Portside

An NYU project examines the history of lynching's after the Civil War, including one in New York State. Billie Holiday sang a disturbing ballad called “Strange Fruit” for the first time in 1939, referred to lynching's in the South, and also the North

Reader Comments: Same Boat; Military Spending Still Huge Problem; History Behind "Strange Fruit"; Puerto Rican Studies; Palestinian Solidarity; Labor and the Movements for Peace and Social Justice; lots of Zoom events; more....

To some, patriotism means "my country -- right or wrong." To others, it means loyalty to a set of principles, and thus requires dissent and criticism when those in power violate those standards. Not enough Americans are aware that much of what we consider our patriotic culture, especially our iconic music, was created by artists and writers of decidedly left-wing sympathies.