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Fisk Jubilee Singers

May 02, 2024

The Fisk Jubilee Singers are an African-American a cappella ensemble, consisting of students at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. The first group was organized in 1871 to tour and raise funds for college. Their early repertoire consisted mostly of traditional spirituals, but included some songs by Stephen Foster. The original group toured along the Underground Railroad path in the United States, as well as performing in England and Europe. Later 19th-century groups also toured in Europe.

Fisk Jubilee Singers
Fisk Jubilee Singers, 1875
Background information
GenresA cappella
Years active1871 (1871)–present

In 2002, the Library of Congress honored their 1909 recording of "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" by adding it in the United States National Recording Registry.[1] In 2008 they were awarded a National Medal of Arts.

History edit

 
Fisk Jubilee Singers, circa 1870s

The singers were organized as a fundraising effort for Fisk University. The historically black college in Nashville, Tennessee, was founded by the American Missionary Association and local supporters after the end of the American Civil War to educate freedmen and other young African Americans. In 1871, the five-year-old university was facing serious financial difficulty. To avert bankruptcy and closure, Fisk's treasurer and music director, George Leonard White, a white Northern missionary dedicated to music and proving African Americans were the intellectual equals of whites,[2] gathered a nine-member student chorus, consisting of four black men (Isaac Dickerson, Ben Holmes, Greene Evans, Thomas Rutling) and five black women (Ella Sheppard, Maggie Porter, Minnie Tate, Jennie Jackson, Eliza Walker) to go on tour to earn money for the university. On October 6, 1871, the group of students, consisting of two quartets and a pianist, started their U.S. tour under White's direction.[3] They first performed in Cincinnati, Ohio. Over the next 18 months, the group toured through Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.[4]

 
"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot"
"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" performed by the Fisk Jubilee Singers
Problems playing this file? See media help.

After a concert in Cincinnati, the group donated their small profit to the victims of the Great Chicago Fire of October 1871.[3][2] As soprano Maggie Porter recalled, "We had thirty dollars and sent every penny to Chicago and didn't have anything for ourselves." The mayor of Chillicothe, Ohio, expressed "thanks to these young colored people for their liberality in giving the proceeds of last evening’s concert to our relief fund for the Chicago sufferers."[2] The group traveled on to Columbus, Ohio, where lack of funding, poor hotel conditions, and overall mistreatment from the press and audiences left them feeling tired and discouraged.

The group and their pastor, Henry Bennett, prayed about whether to continue with the tour. White went off to pray as well; he believed that they needed a name to capture audience attention. The next morning, he met with the singers and said "Children, it shall be Jubilee Singers in memory of the Jewish year of Jubilee."[2] This was a reference to Jubilee described in the book of Leviticus in the Bible. Each fiftieth Pentecost was followed by a "year of jubilee" in which all slaves would be set free.[3] Since most of the students at Fisk University and their families were newly freed slaves,[5] the name "Jubilee Singers" seemed fitting.

 
Jubilee Hall at Fisk University

The Jubilee Singers' performances were a departure from the familiar "black minstrel" genre of white musicians performing in blackface. One early review of the group's performance was headlined "Negro Minstrelsy in Church--Novel Religious Exercise," while further reviews highlighted the fact that this group of Negro minstrels were, oddly enough, "genuine negroes."[6] "Those who have only heard the burnt cork caricatures of negro minstrelsy have not the slightest conception of what it really is," Doug Seroff quotes one review of a concert by the group as saying.[7] This was not a uniquely American response to the group's performance, but was typical in audience receptions in Europe as well: "From the first the Jubilee music was more or less of a puzzle to the critics; and even among those who sympathised with their mission there was no little difference of opinion as to the artistic merit of their entertainments. Some could not understand the reason for enjoying so thoroughly as almost everyone did these simple unpretending songs."[8]

As the tour continued, audiences came to appreciate the singers' voices, and the group began to be praised. The Jubilee Singers are credited with the early popularization of the Negro spiritual tradition among white and northern audiences in the late 19th century; many were previously unaware of its existence.[9] At first the slave songs were never sung in public, according to Ella Sheppard; "they were sacred to our parents, who used them in their religious worship and shouted over them...It was only after many months that gradually our hearts were opened to the influence of these friends and we began to appreciate the wonderful beauty and power of our songs.[10] After the rough start, the first United States tours eventually earned $40,000 for Fisk University.[4][11]

In early 1872 the group performed at the World's Peace Jubilee and International Musical Festival in Boston, and they were invited to perform for President Ulysses S. Grant at the White House in March of that year.[3][4] They gave a separate performance in Washington, D.C., for Vice President Schuyler Colfax and members of the U.S. Congress. They traveled next to New York, where they performed before enthusiastic audiences at preacher Henry Ward Beecher’s Plymouth Church in Brooklyn and at Steinway Hall in Manhattan.[4] They garnered national attention and generous donations. Staying in the New York area for six weeks, by the time they returned to Nashville, they had raised the full $20,000 White had promised the university.[5]

In a tour of Great Britain and Europe in 1873, the group, by then with 11 members, performed "Steal Away to Jesus" and "Go Down, Moses" for Queen Victoria in April. They returned the following year, they sailed to Europe again, touring from May 1875 to July 1878 and drawing rave reviews.[12] This tour raised an estimated $150,000 for the university, funds used to construct Fisk's first permanent building.[5] Named Jubilee Hall, the building was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1975 and still stands.[3][9][13]

The original Jubilee Singers disbanded in 1878 because of their grueling touring schedule. As Ella Sheppard, one of the original Jubilee Singers recalled, "our strength was failing under the ill treatment at hotels, on railroads, poorly attended concerts, and ridicule." Porter also said, "There were many times, when we didn’t have place to sleep or anything to eat. Mr. White went out and brought us some sandwiches and tried to find some place to put us up." Other times while the singers would wait in the railway station, White "and some other man of the troupe waded through sleet or snow or rain from hotel to hotel seeking shelter for us".[2]

