Yunshan Li [Week 10]: The Power of Her Voice
Week 10: The Power of Her Voice – 2/02 - [4:15PM].
The Person of American Significance project in APENG gave me the opportunity to get to know a powerful woman who kickstarted the civil rights movement with her voice. Billie Holliday was a famous jazz singer of the 20th century.
Billie was born into poverty to a mother that worked as a servant for a white household and a father that left his family and remarried. As a poor African American girl in a time of severe segregation, Billie struggled to make a living. Billie worked as a maid, a call girl, and even a dancer to put together dimes and pennies until she finally found her forte in singing. As Billie worked to make a name for herself and travel on tour, she became exposed to the frightful racism of her era.
At the peak of her career, Billie made a decision that would change her life forever. Billie began singing a political protest song against the lynching of African Americans during that time. The song was called “Strange Fruit” and it was inspired by a poem by high school teacher Abel Meeropol. The song paints a painful image that symbolized the bodies of African Americans hanging from a tree as strange fruits. It often left audience members speechless and some felt uncomfortable. Many other singers at the time refused to perform this piece as they knew that singing this song would bring them endless opposition and abuse. For example, Billie was made a target by the racist leader of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, Harry J Anslinger, who consistently tracked Billie and tried to bring her down. Nevertheless, Billie persisted in exposing the injustice during her time till the rest of her life and made a big difference in our world today.
Hey Yunshan! I remember learning about Billie Holliday in my US History class. My teacher read us some of her lyrics and it was very gruesome, adequately portraying the same horrors many African Americans faced on a daily basis. She sang the stories of thousands of African Americans with her tunes, upsetting many. Her dedication towards conveying these stories through her music was very dangerous, but remarkable nonetheless. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI have listened to Billie Holiday’s music, as everyone should, and she is an incredible artist and activist. I hope her music and her activism is shown more because sadly, she does fall through the cracks when speaking about civil rights activism as many non-male activists of the time tend to. I’m looking forward to hearing your POAS presentation on her! Thank you for bringing us in on your knowledge about Billie Holiday!
ReplyDeleteHey Yunshan! Hearing about people like Billie Halliday is always interesting because people who go against the norms of the time are usually those who faced the worst conditions from those aforementioned norms. Her story is inspiring and its all the more awesome what she did since she stood to lose an enormous amount if things went south after releasing that song. It also reflects how good in society is usually created by a select few who spread their word till it ignites change.
ReplyDeleteSophia, what an inspiring blog post. I have never heard of Billie Holliday, so reading this post taught me something new today. Her resilience to fight back against the racism she faced rather than just accept her place in society shows a great amount of perseverance and confidence she must have had. I hope to grow those qualities in myself in the future and now. I am someone who is more liquid; meaning, I follow others rather than lead others. Reading her story and understanding all the obstacles she needed to overcome inspires me to do actions outside of my comfort zone and take the lead when given the opportunity.
ReplyDeleteHi Sophia, I haven't heard of Billie Holiday before, but her story is inspiring. People don't always have influence through movements or speeches. Power can come through seemingly insignificant means, but still have such a huge impact. I hope to learn more about Billie in your POAS presentation and see how her humble story was able to impact our country.
ReplyDeleteHey Sophia, the story of Billie Holliday is really a disturbing tale. I cannot possibly imagine having someone with as much power as being the head of an entire federal bureau determined to bring you to your downfall. The racist history of America's past really is both disturbing and a big area of shame of our otherwise amazing country. Hopefully, stories like these will stay as tales of the past as our nation progress positively towards a more unified and accepting world. Thank you for bringing the story of Billie Holliday to light, and not letting it fade into darkness like many others I am sure had to go through similar situations.
ReplyDeleteHi Yunshan! Billie Holiday's story is amazing, and both her perseverance and bravery are really inspirational. It must have been very hard for her to continue to fight back despite the threat of opposition and abuse that many were scared of. She must have incited many mixed feelings within people, but her song reflects the reality of how racism was at the time. It's really cool that you picked Billie Holiday for your project, and I'm glad I could learn more about her!
ReplyDeleteHey Sophia, I never knew of Billie Holiday, but from reading this, I find her very admirable and inspiring especially with how she came from a position of disadvantage, being a colored woman at a time when racism was particularly prevalent, along with her ability to keep persevering through the various obstacles and continuously expose injustice through her songs. You mentioned Holiday’s song “Strange Fruit” which prompted me to look it up, and I was caught off guard with the imagery it painted in my head, yet I found it was extremely effective in highlighting the inhumanity in the treatment of black people during the time. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Yushan, before reading your blog, I was unaware of how powerful African American music could be, much so that it posed a threat to powerful racist groups in America. To the perspective of many African Americans, Billie Holliday was probably an extremely inspiring and heroic character. I’m glad I got to learn more about an influential African American artist and will most definitely listen to some of her music in the future.
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