Strangefruit.org

Americans look at other countries and deem them immoral for killing their own people (Germany, Rwanda, Kosovo, Bosnia, etc.) The "ethnic cleansing" referred to as lynching, took place in US history and is overlooked by its citizens and history books.

Strangefruit.org would like to construct a "Wall of Remembrance" to humanize and personalize the victims of the American holocaust. If you have documented information on individuals who suffered loss of life during this era, we will dedicate a space on the wall to those individuals. Please send information to this site to help us construct a "Wall of Remembrance". You can send an e-mail to remember@strangefruit.org

Many reasons that invoked this violence have been cited:

Racism was a political tool
Permissive government
Racist environment
Lynching rose and fell with cotton prices

From 1882 - 1998, 4743 murders by lynching occurred in the US
3446 were African-American (72.7%)

Strange Fruit : A Poem

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 the 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.