"I do not know when anything has so moved me as did the plaintive melodies of the Jubilee Singers...
I would walk seven miles to hear them sing again... " Mark Twain, 1873.
On Friday 1 August 1873, the Fisk University Jubilee Singers arrived in Hull to perform their so-called 'slave songs' or 'spirituals' to a crowded Hope Street Congregational Church. According to the Hull Packet, the eleven male and female African American singers from the newly established Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, performed with "pathetic beauty" and "much feeling" to the fifteen-hundred invited guests.[1] The troupe had arrived in England in early May and had already performed in London before the Prime Minister Mr Gladstone and an enraptured Queen Victoria by the time they arrived in Hull. They would perform again in Hull and other parts of Yorkshire over the following years as part of their efforts to raise money for their university back in Nashville.
History
The Jubilee Singers troupe began as a singing class at the newly founded Fisk University. The university had been established in 1866 by the American Missionary Association (AMA) for the education of newly freed African American slaves after the end of the American civil war in 1865.[2] The original mission of the singers was to raise money for the school, which despite its numerous supporters also faced much resistance from those opposed to the ending of slavery and the education of Black Americans.[3] The university was based in the former headquarters of an abandoned union hospital and after only a few years money needed to be raised for new buildings to be erected. The singers, nine of whom were former slaves, began a tour of the Northern states of America in 1871 under the directorship of Caucasian ex-soldier George L. White who was also Fisk University’s treasurer and instructor of music. Their singing initially consisted of classical and popular music songs, but audiences started to increase in size when the group began to sing ‘slave songs’ or 'spirituals' sung in a unique style, described at the time as “full of religious earnestness and pathos… " with "a feeling of real and natural piety.”[4]The initial first concerts were not financially successful and the singers experienced some problems with racism, often being barred from lodging houses or being physically threatened.[5] However, in March 1872, the singers sang in front of President Grant at the White House and in the same month performed at the prestigious Steinway Hall in New York. Their popularity grew and after six months of touring the northern states they had raised $20,000.[6] |
'Jubilee Singing' The origin of the word ‘Jubilee’ comes from the Hebrew bible and the idea of the ‘Jubilee Year’ (Leviticus 25:8-12) when slaves would be freed and debt would be forgiven. The post-Civil War phenomenon of ‘jubilee singing’ began in America in 1871 with the Fisk University Jubilee Singers who popularised the ‘slave spiritual’ around the world. |
The Jubilee Singers come to Britain
During their first tour of America the singers had performed in front of prominent members of the American clergy such as the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, a popular Christian speaker. With Beecher’s endorsement and connections with British Christian organisations such as the Freedmen’s Missions Aid Society, the Jubilee Singers engaged upon a long tour of Britain and Europe designed to raise more money for the erection of a Jubilee Hall at the University.[7] They arrived in England on 6 May 1873 and performed, as mentioned before, in front of many notable British dignitaries including members of the Royal Family. The illustration on the right shows the singers performing in front of Queen Victoria in May 1873. |
The Original Singers
The men and women who made up the original Jubilee Singers lineup were Greene Evans (bass), Edmund Watkins (bass, Evans replacement), Isaac P. Dickerson (bass), Benjamin Holmes (tenor), Thomas Rutling (tenor), Georgia Gordon (soprano), Mabel Lewis (contralto), Maggie L. Porter (soprano), Jennie Jackson (soprano), Ella Sheppard (soprano, piano, organ, and guitar), Julia Jackson (contralto) and the youngest member at fourteen-years-of-age, Minnie Tate (contralto).
Hover over each image to identify the singers and click any image to go to short biographies of each singer and to access further information and links.
The men and women who made up the original Jubilee Singers lineup were Greene Evans (bass), Edmund Watkins (bass, Evans replacement), Isaac P. Dickerson (bass), Benjamin Holmes (tenor), Thomas Rutling (tenor), Georgia Gordon (soprano), Mabel Lewis (contralto), Maggie L. Porter (soprano), Jennie Jackson (soprano), Ella Sheppard (soprano, piano, organ, and guitar), Julia Jackson (contralto) and the youngest member at fourteen-years-of-age, Minnie Tate (contralto).
Hover over each image to identify the singers and click any image to go to short biographies of each singer and to access further information and links.
