Jubilee singers
Variant namesThe Fisk Jubilee Singers originated with nine students, Isaac Dickerson, Maggie Porter, Minnie Tate, Jennie Jackson, Benjamin Holmes, Thomas Rutling, Eliza Walker, Green Evans, and Ella Sheppard, who set out on a concert tour of the North on 6 Oct. 1871 to save the financially ailing Fisk University; idea to form the group was conceived by George L. White, Fisk University's white treasurer; because the University disapproved of the idea, White had to borrow money for the tour; White gave the group the name Jubilee Singers in memory of the Jewish Year of Jubilee.
From the description of Jubilee Singers records, 1871-1947. (Fisk University). WorldCat record id: 70970121
The Fisk Jubilee Singers originated with nine students who set out on a concert tour of the North on 6 Oct. 1871 to save the financially ailing Fisk University; idea to form the group was conceived by George L. White, Fisk University's treasurer.
From the description of European Tour collection, 1873-1878 (bulk, 1875-1877). (Fisk University). WorldCat record id: 70975196
Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, opened in January 1866, was one of seven chartered institutions founded by the American Missionary Association of New York specifically to educate and assist Southern African-Americans in the period immediately following the civil war. It was named in honor of General Clinton B. Fisk of the Tennessee Freedmen's Bureau. In 1870 George L. White, Fisk treasurer and music professor, created a nine-member student choral ensemble -- the Jubilee Singers -- and took them on tour to earn money for the University. Initially the group sang only ballads and patriotic anthems, but White suggested adding spirituals and other songs traditional to the Southern African-American experience, making the Jubilee Singers the first group to publicly perform the songs of slaves.
In 1872 the Jubilee Singers sang at the World Peace Festival in Boston and President Ulysses S. Grant invited them to perform at the White House. In 1873 the group toured Europe, raising enough funds to erect the school's first permanent building, Jubilee Hall; one entire wall of the Hall is a portrait of the original Jubilee Singers. The portrait was commissioned by Queen Victoria as a gift following the tour.
From the guide to the Jubilee Singers Concert Program, 1940, (Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries)
The Fisk Jubilee Singers are an African-American a cappella ensemble, consisting of students at Fisk University. 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.
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. In 2008 they were awarded a National Medal of Arts.
Role | Title | Holding Repository | |
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creatorOf | Jubilee Singers. Jubilee Singers records, 1871-1947. | John Hope and Aurelia E. Franklin Library. Special Collections & Archives | |
referencedIn | Allison, Andrew. Andrew Allison collection, 1928-1956. | John Hope and Aurelia E. Franklin Library. Special Collections & Archives | |
referencedIn | Work, John Wesley (III)., 1901-1967. Papers. ca. 1944. | Tulane University, Amistad Research Center | |
referencedIn | Cravath, Erastus Milo, 1833-1900. Erastus Milo Cravath papers, 1873-1897. | John Hope and Aurelia E. Franklin Library. Special Collections & Archives | |
referencedIn | McKenzie, Fayette Avery, b. 1872. Fayette Avery McKenzie papers. Supplement, 1909-1928 (bulk, 1910-1922). | John Hope and Aurelia E. Franklin Library. Special Collections & Archives | |
referencedIn | Fisk University. Fiskiana records, 1876-[ongoing]. | John Hope and Aurelia E. Franklin Library. Special Collections & Archives | |
referencedIn | Fox, Herbert Franklin. Jubilee : based on the story of the original Fisk Jubilee Singers / written by Herbert Franklin Fox. | Tougaloo College, L Zenobia Coleman Library | |
creatorOf | Jubilee Singers Concert Program, 1940 | Syracuse University. Library. Special Collections Research Center | |
referencedIn | Southern Folklife Collection Artist Name File, 1940-2005 | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Folklife Collection. | |
referencedIn | Caliver, Ambrose, 1894-1962. Ambrose Caliver collection, 1912-1938. | John Hope and Aurelia E. Franklin Library. Special Collections & Archives | |
referencedIn | Photographs of musicians, composers, and singers, 1862-1948. | Harvard Theater Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University | |
referencedIn | Work, John W. (John Wesley), 1901-1967. John Wesley Work III papers, 1915-1971 [microform]. | John Hope and Aurelia E. Franklin Library. Special Collections & Archives | |
creatorOf | Myers, Henriett Helena Crawley, 1878-1968. Henrietta Myers collection on the Fisk Jubilee Singers, 1947-[19--]. | John Hope and Aurelia E. Franklin Library. Special Collections & Archives | |
referencedIn | Artus Moser Papers, 1921-1988 | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Folklife Collection. | |
creatorOf | Jubilee Singers. European Tour collection, 1873-1878 (bulk, 1875-1877). | John Hope and Aurelia E. Franklin Library. Special Collections & Archives | |
referencedIn | Southall, Geneva H. Geneva H. Southall papers. | Emory University. Special Collections and Archives | |
creatorOf | Jubilee Singers. Correspondence with Marian Anderson, 1935-1980. | University of Pennsylvania Libraries, Van Pelt Library | |
referencedIn | Collins, Ludie David, b. 1893. Ludie David Collins papers, 1911-1936. | John Hope and Aurelia E. Franklin Library. Special Collections & Archives | |
referencedIn | Spence, Mary E. (Mary Elizabeth), 1865-1962,. Spence family collection, 1812-1961. | John Hope and Aurelia E. Franklin Library. Special Collections & Archives | |
referencedIn | Spence, Adam Knight. Adam Knight Spence and John Wesley Work collection, [ca. 1851-1936]. | Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System, Central Library | |
referencedIn | Doug Seroff Tennessee African American Gospel Quartet collection | Center for Popular Music, Middle Tennessee State University | |
referencedIn | Jones, Thomas Elsa. Thomas Elsa Jones collection (1-71), 1925-1947 (bulk, 1926-1946). | John Hope and Aurelia E. Franklin Library. Special Collections & Archives | |
referencedIn | Orpheus M. McAdoo and Mattie Allen McAdoo papers, circa 1850-1966, 1886-1936 | Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library | |
referencedIn | American minstrel show collection, 1823-1947. | Harvard Theater Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University | |
referencedIn | Taylor, Alrutheus Ambush. Papers. 1952-1954. | Tulane University, Amistad Research Center | |
referencedIn | Jubilee singers photograph [graphic]; n.d. | University of Virginia. Library |
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Europe | |||
Tennessee--Nashville | |||
Tennessee--Nashville | |||
Nashville | TN | US |
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African American universities and colleges |
African Americans |
African Americans |
African Americans |
African American singers |
Choirs (Music) |
Christian universities and colleges |
Concert tours |
Congregational universities and colleges |
Fisk University |
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Singers |
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Corporate Body
Active 1871
Active 1947
Establishment 1871
Americans
Dutch; Flemish,
German,
English