A new Jubilee Singers choir was formed in 1879 under the direction of George L. White and singer Frederick J. Loudin.[14] This troupe, formed by White, consisted of Jennie Jackson, Maggie Porter, Georgia Gordon, Mabel Lewis, Patti Malone, Hinton Alexander, Benjamin W. Thomas, and newcomers R. A. Hall, Mattie Lawrence, and George E. Barrett. A. Cushing was the agent who managed their bookings.[2]

The original Jubilee Singers introduced slave songs to the world in 1871 and were instrumental in preserving this unique American musical tradition known today as Negro spirituals. They influenced many other troupes of jubilee singers who would go on to make their own contributions to the genre, such as the Original Nashville Students. They broke racial barriers in the US and abroad in the late 19th century. They raised money in support of their beloved school due to it failing. In 1999, the Fisk Jubilee Singers were featured in the documentary Jubilee Singers: Sacrifice and Glory, which aired on PBS' American Experience.[15] In July 2007, the Fisk Jubilee Singers went on a sacred journey to Ghana at the invitation of the U.S. Embassy. It was a history making event, as it was their first time visit to Ghana. In 2008, the Fisk Jubilee Singers were selected as a recipient of the 2008 National Medal of Arts, the nation's highest honor for artists and patrons of the arts. The award was presented by President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush during a ceremony at the White House.

Directors edit

1871–1878 — George Leonard White, founding director. White had organized groups of singers with Ella Sheppard under the Fisk name since 1866. White asked Ella Sheppard to help prepare the group for its inaugural tour in 1871. Fisk University President E. M. Cravath disbanded the original Fisk Jubilee Singers in July 1878. It would not re-form under the auspices of Fisk University for 20 years, until 1899. However, groups independent of Fisk University carried on the name and legacy.[16]

1879–1898 — George Leonard White and Frederick Loudin established a group in September 1879—not associated with Fisk University—and shared the musical directorship for about two years. Frederick Loudin continued as sole director, with some organizational and musical involvement by White. From 1889–1898, the group was named Loudin’s Fisk Jubilee Singers. In 1884, Maggie Porter, who had sung in both the original group and Loudin’s group, and her new husband, singer Daniel Cole, formed their own separate company, calling it Fisk Jubilee Singers and toured the U.S., Canada and Europe during the 1880s and 90s.

1899–1923 — John Wesley Work, Jr. (a.k.a. John W. Work II) championed “Jubilee music” at Fisk University since joining the faculty in 1896. In 1899, University President E. M. Cravath, who had dissolved the group 20 years earlier, commissioned Work with re-instituting it. He shared directorship with his wife, Agnes. Ella (Sheppard) Moore assisted, and also directed the Jubilee Club on campus. In Folk Song of the American Negro, Work proclaimed, “Mrs. Ella Sheppard Moore…has been so closely connected with the presentation of [Negro folk songs] to the world, so intimately associated with their preservation that it is impossible to think of the one separate and apart from the other.” Due to budgetary constraints, it operated as Fisk University Jubilee Quartet from 1909–1916 in which Work sang First Tenor. It is this group that made the first sound recordings of spirituals in authentic rendering, including the 1909 recording of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, which was added to the United States National Recording Registry in 2002.[17]

1923–1927 — Rev. James A. Myers, second tenor in the Fisk University Jubilee Quartet, took leadership of that group and the Fisk Jubilee Singers after John W. Work II resigned.[18]

1928–1947 — Henrietta Crawley Myers (a.k.a. Mrs. James A. Myers), a singer under John W. Work II, took directorship of the group after her husband passed. During these years, The Jubilee Singers, as she called it, was made up of former members of the Fisk University Jubilee Singers. Despite serving on the Fisk University faculty and the group maintaining their international prominence under her direction, it is not clear whether this group was directly affiliated with Fisk University.[18]

1947–1956 — John Wesley Work III

1957–1986 — Matthew Washington Kennedy

1968-1972 — Richard Turner III

1973-1975 — Oscar M. Henry

1986–1987 — Horace Clarence Boyer

1987–1990 ― Anthony E. Williams

1990-1994 — Delise P. Hall

1994–2022 — Dr. Paul T. Kwami

2022–2023 — Dr. Anthony Williams

2024 - Dr. G. Preston Wilson, Jr., Current Director

Jubilee Day edit

Fisk University commemorates the anniversary of the singers' first tour by celebrating Jubilee Day on October 6 each year.[3][13]

Recent accomplishments edit

 
The Fisk Jubilee Singers' performance at the Dixie Carter Performing Arts and Academic Enrichment Center in Huntingdon, Tennessee in 2008.

The Jubilee Singers continue to perform as a touring ensemble of Fisk University students. As of 2000, the group had 14 members who sang without instrumental accompaniment and with their director offstage.[19] They also have appeared with popular performers including Danny Glover, Hank Williams Jr., Faith Hill, and Shania Twain.[20] The group was also inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.[21]

Noted as the premier carriers of the Negro spirituals, the Fisk Jubilee Singers were selected in November 2008 as one of nine recipients of the 2008 National Medal of Arts. The award, which is the highest recognition for artistic excellence given by the United States Government, was presented by President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush.[22]

In 2021, the Fisk Jubilee Singers won their first Grammy at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards.[23]

 
Fisk Jubilee Singers 12 13 Ensemble

Representation in arts and culture edit

The documentary Jubilee Singers: Sacrifice and Glory, aired on PBS' American Experience in 2000, with repeat airings as recent as 2021.[15]

The documentary Matthew Kennedy: One Man's Journey on the life of former Fisk Jubilee Singers director Matthew Kennedy premiered at the Nashville Film Festival in 2007.[24][circular reference] The Fisk Jubilee Singers performed at the world premiere.

