STRANGE FRUIT, 1937

For two years before Billie Holliday saw the song in 1939, Abel Meeropol's song, with the music, was performed in political circles, at meetings, benefits and house parties. See Peter Daniels' article "Strange Fruit: The Story of a Song," Feb. 2002, in the World Socialist Web Site. Strange Fruit

The poem was first published in "The New York Teacher," January, 1937; the publication of the Teachers Union.
Billie Holliday did not see the song until 1939, when Meeropol gave the song to Barney Josephson, owner of Cafe Society.

Billie Holliday, according to this and other authoritative accounts, did not contribute to the song, except perhaps for the superfluous "Oh--Oh" at the end of the first verse, and the repetition of the last line of the song (see DT).
Abel Meeropol's name does not appear in the DT, only the pseudonym Lewis Allen which he sometimes used.