you know, i spent time with nina simone when i was 19, when she visited trinidad.was very informed about civil rights and freedoms. and when i moved to the uk in 1985 and then had the rug pulled out from under me by margaret thatcher and the conservative section 28 laws, you know, that was kind of the moment, the catalyst for me to say, "well, if i'm fighting "for black rights, i can fight for queer rights as well." i want to get on to your activism in london a bit later, but let's stick with your childhood because you were born into a pretty privileged background at a very hopeful time. when did you first become aware of the whole question of being gay? well, i was one of those very effeminate kids, you know, i wouldn't kick the ball about. i was more interested in ballet and, you know, theatre and music and i was a soloist in the church choir. my grandmother played the organ in the catholic church and i was a lead soloist in choirs. so i was already targeted from a very young age as being queer. and, you know, iwas... and did you know what that meant? no, not a c

nina simone to diana ross. to cassandra wilson.ssandra wilson to audra mcdonald to you be 40 to sting singing it. it radiated through the culture, touching, aroused and inspiring a much broader, diverse audience than it did when first appeared. that's presumably why, 60 years after dismissing it as, quote, a prime piece of propaganda for the acp time magazine been crowned the song of the century since the since billie holiday introduced it. our capacity to be shocked has shrunk. taboos have disappeared and novelty itself has grown more novel. but always there will be this unique and uncanny song. the song that was also an event. the question is no longer have you heard fruit, but this strange fruit ever happened since and will should or could a strange fruit ever happen again? thank you. our next speaker be speaker will be margo jefferson a graduate of columbia university school of journalism. margo jefferson was an associate editor at newsweek and an assistant professor of journalism at nyu university before joining joining the st

sonny rollins max roach and abby lincoln and of course nina simone so not in that first 1959 album.d go a little further and think of the difficulties of josh and -- jazz negotiating itself and god bless them thinking ahead to the 70s 80s and the 90s and the movement in new york and the kabc and musicians in chicago. so all of these connections and all of these locations and this locating of the proper setting the proper setting for this song and what audience it reaches. all of those are going to be taken upup in one could perhaps and perhaps i'm being a little frivolous but just to show how daring she was miles davis a descendent of billie holliday singing about it. i think in certain ways david's discussion of the cultural and social complications of its audience and its place as this rarified object but it's also a political stimulant. you know i kept saying they pay won't say this but i think i will. for example these accounts of abolitionist material and early novels in the turn of the 19th century to the 20th and what sometimes comes up is a question that he can come up from