On 15 May 2010 BBC Radio 4 broadcast a play The Jubilee Singers about the Fisk Jubilee Singers' European Tour of 1873 by Adrian Mitchell. (The poet, playwright and human rights campaigner died in 2008.) It portrayed the relationship between the singers and a Welsh journalist who admired them and later acted as their publicist.

From 8 May to 22 May 2010, the radio drama series Adventures in Odyssey released a three-episode saga entitled "The Jubilee Singers."[25] In this saga, listeners can hear Frederick Douglass tell the story of George Leonard White, Benjamin Holmes, Ella Sheppard, Maggie Porter, and others in their struggle to save Fisk University out of a financial crisis. It was written by Dave Arnold and directed by Paul McCusker.

In 2013, composer Harvey Brough and lyricist Justin Butcher, wrote "The Year of Jubilee", a piece for soloists and choir telling the story of the Fisk Jubilee Singers. It was first performed at St. Luke's Church, Holloway, London in April 2013 and also with the university of Southampton Voices in May 2014. The latter performance was relevant in that the Fisk Jubilee Singers performed in Southampton 140 years prior to the concert.

In 2016, Tyehimba Jess published a book of poems entitled "Olio" that includes a crown of sonnets which follows the lives of the first troupe of Fisk Jubilee Singers.

In 2018, American country music artist Rodney Atkins released a single titled "Caught Up in the Country" that featured the Fisk Jubilee Singers. It reached the top 20 of the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in 2019.

"Jubilee", an a cappella musical based on the Jubilee singers written and directed by Tazewell Thompson, had its world premiere at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., in 2019.[26][27]

Paul T. Kwami, the director of the Jubilee singers since 1994, died on September 10, 2022.[28]

Legacy and honors edit

Singers and tours edit

[note: Parentheses indicate performers who participated only a few months in a particular tour.]

First Tour October 1871 to March 1872:[2]

Second Tour May 1872 to May 1874:[2]

Third Tour January 1875 to July 1878:[2]

Alumni edit

Notable people who were members of the Jubilee Singers include:

  • Sadie Chandler Cole (1865-1941), later a music educator and civil rights activist in Los Angeles, and mother of operatic soprano Florence Cole Talbert
  • Roland Hayes, lyric tenor who was the first African-American male concert artist to receive wide international acclaim
  • Frederick J. Loudin, sang bass in the choir, the caliber of his singing was often compared to that of Roland Hayes and Paul Robeson, two of the greatest male vocalists born and bred on American soil. He also directed the "Original Fisk Jubilee Singers," before and after the group disbanded in 1878, touring the globe and receiving international acclaim, in the capacity of singer, director and manager of the group for nearly 30 years.
  • Orpheus Myron McAdoo (1858−1900) was an African-American singer and minstrel show impresario. He toured extensively in Britain, South Africa and Australia, first with Frederick Loudin's Jubilee Singers and then with his own minstrel companies.
  • Matilda Sissieretta Joyner Jones, soprano whose repertoire included grand opera, light opera, and popular music
  • Matthew Kennedy, initially one of the singers (tenor), and the group's piano accompanist, and later served as director of the Fisk Jubilee Singers from 1957 (intermittently) until 1986.
  • Alice Vassar LaCour (1870s−1924), alto on the 1890-1891 tour; taught at American Missionary Association schools throughout the South
  • Patti J. Malone, mezzo-soprano
  • Mrs. James A. Myers, contralto, sang with the Fisk Jubilee Singers under John Wesley Work Jr. from 1915, and directed the Jubilee Singers from 1928 to 1947.
  • Ella Sheppard, one of the original members of the Jubilee singers who served as a leader and director of the group. She was a trusted confidante and friend of Booker T. Washington and Frederick Douglass.
  • Aldena Windham Davis Smith, later music director at Virginia Union University, and Virginia state education official

Discography edit

The Fisk Jubilee Singers have produced vast numbers of recordings over their 150-year history. For example, the Discography of American Historical Recordings lists 82 master recordings just from the period 1909 - 1927, made for four major early record companies (Victor, Columbia, OKeh, and Edison). The group's releases since then include:

  • I Want to Be Ready (2021)
  • Celebrating Fisk: the 150th Anniversary Album (2020), which was awarded "Best Roots Gospel Album" at the 63rd Grammy Awards in 2021.
  • Roll Jordan Roll (2015)
  • Fisk Jubilee Singers (2011)
  • Gospel Music Hall of Fame Series - The Fisk Jubilee Singers (2009), a remastered collection of recordings from the early 1980s
  • Sacred Journey (2007)
  • The Fisk Jubilee Singers: Singing Our Song (2007), produced by the Tennessee Arts Commission
  • In Bright Mansions (2003)
  • Fisk Jubilee Singers Vol. 3 (1924-1940) (1997)
  • Fisk Jubilee Singers Vol. 2 (1915-1920) (1997)
  • Fisk Jubilee Singers Vol. 1 (1909-1911) (1997)
  • Spirituals (1958)
  • The Gold and Blue Album (1955)

