A fascinating work detailing an interracial relationship told explicitly as a pre-Civil rights critique of ongoing racism under Jim Crow. In it, she uses the ultimate union of races in a romantic context as a paradigmatic rejection of all segregation, separate but equal policies, etc,. the title was derived from the title of the Billie Holiday 1939 song, Strange Fruit. The strange fruit growing on Southern trees was of course a reference to ongoing racism and, more concretely, the practice of lynching.
Signed editions are very scarce; we are unable to trace one for sale any time recently. This one inscribed, "With very good wishes, sincerely yours, Lillian Smith." It is pencil and ink signed "Janice Scott," likely the 1960's "light" black model mentioned in the essay, The Color of an Ideal Negro Beauty Queen in Shades of Difference by Stanford Press, 2009. Then inscribed Thelma Rudd. Rudd is an activist for the presence of African Americans in aeronautics and space. She authored a biography of the first African American aviator, Bessie Coleman, etc.
Smith, Lillian. Strange Fruit. A Novel. New York. Reynal & Hitchcock Publishers. New York. 1944. First Edition. Eleventh Printing. 250pp.
Very good condition. Cloth tidy and crisp. Textually very good. Dustjacket has some chips and losses; now preserved in a transparent sleeve.