The Jubilee Singers in Hull: August 1873
First Visit to Hull After three months in London the Jubilee Singers came to Hull. The significance of their arrival on the first day of August was initially unknown to the troupe until they visited the Wilberforce Monument in the centre of the city, which at that time was still in its original position near Princes Dock. There, according to the Rev. G. D. Pike’s published record of the singers’ tour, the group discovered by reading the monument’s inscription that the foundation stone had been erected on that day, thirty-nine years before - the same day as the abolition of slavery in the British Colonies.[8] The singers stayed at the Cross Keys Hotel which was at that time situated on Market Place in the city, opposite the life-size gilt statue of King William lll. Newspaper reports describe how the singers gave a performance on the evening of the 1st at the Hope Street Congregational Church to a chapel that was “completely crowded.”[9] The singers raised a total of £52 10s that evening and the Reverends Statham and Preston asked if they could give a second performance at the chapel two days later on the Sunday afternoon, which the singers did to a “densely packed audience.”[10] In addition to the concert, bass singer Isaac Dickerson was asked to speak to some of the children in the chapel who gave £9 to the Jubilee fund.[11] On the Sunday evening, according to Pike’s version of events, the singers were sitting in their hotel room “witnessing the throngs of people flowing like a tide of life up and down in front of King William’s monument” when group leader George White decided that the troupe should go out and sing a few songs to the “wandering crowd.” Whether this was also the wish of the singers is unclear, however, the group arranged themselves in front of the monument “using the base as a platform.” Here the troupe sang and Pike himself gave a sermon at which he reported, somewhat theatrically, that the “tears were trickling slowly down the cheeks of the wretched wanderers”.[12] |
Jubilee Singers' First Tour to Britain Performances in Yorkshire 1873 1 & 3 Aug: Hope Street Congregational Church, Hull. 4 Aug (am): Southampton Training Ship, Hull. 4 Aug (pm): Hengler’s Circus, Anlaby Road, Hull. Aug : South Cliff Congregational Church, Scarborough 18 Nov : The Concert Room, York 24 Nov : Huddersfield 25 Nov : Town Hall, Leeds 27 Nov : St George’s Hall, Bradford 5-8 Dec: Hull, inc. Hengler's Circus & Artillery Barracks 9 Dec : The Concert Room, York. 11 Dec : St George’s Hall, Bradford 13 Dec : Victoria Hall, Leeds 1874 6 & 9 February : Albert Hall, Sheffield 2 March : Albert Hall, Sheffield 16 April : Albert Hall, Sheffield April : Town Hall, Leeds [farewell concert] 20 April : Hengler’s Circus, Anlaby Rd, Hull [farewell concert] |
The following day the troupe were taken to the Southampton Training Ship, moored on the River Humber. The ship was an Industrial School vessel designed to educate local boys from poor homes in the art of seamanship in order that they could gain future employment as mariners and be diverted from a ‘life of crime’. The Hull Packet observed that the singers “inspected the vessel” and watched the boys perform drill. Afterwards they sang some of their songs in the school room “to the enjoyment of the boys.”[13] Pike reported that the “brave fellows raised a little fund” and purchased Charles Knight’s book Pictorial Old England for the Fisk University library.[14] That evening the troupe also gave a concert at Hengler’s Cirque (or Circus) which was situated on Anlaby Road which was reported as “well attended” by the newspapers.[15] Pike described the evening as “rainy” and the venue “crowded,” but the singers raised £140 for their cause with a promise to return to Hull again.
What seems clear from these few reports is that the singers’ schedule, while financially lucrative, was also punishing. As scholar Sandra Graham has suggested, the young Fisk student singers were unused to the “cold and damp climate of Britain” and what with the “rigors of travelling, a heavy concert schedule, and the stress of long separations from friends and family” they “were frequently sick and exhausted.”[16] It is also clear from Graham’s research that George White was very much in control of events and particularly “every aspect of the troupe’s singing.”
