Southern trees, bearing strange fruit, blood on the leaves, and blood at the roots
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze, oh, black bodies swinging from the poplar trees
How could you be so cold? Did you think that body didn't have a soul
They wanna see us hanging lifeless. Do you really know what life is
They say one day we gon' be aight, or we gon' have to see it on the other side
King dreams that one day it's gon' be aight, but for now it's twisted mouths and them bulging eyes
Southern trees hang heavy with unusual fruit. They got blood on the leaves, and they got blood at the roots
They say the trees cut down, but I say the fruit still bruised. And if the core was so rotten, why did you pick that fruit
They say that's just how the black family be, but don't acknowledge strange fruit hanging from our family tree
When the fruit don't grow, you don't get mad at the fruit. You put your fingers in the soil(soil) and you just examine the root
Maybe one day it's gon' be aight, or we gon' have to see on the other side
Compare apples to apples until you satisfied. Strange fruit, it was never in our appetite
King's dream, yeah, he said it's gon' be aight. Strange fruit, it was never in our appetite
Strange fruit, it was never in our appetite. To be honest, I wish Eve never took a bite
Maybe one day it's gon' be aight
Or we gon' have to see it on the other side
After five years of exhaustive research and interviews with local historians and descendants of lynching victims
The Equal Justice Initiative found white Southerners lynched nearly 4,000 black men and women and children between 1877 and 1950
Nearly 700 of those lynchings were previously unaccounted for
The report details a 1916 attack in which a mob lynched Jeff Brown
But actually only two black girls he met to catch a train from New York
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Here is strange fruit
Mmm, mmm
Strange fruit