References edit

  1. ^ . Library of Congress. Archived from the original on February 8, 2007.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Ward, Andrew (2000), Dark Midnight When I Rise: The Story of the Jubilee Singers Who Introduced the World to the Music of Black America.
  3. ^ a b c d e f . Fisk Jubilee Singers. 2006. Archived from the original on March 21, 2007. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d Jubilee Singers Timeline 1869-1874 January 3, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, The American Experience website, PBS and WGBH, accessed August 4, 2009.
  5. ^ a b c Tim Brooks; Dick Spottswood (2004). Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890-1919. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-02850-2. JSTOR 10.5406/j.ctt2jcc81. from the original on May 21, 2022. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
  6. ^ Silveri, L. D. (1989). G. R. Keck and S. V. Martin (ed.). The Singing Tours of the Fisk Jubilee Singers: 1871-1874. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press.
  7. ^ Seroff, Doug (1990). "The Original Fisk Jubilee Singers and the Spiritual Tradition". Keskidee 2. p. 4.
  8. ^ Marsh, J. B. T. (1875). The Story of the Jubilee Singers with their Songs. London: Hodder and Staughton. p. 69.
  9. ^ a b Ben S. Austin, The Fisk University Jubilee Singers 2006-08-23 at the Wayback Machine, Middle Tennessee State University. Accessed 5 January 2009.
  10. ^ Penguin Portable Nineteenth Century African American Women Writers, Ed. Hollis Robbins and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. 2017, p. 230
  11. ^ James Sheire (July 1974). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Fisk University - Jubilee Hall" (pdf). National Park Service. from the original on March 11, 2021. Retrieved March 10, 2016. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  12. ^ Bowersox, Jeff; Thurman, Kira (January 29, 2016). "German Concert Review of the Fisk Jubilee Singers (1878)". Black Central Europe. from the original on August 9, 2020. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  13. ^ a b Kay Beasley, Fisk Jubilee Singers (1871–), Tennessee State University. Accessed 31 August 2006.
  14. ^ George Leonard White February 11, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, The American Experience website, PBS and WGBH, accessed August 4, 2009.
  15. ^ a b "Jubilee Singers: Sacrifice and Glory". American Experience. PBS. from the original on February 27, 2020. Retrieved February 28, 2020.
  16. ^ Johnson, Aisha M., "Jubilee Singers Archives 1858-1924", Fisk University, 2013
  17. ^ Bracks, L. L., DeGregory, C. A., & Giovanni, N. (2022). Heritage & Honor: 150-year Story of the Fisk Jubilee Singers. TL Scott Publishing.
  18. ^ a b Ward, A. (2001). Dark midnight when I rise: The story of the jubilee singers, who introduced the world to the music of Black America. Amistad Press.
  19. ^ Jon Pareles, "Music Review: Ambassadors Transcending Time and Race February 14, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, Thursday, March 9, 2000
  20. ^ a b c d e f Fisk Jubilee Singers: Music 2009-08-12 at the Wayback Machine, accessed August 5, 2009
  21. ^ . Archived from the original on February 23, 2017. Retrieved February 14, 2017.
  22. ^ . Archived from the original on February 21, 2017. Retrieved February 14, 2017.
  23. ^ "Fisk Jubilee Singers win first Grammy in 150-year career". The Tennessean.
  24. ^ Nashville Film Festival
  25. ^ "The Jubilee Singers, Part 1 - Adventures in Odyssey Wiki". Aiowiki.com. from the original on November 15, 2015. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
  26. ^ Simms-Burton, Michele (May 20, 2019). "Review: 'Jubilee' at Arena Stage". DC Metro Theater Arts. from the original on June 5, 2019. Retrieved June 5, 2019.
  27. ^ Pressley, Nelson (May 20, 2019). "'Jubilee' makes a star of the chorus at Arena Stage". Washington Post. from the original on May 22, 2019. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  28. ^ Risen, Clay (September 15, 2022). "Paul T. Kwami, Fisk Jubilee Singers' Longtime Director, Dies at 70". The New York Times. from the original on September 16, 2022. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
  29. ^ Fisk Jubilee Singers: In Bright Mansions 2009-08-13 at the Wayback Machine, accessed August 5, 2009
  30. ^ Deborah Evans Price (March 27, 2009). "Jon Bon Jovi, Queen Latifah go gospel for 'Day'". Reuters. from the original on March 31, 2009. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  31. ^ "Grammy Gospel Nominations" July 24, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, cbnmusic.com.

Further reading edit

  • Tim Brooks; Spottswood, Dick (2004). Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890-1919. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-02850-2. JSTOR 10.5406/j.ctt2jcc81. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
  • Jubilee Songs: as sung by the Jubilee Singers, of Fisk University, New York: Biglow & Main, 1872, OL 23408895M
  • Bruce Makoto Arnold, Roland W. Mitchell, and Noelle W. Arnold, "Massified Illusions of Difference:Photography and the Mystique of the American Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)", in Journal of American Studies of Turkey, 41 (2015): 69–94. Massified Illusions of Difference: Photography and the Mystique of the American Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)
  • Sandra Jean Graham, Spirituals and the Birth of a Black Entertainment Industry, University of Illinois Press, 2018.

External links edit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fisk Jubilee Singers.

