Strange Fruit Documentary Caps MLK Weekend Events

Of all the powerful songs to come out of the Civil Rights movement, none is more painful to listen to or impossible to forget than “Strange Fruit.” A documentary of the same name, to be screened January 16th at 4:00 pm at Congregation Beth Hatikvah (CBH) in Summit, tells the moving story behind the song. The film’s director, Joel Katz, will be on hand to answer questions. The event is free to the public.

The music and lyrics for “Strange Fruit” were written by a Jewish schoolteacher from the Bronx after he saw a photograph of the lynching of a southern Black man. Katz’s documentary, which has won several awards including the Grand Prize from the U.S.A. film festival, traces the interlocking history of the song, lynching in America, and the forces that joined together to forge the Civil Rights Movement.

Following the screening and Q&A session, participants will share an informal pizza supper, and those who wish to will continue on to the Martin Luther King Day service at Fountain Baptist Church in Summit.

The screening is the concluding event of a weekend of events sponsored by the Jewish synagogue in honor of Martin Luther King Day. On Friday evening the 13th at 7:30 pm, CBH members and guests will join the two other Jewish congregations in Summit for Solidarity Shabbat services at Temple Sinai on Summit Road. During the service, participants in the Summit Interfaith Council Dialogues on Race will share lessons learned from these community conversations.

Dr. Betty Livingston Adams, associate minister at Fountain Baptist Church and author of Black Women’s Christian Activism, will speak at CBH on Saturday morning, January 14th about “Social Justice in Troubling Times: Arousing the American Conscience.” Dr. Adams earned her Ph.D. from Yale University, and a Master of Divinity degree from Drew University. Her scholarship and academic teaching explore nineteenth- and twentieth-century African American and American religious and social history through the lens of gender, race, and class. The public is invited to attend the discussion that begins at 9:45 a.m.

Congregation Beth Hatikvah is located 36 Chatham Road. A commitment to social justice and support of the arts and learning are distinguishing characteristics of the small, progressive Jewish congregation. For more information about CBH or any of the upcoming events, please call 908-277-0200 or visit www.bethhatikvah.org or the Congregation Beth Hatikvah facebook page.