“Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees,” sang Billie Holliday in 1939 about the hanging and torture of African American males (generally) by mob violence, often in the South. As many as 4,000 people died in this way between 1889 and 1940. Lynching turned the racial divisions of American society into blood spectacle, especially in times of social crisis. Campaigns against this horror began at the beginning of the twentieth century; by the 1940s, it had generally disappeared (although federal legislation against it was never passed). It remains a horrifying occurrence (see Emmett Till) in postwar America, as well as an emotional reference in metaphors like “high-tech lynching” (see Clarence Thomas). Moreover, the brutal killing of gay student Matthew Shepherd in Wyoming and other hate crimes show that lynching may not be so far away from contemporary American life as most citizens would like to believe.