May 02, 2024
fisk, jubilee, singers, african, american, cappella, ensemble, consisting, students, fisk, university, nashville, tennessee, first, group, organized, 1871, tour, raise, funds, college, their, early, repertoire, consisted, mostly, traditional, spirituals, inclu. The Fisk Jubilee Singers are an African American a cappella ensemble consisting of students at Fisk University in Nashville Tennessee The first group was organized in 1871 to tour and raise funds for college Their early repertoire consisted mostly of traditional spirituals but included some songs by Stephen Foster The original group toured along the Underground Railroad path in the United States as well as performing in England and Europe Later 19th century groups also toured in Europe Fisk Jubilee SingersFisk Jubilee Singers 1875Background informationGenresA cappellaYears active1871 1871 present In 2002 the Library of Congress honored their 1909 recording of Swing Low Sweet Chariot by adding it in the United States National Recording Registry 1 In 2008 they were awarded a National Medal of Arts Contents 1 History 1 1 Directors 1 2 Jubilee Day 2 Recent accomplishments 2 1 Representation in arts and culture 3 Legacy and honors 3 1 Singers and tours 3 2 Alumni 4 Discography 5 References 6 Further reading 7 External linksHistory edit nbsp Fisk Jubilee Singers circa 1870s The singers were organized as a fundraising effort for Fisk University The historically black college in Nashville Tennessee was founded by the American Missionary Association and local supporters after the end of the American Civil War to educate freedmen and other young African Americans In 1871 the five year old university was facing serious financial difficulty To avert bankruptcy and closure Fisk s treasurer and music director George Leonard White a white Northern missionary dedicated to music and proving African Americans were the intellectual equals of whites 2 gathered a nine member student chorus consisting of four black men Isaac Dickerson Ben Holmes Greene Evans Thomas Rutling and five black women Ella Sheppard Maggie Porter Minnie Tate Jennie Jackson Eliza Walker to go on tour to earn money for the university On October 6 1871 the group of students consisting of two quartets and a pianist started their U S tour under White s direction 3 They first performed in Cincinnati Ohio Over the next 18 months the group toured through Ohio Pennsylvania New York Connecticut Rhode Island New Jersey Massachusetts Maryland and Washington D C 4 nbsp Swing Low Sweet Chariot source source Swing Low Sweet Chariot performed by the Fisk Jubilee Singers Problems playing this file See media help After a concert in Cincinnati the group donated their small profit to the victims of the Great Chicago Fire of October 1871 3 2 As soprano Maggie Porter recalled We had thirty dollars and sent every penny to Chicago and didn t have anything for ourselves The mayor of Chillicothe Ohio expressed thanks to these young colored people for their liberality in giving the proceeds of last evening s concert to our relief fund for the Chicago sufferers 2 The group traveled on to Columbus Ohio where lack of funding poor hotel conditions and overall mistreatment from the press and audiences left them feeling tired and discouraged The group and their pastor Henry Bennett prayed about whether to continue with the tour White went off to pray as well he believed that they needed a name to capture audience attention The next morning he met with the singers and said Children it shall be Jubilee Singers in memory of the Jewish year of Jubilee 2 This was a reference to Jubilee described in the book of Leviticus in the Bible Each fiftieth Pentecost was followed by a year of jubilee in which all slaves would be set free 3 Since most of the students at Fisk University and their families were newly freed slaves 5 the name Jubilee Singers seemed fitting nbsp Jubilee Hall at Fisk University The Jubilee Singers performances were a departure from the familiar black minstrel genre of white musicians performing in blackface One early review of the group s performance was headlined Negro Minstrelsy in Church Novel Religious Exercise while further reviews highlighted the fact that this group of Negro minstrels were oddly enough genuine negroes 6 Those who have only heard the burnt cork caricatures of negro minstrelsy have not the slightest conception of what it really is Doug Seroff quotes one review of a concert by the group as saying 7 This was not a uniquely American response to the group s performance but was typical in audience receptions in Europe as well From the first the Jubilee music was more or less of a puzzle to the critics and even among those who sympathised with their mission there was no little difference of opinion as to the artistic merit of their entertainments Some could not understand the reason for enjoying so thoroughly as almost everyone did these simple unpretending songs 8 As the tour continued audiences came to appreciate the singers voices and the group began to be praised The Jubilee Singers are credited with the early popularization of the Negro spiritual tradition among white and northern audiences in the late 19th century many were previously unaware of its existence 9 At first the slave songs were never sung in public according to Ella Sheppard they were sacred to our parents who used them in their religious worship and shouted over them It was only after many months that gradually our hearts were opened to the influence of these friends and we began to appreciate the wonderful beauty and power of our songs 10 After the rough start the first United States tours eventually earned 40 000 for Fisk University 4 11 In early 1872 the group performed at the World s Peace Jubilee and International Musical Festival in Boston and they were invited to perform for President Ulysses S Grant at the White House in March of that year 3 4 They gave a separate performance in Washington D C for Vice President Schuyler Colfax and members of the U S Congress They traveled next to New York where they performed before enthusiastic audiences at preacher Henry Ward Beecher s Plymouth Church in Brooklyn and at Steinway Hall in Manhattan 4 They garnered national attention and generous donations Staying in the New York area for six weeks by the time they returned to Nashville they had raised the full 20 000 White had promised the university 5 In a tour of Great Britain and Europe in 1873 the group by then with 11 members performed Steal Away to Jesus and Go Down Moses for Queen Victoria in April They returned the following year they sailed to