Over the following days the Singers would perform at Scarborough’s South Cliff Congregational Church. About eleven hundred people attended this event and on the following Sunday (probably the 10th), White organised an outdoor event on the green at Scarborough where “over four thousand persons were present, including a crowd of fishermen and others” despite the fact that it “poured with rain.”[17] Pike reported that “the people preferred getting wet to missing the musical treat” although he does not mention how the Jubilee Singers themselves felt about the overtly damp conditions. After their short visit to Yorkshire, the singers went on to Newcastle, then Scotland and Ireland, not returning to the county until late November and December where they performed in Huddersfield, Leeds, York and Bradford. |
A Return to Hull: December 1873
Second Visit The Jubilee Singers returned to Hull for their second visit to the city on Friday 5 December. Hull’s Eastern Morning News reported that the troupe of “young vocalists” had performed once again at Hengler’s Circus that evening before a “crowded and respectable audience.”[18] George White spoke at the event, referring “with gratitude” to the singer’s previous reception at Hull which he described as the first city in the country in which they had “made money beyond their expenses” and been able to send money home. American newspapers also recorded this second visit by the singers to Hull. The Daily Constitution, a local newspaper from Middletown, Connecticut, reported how “the people of Hull are simply carried away” with the singers and had given them “very flattering audiences.”[19] The Yale University College Courant published a report from a local Hull journal, which stated that “the programme was very varied and well chosen” and received the most “rapturous encores.”[20] For the first time a little more detail was provided in the reporting of the event. In the second part of the concert, contralto singer, and the youngest member of the group, Minnie Tate sang ‘Write Me a Letter from Home’ “in a most pathetic and very forcible style” and Mabel Lewis sang “Too Late.”[21] At this concert, George White suggested to those present that it would be a “grand thing” if the students at Fisk University could take back with them “some memorial of Wilberforce.” As will be seen, by the time the singers returned to Hull for their third and final ‘farewell concert” in the following April, plans had been put in place for this to happen. |
On the Sunday it was reported that the seven female members of the group and one of the male singers (it is unclear who), accompanied by White, attended a large gathering of three thousand school children and their teachers at Hull’s Artillery Barracks. The singers sang one of their “sweet hymns” and a collection was made which amounted to just over seventeen pounds.[22] The following afternoon the singers were taken on a tour of Wilberforce House, the emancipator’s former home, after they had expressed a “strong desire” to do so. Hull merchant Thomas Massam, who occupied a portion of the house during this time, had sent the troupe an invitation to view the building which was "gladly accepted". The singers were shown the room where William Wilberforce was born, and here they sang ‘John Brown’s Body Lies Mouldering in the Grave’ and gave a rendition of ‘God Save the Queen.’ It was reported that the ladies in the group led Massam’s children around as they viewed the house, and before they left were presented by the children with “money offerings” for the Fisk University collection. Massam also gave the singers copies of an engraving of Wilberforce House and a parcel of seeds of the plant “Herculeum Gigantea” which apparently grew profusely outside the house at this time.[23]
That evening the troupe gave another well received concert at Hengler’s Circus and the following day left Hull for the short trip across the Wolds to York. A report from the York Herald reveals that the singers gave a concert in the town later that day.[24] Just before the last song of the evening the Rev. William MacKay, a minister of the Presbyterian Church at Hull, got up to speak to the crowded concert room. MacKay, describing himself as a representative of the friends of the Jubilee Singers, spoke about how he hoped that the singers would “carry away from Yorkshire the vivid fact that the town of Wilberforce, and the county of Wilberforce had not forgotten their great and glorious apostle for the abolition of slavery.”[25] He felt that “Hull had shown itself worthy of its former connection” with Wilberforce, and revealed that on their visit to Hull the previous evening “thousands were unable to obtain the admission they desired, and a third visit had to be promised.”[26] The popularity of the singers in Hull at that time seems evident, and the troupe were to return as promised to the town four months later.
That evening the troupe gave another well received concert at Hengler’s Circus and the following day left Hull for the short trip across the Wolds to York. A report from the York Herald reveals that the singers gave a concert in the town later that day.[24] Just before the last song of the evening the Rev. William MacKay, a minister of the Presbyterian Church at Hull, got up to speak to the crowded concert room. MacKay, describing himself as a representative of the friends of the Jubilee Singers, spoke about how he hoped that the singers would “carry away from Yorkshire the vivid fact that the town of Wilberforce, and the county of Wilberforce had not forgotten their great and glorious apostle for the abolition of slavery.”[25] He felt that “Hull had shown itself worthy of its former connection” with Wilberforce, and revealed that on their visit to Hull the previous evening “thousands were unable to obtain the admission they desired, and a third visit had to be promised.”[26] The popularity of the singers in Hull at that time seems evident, and the troupe were to return as promised to the town four months later.
