Abel Meeropol, a white Jewish teacher in a New York City high school, wrote the lyrics and music of "Strange Fruit," and shared the piece with Billie Holiday in 1939 when she was singing at Cafe Society, the leading left-wing, integrated night club in Greenwich Village. Meeropol was a political activist, a member of the Communist Party, and after the execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenburg raised their orphaned children. "Strange Fruit" soon became the opening song for Holiday's sets and a popular success when she recorded it. The searing lyrics often upset club patrons and it became a weapon in continuing anti-lynching campaigns. Meeropol must have been surprised, but pleased at the song's impact. In an interview in 1971 he commented: "I wrote 'Strange Fruit' because I hate lynching, and I hate injustice, and I hate the people who perpetuate it."

http://womhist.binghamton.edu/aswpl/doc1.htm