Europe again touring from May 1875 to July 1878 and drawing rave reviews 12 This tour raised an estimated 150 000 for the university funds used to construct Fisk s first permanent building 5 Named Jubilee Hall the building was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1975 and still stands 3 9 13 The original Jubilee Singers disbanded in 1878 because of their grueling touring schedule As Ella Sheppard one of the original Jubilee Singers recalled our strength was failing under the ill treatment at hotels on railroads poorly attended concerts and ridicule Porter also said There were many times when we didn t have place to sleep or anything to eat Mr White went out and brought us some sandwiches and tried to find some place to put us up Other times while the singers would wait in the railway station White and some other man of the troupe waded through sleet or snow or rain from hotel to hotel seeking shelter for us 2 A new Jubilee Singers choir was formed in 1879 under the direction of George L White and singer Frederick J Loudin 14 This troupe formed by White consisted of Jennie Jackson Maggie Porter Georgia Gordon Mabel Lewis Patti Malone Hinton Alexander Benjamin W Thomas and newcomers R A Hall Mattie Lawrence and George E Barrett A Cushing was the agent who managed their bookings 2 The original Jubilee Singers introduced slave songs to the world in 1871 and were instrumental in preserving this unique American musical tradition known today as Negro spirituals They influenced many other troupes of jubilee singers who would go on to make their own contributions to the genre such as the Original Nashville Students They broke racial barriers in the US and abroad in the late 19th century They raised money in support of their beloved school due to it failing In 1999 the Fisk Jubilee Singers were featured in the documentary Jubilee Singers Sacrifice and Glory which aired on PBS American Experience 15 In July 2007 the Fisk Jubilee Singers went on a sacred journey to Ghana at the invitation of the U S Embassy It was a history making event as it was their first time visit to Ghana In 2008 the Fisk Jubilee Singers were selected as a recipient of the 2008 National Medal of Arts the nation s highest honor for artists and patrons of the arts The award was presented by President George W Bush and First Lady Laura Bush during a ceremony at the White House Directors edit 1871 1878 George Leonard White founding director White had organized groups of singers with Ella Sheppard under the Fisk name since 1866 White asked Ella Sheppard to help prepare the group for its inaugural tour in 1871 Fisk University President E M Cravath disbanded the original Fisk Jubilee Singers in July 1878 It would not re form under the auspices of Fisk University for 20 years until 1899 However groups independent of Fisk University carried on the name and legacy 16 1879 1898 George Leonard White and Frederick Loudin established a group in September 1879 not associated with Fisk University and shared the musical directorship for about two years Frederick Loudin continued as sole director with some organizational and musical involvement by White From 1889 1898 the group was named Loudin s Fisk Jubilee Singers In 1884 Maggie Porter who had sung in both the original group and Loudin s group and her new husband singer Daniel Cole formed their own separate company calling it Fisk Jubilee Singers and toured the U S Canada and Europe during the 1880s and 90s 1899 1923 John Wesley Work Jr a k a John W Work II championed Jubilee music at Fisk University since joining the faculty in 1896 In 1899 University President E M Cravath who had dissolved the group 20 years earlier commissioned Work with re instituting it He shared directorship with his wife Agnes Ella Sheppard Moore assisted and also directed the Jubilee Club on campus In Folk Song of the American Negro Work proclaimed Mrs Ella Sheppard Moore has been so closely connected with the presentation of Negro folk songs to the world so intimately associated with their preservation that it is impossible to think of the one separate and apart from the other Due to budgetary constraints it operated as Fisk University Jubilee Quartet from 1909 1916 in which Work sang First Tenor It is this group that made the first sound recordings of spirituals in authentic rendering including the 1909 recording of Swing Low Sweet Chariot which was added to the United States National Recording Registry in 2002 17 1923 1927 Rev James A Myers second tenor in the Fisk University Jubilee Quartet took leadership of that group and the Fisk Jubilee Singers after John W Work II resigned 18 1928 1947 Henrietta Crawley Myers a k a Mrs James A Myers a singer under John W Work II took directorship of the group after her husband passed During these years The Jubilee Singers as she called it was made up of former members of the Fisk University Jubilee Singers Despite serving on the Fisk University faculty and the group maintaining their international prominence under her direction it is not clear whether this group was directly affiliated with Fisk University 18 1947 1956 John Wesley Work III1957 1986 Matthew Washington Kennedy1968 1972 Richard Turner III1973 1975 Oscar M Henry1986 1987 Horace Clarence Boyer1987 1990 Anthony E Williams1990 1994 Delise P Hall1994 2022 Dr Paul T Kwami2022 2023 Dr Anthony Williams2024 Dr G Preston Wilson Jr Current Director Jubilee Day edit Fisk University commemorates the anniversary of the singers first tour by celebrating Jubilee Day on October 6 each year 3 13 Recent accomplishments edit nbsp The Fisk Jubilee Singers performance at the Dixie Carter Performing Arts and Academic Enrichment Center in Huntingdon Tennessee in 2008 The Jubilee Singers continue to perform as a touring ensemble of Fisk University students As of 2000 the group had 14 members who sang without instrumental accompaniment and with their director offstage 19 They also have appeared with popular performers including Danny Glover Hank Williams Jr Faith Hill and Shania Twain 20 The group was also inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame 21 Noted as the premier carriers of the Negro spirituals the Fisk Jubilee Singers were selected in November 2008 as one of nine recipients of the 2008 National Medal of Arts The award which is the highest recognition for artistic excellence given by the United States Government was presented by President George W Bush and First Lady Laura Bush 22 In 2021 the Fisk Jubilee Singers won their first Grammy at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards 23 nbsp Fisk Jubilee Singers 12 13 Ensemble