A 'Final Farewell' to Hull: April 1874
Third Visit By the time the singers returned to Hull on 20 April 1874 for their ‘farewell’ concerts, they had been constantly touring England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales for twelve months.[27] The Hull Packet described the troupe as “these now famous singers,” who performed once again at Hengler’s Circus to a building “crowded in every part.”[28] However, it was noted by the newspaper that the former “joyous feeling” had “worn to some extent… by the form of frequent repetition.” This seems unsurprising considering the singers' hectic touring schedule, frequent illness and constant travelling. It is also apparent from contemporary reports that the group’s leader George White was struggling with illness himself and that his wife had died suddenly in Glasgow only two months before of typhoid fever.[29] There were also other problems within the group which would come to the surface quite publicly once the singers moved on to their European tour - as will be seen in part two of this story. Painting of William Wilberforce Despite these problems, it was evident that the popularity of the singers was still very much in force in the city of Hull. During an interlude at the April performance at Hengler’s Circus, the singers were presented with a promised memento of William Wilberforce to take back with them to Nashville. It was a ‘life-like’ painting of the emancipator and former local MP, painted by local Hull artist Benjamin Hudson.[30] The Hull Packet described the painting as “handsomely framed” and inscribed with the notation: “Presented to the ‘Jubilee Singers,’ for Fisk University, by friends in England, at Kingston-upon-Hull, the birthplace of William Wilberforce.”[31] The painting was presented by the Rev. Preston of Hope Street Chapel where the singers had first performed the year before. It was noted that one of the singers responded in thanks. The audience were then invited to view the painting at “Mr. Friston’s, Savile Street” before it was sent on to America. By February 1875 the painting had arrived at the American Missionary Association’s offices in New York. American journal the Advance published this description of the painting of Wilberforce: |
Fisk Jubilee Singers: Male Quartet Earliest Recordings c.1909-1911
|
"Broad and high forehead; his hair, white with years. but of full growth and slightly curly, brushed carelessly back. His head cast a little to one side, as was his habit; his dark brown eyes expressive of keen intelligence, but evidently lighted up with good nature, and his whole countenance, also, instinct with a frankness and benevolence, no doubt a true depiction of his character. His lips graceful, and though firmly enough set to indicate capability of will and purpose, yet hinting that if he spoke to you he would speak kindly. His chin of delicate mold. His whole attitude easy as he sits by his study table holding his eye-glasses which you imagine he has just wiped with the bandana handkerchief which lies upon his lap."
‘Around Our Table,’ The Advance (11 February, 1875), p.436.
‘Around Our Table,’ The Advance (11 February, 1875), p.436.
The painting subsequently hung in the Howard Chapel at Fisk University before the Jubilee Hall was built. The American Missionary Association’s newspaper reported that the painting was situated in the centre of the back wall underneath an immense American flag and was to “form one of the attractive features of the commencement [or graduation].”[32] Later on, the painting hung in the “elegantly upholstered” parlour of the Jubilee Hall alongside other paintings that were gifted to the Jubilee Singers including portraits of David Livingstone, Lord Shaftesbury and a huge painting of the singers themselves.[33]
Click to go to: The Jubilee Singers in Hull & East Yorkshire: Part Two
After the singers gave their farewell concerts in Hull in April 1874, the troupe began a tour of Europe. They had successfully raised £10,000 for the building of the new Jubilee Hall at Fisk University. Part two of the Jubilee Singers story looks at the unrest felt by the troupe and their appeal to stay in Europe, their return to the East Riding and Frederick Loudin's Jubilee Singers.
After the singers gave their farewell concerts in Hull in April 1874, the troupe began a tour of Europe. They had successfully raised £10,000 for the building of the new Jubilee Hall at Fisk University. Part two of the Jubilee Singers story looks at the unrest felt by the troupe and their appeal to stay in Europe, their return to the East Riding and Frederick Loudin's Jubilee Singers.
Footnotes
[1] ‘The Jubilee Singers’, Hull Packet (8 August, 1873), p5.
[2] The United States adopted the 13th Amendment to the Constitution on 6 December 1865, some eight months after the end of the Civil War, which outlawed the practice of slavery.
[3] See Graber, 2004 for more information on the opposition to the university.
[4] Marsh, J. B. T. The Story of the Jubilee Singers; with their Songs, (1875: London, Hodder and Stoughton, 1877), p.61.
