration. This mass exodus could have been cause by…
• The fear of being lynched in the night by the Klan
• The fear of your loved ones being kidnapped and never returning home
• The fear of women and children being raped at anytime
• The fear of being beat savagely and tortured
• The fear of being targeted for harm because of your skin color
The unspoken memories of our ancestors are because of terrorism, racism, and other terrible isms that were felt, seen, and experienced in the South. They could not bring their mouths to speak and their minds to recall the trauma they endured and experienced.
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”
Maya Angelou
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
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
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
Horrors of Racism in the south or anywhere can be the number one contributing factor as to why people refuse to return to their homes and migrate to other cities. The fear caused by racism can be soul shaking. These eye opening experiences can cause one to resolve never to expose themselves or their families to this terror ever again.
My maternal grandfather, Clyde Allen, was raised in Sopchoppy, FL, a little southern town not too far from Tallahassee. After WWII he relocated to St. Louis, Missouri and never returned to his hometown. So, I began to ask myself Why?.
He never spoke about his childhood with his family. Although, an early experience in his life may glean some light on why he never spoke about his upbringing. In early January of 1919, the Allen family experienced a horrific fire that destroyed their home. It is not known what started the fire. Who knows the fire could have been set by the Klu Klux Clan for racial reasons. Oral history is that Wesley, my grandfather’s father, went back into the fire to rescue his family. Later that month, he died of pneumonia. As a result, Clyde, his mother Rebecca, his brothers Peter and D.W. and his sister Beatrice went to live with Rebecca’s father, Berry Williams.
Because of this unfortunate house fire and probably racism experienced in Sopchoppy, FL, my grandfather never returned to his southern roots.
My grandfather was just one of the thousands of African Americans that left the south and migrated north in the Great Migration. This mass exodus could have been cause by…
• The fear of being lynched in the night by the Klan
• The fear of your loved ones being kidnapped and never returning home
• The fear of women and children being raped at anytime
• The fear of being beat savagely and tortured
• The fear of being targeted for harm because of your skin color
The unspoken memories of our ancestors are because of terrorism, racism, and other terrible isms that were felt, seen, and experienced in the South. They could not bring their mouths to speak and their minds to recall the trauma they endured and experienced.
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”
Maya Angelou
Wesley Allen ( 1893-1919) Great Grandfather
Clyde Allen (1915-1970) Grandfather
Rebecca Williams Allen (1891-1937) Great Grandmother
What you say is very true. Perhaps the cause of many inherited illnesses among our people are a result of fear and stress caused by racism, hatred and discrimination. My own father never talked about his family in Holly Springs, MS. I learned about them after he died in 1995. A younger cousin Anthony Ryan does geneaology. He learned that our great grandparents Tom and Ola Bailey bought 241 acres there in 1905. Tom Bailey is six on the 1880 Census with our Great Great Grandad Rev. Africa Bailey, a former slave and Union soldier in the Civil War. Whites in Marshall County wanted Tom's land. A 92 year old aunt told us about summers on the land. She and brother my dad Tom Ryan were about 4-5. "Everybody worked the land," she said. Incidentally, Holly Springs was the birthplace of Ida B. Wells, a former slave who decried lynching. I have to think her earliest experiences were in Marshall County. They destroyed her press there and dared her to return. She moved to Chicago. Tom Bailey was pressured to sell his land to two white men. Anthony has copies of the deeds. But he was still drug from his home in the night shortly after the 1930 Census. His body was never found. Ola died in 1932. Her death cert. listed her as a widow. An elderly cousin said many blacks moved to nearby Memphis after Tom's disappearance. Wells also died in 1931. I can only imagine that one of the last deaths she heard about was that of Tom Bailey in her own hometown.
ReplyDeleteWow, thanks for sharing.
DeleteOMG....what fear, heartship & anguish our people experienced! Daddy (Clyde Allen) took his life story to the grave with him. Unspeakable acts were not spoken of.
ReplyDelete