Representation in arts and culture edit The documentary Jubilee Singers Sacrifice and Glory aired on PBS American Experience in 2000 with repeat airings as recent as 2021 15 The documentary Matthew Kennedy One Man s Journey on the life of former Fisk Jubilee Singers director Matthew Kennedy premiered at the Nashville Film Festival in 2007 24 circular reference The Fisk Jubilee Singers performed at the world premiere On 15 May 2010 BBC Radio 4 broadcast a play The Jubilee Singers about the Fisk Jubilee Singers European Tour of 1873 by Adrian Mitchell The poet playwright and human rights campaigner died in 2008 It portrayed the relationship between the singers and a Welsh journalist who admired them and later acted as their publicist From 8 May to 22 May 2010 the radio drama series Adventures in Odyssey released a three episode saga entitled The Jubilee Singers 25 In this saga listeners can hear Frederick Douglass tell the story of George Leonard White Benjamin Holmes Ella Sheppard Maggie Porter and others in their struggle to save Fisk University out of a financial crisis It was written by Dave Arnold and directed by Paul McCusker In 2013 composer Harvey Brough and lyricist Justin Butcher wrote The Year of Jubilee a piece for soloists and choir telling the story of the Fisk Jubilee Singers It was first performed at St Luke s Church Holloway London in April 2013 and also with the university of Southampton Voices in May 2014 The latter performance was relevant in that the Fisk Jubilee Singers performed in Southampton 140 years prior to the concert In 2016 Tyehimba Jess published a book of poems entitled Olio that includes a crown of sonnets which follows the lives of the first troupe of Fisk Jubilee Singers In 2018 American country music artist Rodney Atkins released a single titled Caught Up in the Country that featured the Fisk Jubilee Singers It reached the top 20 of the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in 2019 Jubilee an a cappella musical based on the Jubilee singers written and directed by Tazewell Thompson had its world premiere at Arena Stage in Washington D C in 2019 26 27 Paul T Kwami the director of the Jubilee singers since 1994 died on September 10 2022 28 Legacy and honors edit1996 the National Arts Club honored the Singers with a Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award 20 2000 the singers were inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame 20 2006 the group was honored on the Music City Walk of Fame 20 2004 the song Poor Man Lazarus on the Singers 2003 recording In Bright Mansions was honored with a Dove Award 20 In Bright Mansions also was nominated for a Grammy Award that year in the Best Recording Package category 29 2008 the group was awarded the National Medal of Arts 20 2009 Fisk Jubilee Singers with Jonny Lang released the song I Believe on the compilation album Oh Happy Day An All Star Music Celebration 30 and received a Grammy nomination for Best Gospel Performance 31 2021 Their album Celebrating Fisk The 150th Anniversary Album was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Roots Gospel Album category The album won the Grammy the first for the Fisk Jubilee Singers Singers and tours edit note Parentheses indicate performers who participated only a few months in a particular tour First Tour October 1871 to March 1872 2 Phoebe Anderson contralto Isaac Dickerson bass Greene Evans bass Benjamin Holmes tenor Jennie Jackson soprano Maggie Porter soprano Thomas Rutling tenor Ella Sheppard soprano piano organ and guitar Minnie Tate contralto Eliza Walker contralto George Wells performerSecond Tour May 1872 to May 1874 2 Isaac Dickerson bass Greene Evans bass Georgia Gordon soprano Benjamin Holmes tenor Jennie Jackson soprano Julia Jackson contralto Mabel Lewis contralto Josephine Moore piano Henry Morgan tenor Maggie Porter soprano Thomas Rutling tenor Ella Sheppard soprano piano organ and guitar Minnie Tate contralto Edmund Watkins bassThird Tour January 1875 to July 1878 2 Hinton D Alexander tenor Minnie Butler voice and or instrument unknown Maggie Carnes soprano Georgia Gordon soprano Ella Hildridge soprano Jennie Jackson soprano Julia Jackson contralto Mabel R Lewis contralto Frederick J Loudin bass Patti Malone mezzo soprano Gabriel Ousley bass Maggie Porter soprano America W Robinson contralto Thomas Rutling tenor Ella Sheppard soprano piano organ and guitar Benjamin W Thomas bass Lucinda Vance contralto Edmund W Watkins bass Alumni edit Notable people who were members of the Jubilee Singers include Sadie Chandler Cole 1865 1941 later a music educator and civil rights activist in Los Angeles and mother of operatic soprano Florence Cole Talbert Roland Hayes lyric tenor who was the first African American male concert artist to receive wide international acclaim Frederick J Loudin sang bass in the choir the caliber of his singing was often compared to that of Roland Hayes and Paul Robeson two of the greatest male vocalists born and bred on American soil He also directed the Original Fisk Jubilee Singers before and after the group disbanded in 1878 touring the globe and receiving international acclaim in the capacity of singer director and manager of the group for nearly 30 years Orpheus Myron McAdoo 1858 1900 was an African American singer and minstrel show impresario He toured extensively in Britain South Africa and Australia first with Frederick Loudin s Jubilee Singers and then with his own minstrel companies Matilda Sissieretta Joyner Jones soprano whose repertoire included grand opera light opera and popular music Matthew Kennedy initially one of the singers tenor and the group s piano accompanist and later served as director of the Fisk Jubilee Singers from 1957 intermittently until 1986 Alice Vassar LaCour 1870s 1924 alto on the 1890 1891 tour taught at American Missionary Association schools throughout the South Patti J Malone mezzo soprano Mrs James A Myers contralto sang with the Fisk Jubilee Singers under John Wesley Work Jr from 1915 and directed the Jubilee Singers from 1928 to 1947 Ella Sheppard one of the original members of the Jubilee singers who served as a leader and director of the group She was a trusted confidante and friend of Booker T Washington and Frederick Douglass Aldena Windham Davis Smith later music director at Virginia Union University and Virginia state education officialDiscography editThis list is incomplete you can help by adding missing items October 2021 The Fisk Jubilee Singers have produced vast numbers of recordings over their 150 year history For example the Discography of American Historical Recordings lists 82 master