[5] Graham, Sandra. ‘On the Road to Freedom: The Contracts of the Fisk Jubilee Singers,’ American Music, Vol 24, No. 1 (spring, 2006), p4.
[6] Graber, Katie, J. ‘“A Strange, Weird Effect”: The Fisk Jubilee Singers in the United States and England’, American Music Research Center Journal, Vol 14, (2004), p.27.
[7] Ibid. p. 31.
[8] Rev. Gustavus Pike was a district secretary of the American Missionary Association (AMA). He wrote reminiscences of the Jubilee Singers tours of America and Britain which were published by the AMA. See: G.D. Pike, The Singing Campaign for Ten Thousand Pounds or The Jubilee Singers in Great Britain, (AMA, 1875).
[9] ‘The Jubilee Singers’, Hull Packet (8 August, 1873), p5. Pastor of the chapel, the Reverend W. C. Preston, had invited fifteen hundred people to the first performance.
[10] Ibid. There are some slight differences to the newspaper reports of the singers activities on Sunday 3rd Aug to Pike’s published reminiscences.
[11] Pike, (1875), p. 96.
[12] Ibid.
[13] ‘The Jubilee Singers’ (1873)
[14] Pike, p. 97.
[15] ‘The Jubilee Singers’ (1873)
[16] Graham. (2006), p5.
[17] Pike, p. 99.
[18] ‘The Jubilee Singers,’ Eastern Morning News, (6 December, 1873), p.4.
[19] ‘Fisk University,’ The Daily Constitution, (Middletown, Connecticut, 5 Jan, 1874), p.2.
[20] ‘Fisk University’, The College Courant. A Weekly Journal Devoted to College Interests, Science, and Literature, vol XIV, (Yale University, New Haven, 17 Jan, 1874), p.34.
[21] Ibid.
[22] Ibid.
[23] Ibid.
[24] ‘The Jubilee Singers,’ York Herald (13 December,1873), p.7.
[25] MacKay is also recorded as giving the Singers a copy of his book Grace and Truth.
[26] York Herald (13 December,1873), p.7.
[27] In his book on the Singers published in 1875, J. B. T. Marsh incorrectly suggests that this visit was the Singers second to Hull. Marsh, J. B. T. The Story of the Jubilee Singers; with their Songs, (1875: London, Hodder and Stoughton, 1877, 1885), p. 72.
[28] ‘The Jubilee Singers’, Hull Packet, (24 April, 1874), p.8.
[29] Laura Cravath White was a teacher at Fisk University. She died while accompanying her husband on the Jubilee Singers’ tour of Great Britain. She died on the 20 February 1874.
[30] Benjamin Hudson (c.1823-1900) was a local portrait painter. Many of his paintings are in the collections of the Feren’s Art Gallery, the Guildhall and Maritime Museum in Hull.
[31] Hull Packet, (24 April, 1874), p.8.
[32] ‘Fisk University,” The American Missionary, vol 19-20 (1875), p. 181.
[33] Roy, J.E. Pilgrim's letters : bits of current history picked up in the West and the South during the last thirty years (Boston, 1888). p. 179
[1] ‘The Jubilee Singers’, Hull Packet (8 August, 1873), p5.
[2] The United States adopted the 13th Amendment to the Constitution on 6 December 1865, some eight months after the end of the Civil War, which outlawed the practice of slavery.
[3] See Graber, 2004 for more information on the opposition to the university.
[4] Marsh, J. B. T. The Story of the Jubilee Singers; with their Songs, (1875: London, Hodder and Stoughton, 1877), p.61.
[5] Graham, Sandra. ‘On the Road to Freedom: The Contracts of the Fisk Jubilee Singers,’ American Music, Vol 24, No. 1 (spring, 2006), p4.
[6] Graber, Katie, J. ‘“A Strange, Weird Effect”: The Fisk Jubilee Singers in the United States and England’, American Music Research Center Journal, Vol 14, (2004), p.27.
[7] Ibid. p. 31.
[8] Rev. Gustavus Pike was a district secretary of the American Missionary Association (AMA). He wrote reminiscences of the Jubilee Singers tours of America and Britain which were published by the AMA. See: G.D. Pike, The Singing Campaign for Ten Thousand Pounds or The Jubilee Singers in Great Britain, (AMA, 1875).
