NAME 4 CONTRIBUTIONS BILLIe HOLIDAY MADE TO SOCIETY!?

Question

With details please. Also can any of you guys tell me how did the contributions impact society and is it still relevant today? HELP ME PLEASE!!!

Answer 1

She was a damn good singer. Isn't that enough?

Answer 2

What a lot of people do not know about Billie Holiday, was that she used her music to speak out against social injustice and raise consciousness. Holiday was openly communist and when she was only twenty four years old, poet Lewis Allen reluctantly offered his song "Strange Fruit" for Holiday to record. The song provided vivid imagery about the horrors of the lynching of Southern Blacks at a time when racism was very prevalent.

At that time, the idea of a woman, especially a Black woman, making an antiracist statement was almost unheard of. "Strange Fruit" ignited a spark that made Holiday want to speak out against the racism that killed her father.

Because feminism incorporates the fight against racism, Billie Holiday was a feminist before her time. "Strange Fruit" was sung by Holiday at the height of the Harlem Renaissance and not long after women had received the right to vote. The rights of African Americans and an awareness of their culture was just beginning to take shape. Women's rights were also still in the making.

Holiday, who was mainly known for her love songs, boldly stepped out of a stereotyped mold and sang a song that stood defined the injustices performed against her people. She took a poem and transformed it into a protest song, which she never sang the same twice.

"Southern trees bear a strange fruit
Blood on the leaves, 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 twisted mouth
Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh
Here is a 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.".

As with many artists, the importance of Holiday's music and her influence were only truly realized after her death. She struggled against racism and sexism her entire career, and achieved fame despite a turbulent life. She is also often cited as an example to the black and gay communities, both of which admire her early efforts to stand up for equal rights and to speak out against discrimination and racism. She is now considered one of the most important vocalists of the 20th century.