recordings just from the period 1909 1927 made for four major early record companies Victor Columbia OKeh and Edison The group s releases since then include I Want to Be Ready 2021 Celebrating Fisk the 150th Anniversary Album 2020 which was awarded Best Roots Gospel Album at the 63rd Grammy Awards in 2021 Roll Jordan Roll 2015 Fisk Jubilee Singers 2011 Gospel Music Hall of Fame Series The Fisk Jubilee Singers 2009 a remastered collection of recordings from the early 1980s Sacred Journey 2007 The Fisk Jubilee Singers Singing Our Song 2007 produced by the Tennessee Arts Commission In Bright Mansions 2003 Fisk Jubilee Singers Vol 3 1924 1940 1997 Fisk Jubilee Singers Vol 2 1915 1920 1997 Fisk Jubilee Singers Vol 1 1909 1911 1997 Spirituals 1958 The Gold and Blue Album 1955 References edit About This Program National Recording Preservation Board Programs at the Library of Congress Library of Congress Library of Congress Archived from the original on February 8 2007 a b c d e f g h i Ward Andrew 2000 Dark Midnight When I Rise The Story of the Jubilee Singers Who Introduced the World to the Music of Black America a b c d e f Our History Fisk Jubilee Singers 2006 Archived from the original on March 21 2007 Retrieved February 23 2021 a b c d Jubilee Singers Timeline 1869 1874 Archived January 3 2017 at the Wayback Machine The American Experience website PBS and WGBH accessed August 4 2009 a b c Tim Brooks Dick Spottswood 2004 Lost Sounds Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry 1890 1919 University of Illinois Press ISBN 978 0 252 02850 2 JSTOR 10 5406 j ctt2jcc81 Archived from the original on May 21 2022 Retrieved March 1 2021 Silveri L D 1989 G R Keck and S V Martin ed The Singing Tours of the Fisk Jubilee Singers 1871 1874 Westport Conn Greenwood Press Seroff Doug 1990 The Original Fisk Jubilee Singers and the Spiritual Tradition Keskidee 2 p 4 Marsh J B T 1875 The Story of the Jubilee Singers with their Songs London Hodder and Staughton p 69 a b Ben S Austin The Fisk University Jubilee Singers Archived 2006 08 23 at the Wayback Machine Middle Tennessee State University Accessed 5 January 2009 Penguin Portable Nineteenth Century African American Women Writers Ed Hollis Robbins and Henry Louis Gates Jr 2017 p 230 James Sheire July 1974 National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Fisk University Jubilee Hall pdf National Park Service Archived from the original on March 11 2021 Retrieved March 10 2016 a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a Cite journal requires journal help Bowersox Jeff Thurman Kira January 29 2016 German Concert Review of the Fisk Jubilee Singers 1878 Black Central Europe Archived from the original on August 9 2020 Retrieved August 11 2020 a b Kay Beasley Fisk Jubilee Singers 1871 Tennessee State University Accessed 31 August 2006 George Leonard White Archived February 11 2017 at the Wayback Machine The American Experience website PBS and WGBH accessed August 4 2009 a b Jubilee Singers Sacrifice and Glory American Experience PBS Archived from the original on February 27 2020 Retrieved February 28 2020 Johnson Aisha M Jubilee Singers Archives 1858 1924 Fisk University 2013 Bracks L L DeGregory C A amp Giovanni N 2022 Heritage amp Honor 150 year Story of the Fisk Jubilee Singers TL Scott Publishing a b Ward A 2001 Dark midnight when I rise The story of the jubilee singers who introduced the world to the music of Black America Amistad Press Jon Pareles Music Review Ambassadors Transcending Time and Race Archived February 14 2017 at the Wayback Machine The New York Times Thursday March 9 2000 a b c d e f Fisk Jubilee Singers Music Archived 2009 08 12 at the Wayback Machine accessed August 5 2009 Fisk Jubilee Singers Our Music Archived from the original on February 23 2017 Retrieved February 14 2017 Fisk Jubilee Singers Our Music Archived from the original on February 21 2017 Retrieved February 14 2017 Fisk Jubilee Singers win first Grammy in 150 year career The Tennessean Nashville Film Festival The Jubilee Singers Part 1 Adventures in Odyssey Wiki Aiowiki com Archived from the original on November 15 2015 Retrieved December 15 2015 Simms Burton Michele May 20 2019 Review Jubilee at Arena Stage DC Metro Theater Arts Archived from the original on June 5 2019 Retrieved June 5 2019 Pressley Nelson May 20 2019 Jubilee makes a star of the chorus at Arena Stage Washington Post Archived from the original on May 22 2019 Retrieved June 12 2019 Risen Clay September 15 2022 Paul T Kwami Fisk Jubilee Singers Longtime Director Dies at 70 The New York Times Archived from the original on September 16 2022 Retrieved September 16 2022 Fisk Jubilee Singers In Bright Mansions Archived 2009 08 13 at the Wayback Machine accessed August 5 2009 Deborah Evans Price March 27 2009 Jon Bon Jovi Queen Latifah go gospel for Day Reuters Archived from the original on March 31 2009 Retrieved July 1 2017 Grammy Gospel Nominations Archived July 24 2015 at the Wayback Machine cbnmusic com Further reading editTim Brooks Spottswood Dick 2004 Lost Sounds Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry 1890 1919 University of Illinois Press ISBN 978 0 252 02850 2 JSTOR 10 5406 j ctt2jcc81 Retrieved March 1 2021 Jubilee Songs as sung by the Jubilee Singers of Fisk University New York Biglow amp Main 1872 OL 23408895M Bruce Makoto Arnold Roland W Mitchell and Noelle W Arnold Massified Illusions of Difference Photography and the Mystique of the American Historically Black Colleges and Universities HBCUs in Journal of American Studies of Turkey 41 2015 69 94 Massified Illusions of Difference Photography and the Mystique of the American Historically Black Colleges and Universities HBCUs Sandra Jean Graham Spirituals and the Birth of a Black Entertainment Industry University of Illinois Press 2018 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fisk Jubilee Singers Fisk Jubilee Singers official website Fisk Jubilee Singers cylinder recordings from the Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project at the University of California Santa Barbara Library Fisk University Jubilee Singers from the Discography of American Historical Recordings created and maintained by the University of California Santa Barbara Library Play by Adrian Mitchell The Jubilee Singers broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 15 May 2010 List of concerts on setlist fm https www setlist fm search query fisk jubilee singers Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Fisk Jubilee Singers amp oldid 1220470985, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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