[9] ‘The Jubilee Singers’, Hull Packet (8 August, 1873), p5. Pastor of the chapel, the Reverend W. C. Preston, had invited fifteen hundred people to the first performance.
[10] Ibid. There are some slight differences to the newspaper reports of the singers activities on Sunday 3rd Aug to Pike’s published reminiscences.
[11] Pike, (1875), p. 96.
[12] Ibid.
[13] ‘The Jubilee Singers’ (1873)
[14] Pike, p. 97.
[15] ‘The Jubilee Singers’ (1873)
[16] Graham. (2006), p5.
[17] Pike, p. 99.
[18] ‘The Jubilee Singers,’ Eastern Morning News, (6 December, 1873), p.4.
[19] ‘Fisk University,’ The Daily Constitution, (Middletown, Connecticut, 5 Jan, 1874), p.2.
[20] ‘Fisk University’, The College Courant. A Weekly Journal Devoted to College Interests, Science, and Literature, vol XIV, (Yale University, New Haven, 17 Jan, 1874), p.34.
[21] Ibid.
[22] Ibid.
[23] Ibid.
[24] ‘The Jubilee Singers,’ York Herald (13 December,1873), p.7.
[25] MacKay is also recorded as giving the Singers a copy of his book Grace and Truth.
[26] York Herald (13 December,1873), p.7.
[27] In his book on the Singers published in 1875, J. B. T. Marsh incorrectly suggests that this visit was the Singers second to Hull. Marsh, J. B. T. The Story of the Jubilee Singers; with their Songs, (1875: London, Hodder and Stoughton, 1877, 1885), p. 72.
[28] ‘The Jubilee Singers’, Hull Packet, (24 April, 1874), p.8.
[29] Laura Cravath White was a teacher at Fisk University. She died while accompanying her husband on the Jubilee Singers’ tour of Great Britain. She died on the 20 February 1874.
[30] Benjamin Hudson (c.1823-1900) was a local portrait painter. Many of his paintings are in the collections of the Feren’s Art Gallery, the Guildhall and Maritime Museum in Hull.
[31] Hull Packet, (24 April, 1874), p.8.
[32] ‘Fisk University,” The American Missionary, vol 19-20 (1875), p. 181.
[33] Roy, J.E. Pilgrim's letters : bits of current history picked up in the West and the South during the last thirty years (Boston, 1888). p. 179
Bibliography and Further Reading
Primary Sources
Books
Jubilee Songs as Sung by the Jubilee Singers of Fisk University, (Biglow & Main, New York, Chicago, 1872).
Pike, Gustavus. D. Rev. The Singing Campaign for Ten Thousand Pounds or The Jubilee Singers in Great Britain, Revised Ed, (1872, American Missionary Association, New York, 1875).
Marsh, J. B. T. The Story of the Jubilee Singers; with their Songs, (1873: London, Hodder and Stoughton, 1877, 1885).
Newspapers & Journals
‘Jubilee Singers,’ Eastern Morning News, (2 August, 1873).
‘The Jubilee Singers,’ Hull Packet (8 August, 1873), p.5.
‘Occasional Notes,’ Christian Union, (20 August, 1873), p.8.
‘Fisk University Building and Jubilee Singers Illustrations,’ Illustrated London News (6 Sept, 1873), p. 232.
‘The Jubilee Singers,’ Leeds Mercury (20 November, 1873), p.8.
‘The Jubilee Singers,’ Eastern Morning News, (6 December, 1873), p.4.
‘Jubilee Singers Advertisement,’ Eastern Morning News, (8 December, 1873).
‘The Jubilee Singers,’ York Herald (13 December,1873), p.7.
‘Fisk University,’ The Daily Constitution, (Middletown, Connecticut, 5 Jan, 1874), p.2.
‘Fisk University’, The College Courant. A Weekly Journal Devoted to College Interests, Science, and Literature, vol XIV, (Yale University, New Haven, 17 Jan, 1874), p.34.
‘The Jubilee Singers,’ The Troy Weekly Times, (New York, 17 Jan 1874), p.4.
‘The Jubilee Singers’, Hull Packet, (24 April, 1874), p.8.
‘Local Intelligence,’ Hull Packet (29 May, 1874), p.5.
‘Troubles of the Jubilee Singers,’ Hull Packet (5 June, 1874), p.5.
‘Fisk University,” The American Missionary, vol 19-20 (1875), p. 181.
