Abel Meeropol (February 10, 1903 – October 29, 1986)^[1] was an American songwriter and poet whose works were published under his pseudonymLewis Allan. He wrote the poem and musical setting of "Strange Fruit" (1937), which was recorded byBillie Holiday.

Meeropol was born in 1903 toUkrainian-Jewish immigrants in theBronx, New York.^[2][3][4] He graduated fromDeWitt Clinton High School in 1921 (his classmateCountee Cullen graduated in 1922) and earned aB.A. fromCity College of New York and an M.A. fromHarvard University. Meeropol taught English at DeWitt Clinton for 17 years.^[5] During his tenure as a high school teacher, Meeropol taught author and racial justice advocateJames Baldwin.^[6]

Meeropol wrote the anti-lynching poem "Strange Fruit" (1937), first published as "Bitter Fruit" in a teacher union publication. He later set it to music. The song was recorded and performed byBillie Holiday andNina Simone.^[7] Holiday notes in the bookLady Sings the Blues that she co-wrote the music to the song with Meeropol andSonny White. The writersDavid Margolick andHilton Als dismissed that claim in their workStrange Fruit: The Biography of a Song, writing that hers was "an account that may set a record for most misinformation per column inch". When challenged, Holiday—whose autobiography had beenghostwritten byWilliam Dufty—claimed, "I ain't never read that book."^[8]Meeropol wrote numerous other poems and songs, including theFrank Sinatra andJosh White hit "The House I Live In".^[9] He also wrote thelibretto ofRobert Kurka's operaThe Good Soldier Schweik, which was premiered in 1958 by theNew York City Opera.

According to his adopted sonRobert Meeropol, the songs "Strange Fruit" and "The House I Live In", along with thePeggy Lee hit "Apples, Peaches and Cherries", provided most of the royalty income of the family. "Apples, Peaches and Cherries" was translated into French bySacha Distel and became a number one hit in France under the title "Scoubidou". Meeropol filed a copyright infringement lawsuit over Distel's plagiarism as Distel initially had claimed the song as his. After the case was settled, Meeropol started receiving the royalties.^[10]

Meeropol published his work under the pseudonym of "Lewis Allan" in memory of the names of his two stillborn children.

Meeropol was a member of theAmerican Communist Party from 1932 to 1947.^[1] He was sympathetic toJulius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were convicted and executed for espionage.^[1] Later, Meeropol and his wife, Anne, adopted the Rosenbergs' two sons,Michael andRobert, who were orphaned after their parents' executions. Both children took the surname "Meeropol".

Meeropol died on October 30, 1986, at the Jewish Nursing Home in Longmeadow, Massachusetts; he was 83 years old.^[11]

• Lewis Allan atIMDb
• "Strange Fruit".Documentary. News Reel. 2002.Archived from the original on April 23, 2004.
• "Strange Fruit".Documentary. Independent Lens. PBS. March 31, 2022 [2003].

• 1903 births
• 1986 deaths
• City College of New York alumni
• Educators from New York City
• American communists
• Members of the Communist Party USA
• Jewish American songwriters
• Songwriters from New York (state)
• Jewish American poets
• 20th-century American poets
• American male poets
• American people of Russian-Jewish descent
• American writers of Russian descent
• Harvard University alumni
• 20th-century pseudonymous writers
• 20th-century American male writers
• 20th-century American songwriters

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