Writing Concisely with Style

Hello!

I'm a high school student who just completed my first draft of a very tough English assignment. After three weeks of research on an influential member of society, we were told to write a personal narrative by the person we were researching...in only 300 words!!! I toiled, and toiled some more, to boil down what I wrote (originally 2,000 words) to the 381 words I am about to present to you. I would SO appreciate help and advice in editing down some of my wordy, akward sentences, and omitting sentences and words that are unnecessary. Please keep in mind that I am writing this as Billie Holiday in early 1950's. Thank you VERY much in advance for your help!
-Aspiringwriter9

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Racial segregation has always been a disheartening part of my life. I've been excluded from public places and lost several professional opportunities simply because my skin is dark. In 1939, however, I decided to use my voice to oppose racism. My decision to adapt, record, and release "Strange Fruit" was the gutsiest decision I have ever made. "Strange Fruit" was originally a poem written by Lewis Allen with powerful images of lynching in the South and prose so vivid it moved me. With Allen's permission, my then accompanist Sonny White and I adapted the song. My blood still tingles when I remember the first time I read the completed lyrics.

Recording "Strange Fruit" was perhaps the biggest creative challenge I've faced. Protest music was unheard of before the war, and no one was particularly receptive to racial change or controversy. But then there was Café Society, a safe haven, where open-minded individuals, both black and white, came to watch integrated musical acts, a proper place to debut the song. After my first performance of "Strange Fruit" done with great trepidation, everyone at Café Society was dead silent?-in shock. Then, to my surprise, a lone patron began to clap. Quickly, everyone burst into applause. I knew at that point the song was special.

After I released "Strange Fruit," I became an instant celebrity. "Strange Fruit" sold more than any other song I've recorded, and, even though it was banned from radio, everyone in New York City heard the song in some capacity. My ?'audacity' in singing "Strange Fruit" was well received by most, and as time went by, critics began to call "Strange Fruit" the anthem of the racial equality movement.

"Strange Fruit" has always been the song with the most meaning to me. I always finish my performances with it, letting the audience contemplate its importance, and I think the lyrics open up people's minds to the horrors blacks face around the United States. I hope "Strange Fruit" will help change people's mindsets and breakdown all racial borders and hatred that exist in society today. I know we will achieve racial equality some day, and I am an honored that "Strange Fruit" got the ball rolling in the right direction.