‘Around Our Table,’ The Advance (11 February, 1875), p.436.
Secondary Sources
Books
Bontemps, Anna. Chariots in the Sky: A Story of the Jubilee Singers (Oxford University Press, 2002).
Reavis L. Mitchell Jr., Fisk University Since 1866: Thy Loyal Children Make Their Way (1995).
Ward, Andrew. Dark Midnight When I Rise: The Story of the Jubilee Singers Who Introduced the World to the Music of Black America (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000).
Journal Articles
Abbott, Lynn. ‘“Do Thyself a’ no Harm”: The Jubilee Singing Phenomenon and the “Only Original New Orleans University Singers,”’ American Music Research Center Journal Vol 6, (1996). pp. 2-47.
Anderson, Toni P. "Tell Them We Are Singing for Jesus": The Original Fisk Jubilee Singers and Christian Reconstruction, 1871-1878. (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2010).
Graber, Katie, J. ‘“A Strange, Weird Effect”: The Fisk Jubilee Singers in the United States and England’, American Music Research Center Journal, Vol 14, (2004), pp. 27-52.
Graham, Sandra. ‘On the Road to Freedom: The Contracts of the Fisk Jubilee Singers,’ American Music, Vol 24, No. 1 (spring, 2006), pp. 1-29.
Primary Sources
Books
Jubilee Songs as Sung by the Jubilee Singers of Fisk University, (Biglow & Main, New York, Chicago, 1872).
Pike, Gustavus. D. Rev. The Singing Campaign for Ten Thousand Pounds or The Jubilee Singers in Great Britain, Revised Ed, (1872, American Missionary Association, New York, 1875).
Marsh, J. B. T. The Story of the Jubilee Singers; with their Songs, (1873: London, Hodder and Stoughton, 1877, 1885).
Newspapers & Journals
‘Jubilee Singers,’ Eastern Morning News, (2 August, 1873).
‘The Jubilee Singers,’ Hull Packet (8 August, 1873), p.5.
‘Occasional Notes,’ Christian Union, (20 August, 1873), p.8.
‘Fisk University Building and Jubilee Singers Illustrations,’ Illustrated London News (6 Sept, 1873), p. 232.
‘The Jubilee Singers,’ Leeds Mercury (20 November, 1873), p.8.
‘The Jubilee Singers,’ Eastern Morning News, (6 December, 1873), p.4.
‘Jubilee Singers Advertisement,’ Eastern Morning News, (8 December, 1873).
‘The Jubilee Singers,’ York Herald (13 December,1873), p.7.
‘Fisk University,’ The Daily Constitution, (Middletown, Connecticut, 5 Jan, 1874), p.2.
‘Fisk University’, The College Courant. A Weekly Journal Devoted to College Interests, Science, and Literature, vol XIV, (Yale University, New Haven, 17 Jan, 1874), p.34.
‘The Jubilee Singers,’ The Troy Weekly Times, (New York, 17 Jan 1874), p.4.
‘The Jubilee Singers’, Hull Packet, (24 April, 1874), p.8.
‘Local Intelligence,’ Hull Packet (29 May, 1874), p.5.
‘Troubles of the Jubilee Singers,’ Hull Packet (5 June, 1874), p.5.
‘Fisk University,” The American Missionary, vol 19-20 (1875), p. 181.
‘Around Our Table,’ The Advance (11 February, 1875), p.436.
Secondary Sources
Books
Bontemps, Anna. Chariots in the Sky: A Story of the Jubilee Singers (Oxford University Press, 2002).
Reavis L. Mitchell Jr., Fisk University Since 1866: Thy Loyal Children Make Their Way (1995).
Ward, Andrew. Dark Midnight When I Rise: The Story of the Jubilee Singers Who Introduced the World to the Music of Black America (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000).
Journal Articles
Abbott, Lynn. ‘“Do Thyself a’ no Harm”: The Jubilee Singing Phenomenon and the “Only Original New Orleans University Singers,”’ American Music Research Center Journal Vol 6, (1996). pp. 2-47.
Anderson, Toni P. "Tell Them We Are Singing for Jesus": The Original Fisk Jubilee Singers and Christian Reconstruction, 1871-1878. (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2010).
Graber, Katie, J. ‘“A Strange, Weird Effect”: The Fisk Jubilee Singers in the United States and England’, American Music Research Center Journal, