APPENDIX 7
ABEL MEEROPOL
Abel Meeropol (February 10, 1903 – October 29, 1986) was an American songwriter and poet whose works were published under his pseudonym, Lewis Allan. He wrote "Strange Fruit" (1937), which was recorded by Billie Holiday. At the time, Meeropol was a member of the American Communist Party, but he would later quit.
Meeropol was born in 1903 to Russian Jewish immigrants in The Bronx, New York City. Meeropol graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in 1921. Meeropol earned a bachelor of arts degree from City College of New York, and a master of arts degree from Harvard. He taught English at DeWitt Clinton High School for 17 years. During his tenure, Meeropol taught the notable author and racial justice advocate, James Baldwin.
Meeropol wrote the anti-lynching poem "Strange Fruit" (1937), which was first published as "Bitter Fruit" in a Teachers Union publication. He later set it to music. The song was recorded and performed by Billie Holiday and Nina Simone among other artists. Holiday claimed in the book Lady Sings the Blues that she co-wrote the music to the song with Meeropol and Sonny White.
Meeropol wrote numerous poems and songs, including the Frank Sinatra and Josh White hit "The House I Live In." He also wrote the libretto of Robert Kurka's opera The Good Soldier Svejk (1957), which was premiered in 1958 by the New York City Opera.
The songs "Strange Fruit" and "The House I Live In," along with the Peggy Lee hit "Apples, Peaches and Cherries," provided most of the royalty income for the Meeropol family.
Meeropol was a communist and sympathetic to Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Later, he and his wife Anne adopted the Rosenbergs' two sons, Michael and Robert, who were orphaned after their parents' executions for espionage. Michael and Robert took the surname Meeropol.
Meeropol died on October 29, 1986, at the Jewish Nursing Home in Longmeadow, Massachusetts.
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