“1929. According to Adam Gussow in "Seems like Murder Here" this is a song about lynching.
"They run me from tree to tree
You should have heard me beggin'
Mr. Blues don't you murder me"
5,000 were lynched between 1882 and 1968 to establish terror and ensure white supremacy. 50 a year on average up to 1920. Would you have written protest songs about it in the Deep South? They wrote Blues like this instead and stayed alive.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynching_in_the_United_States”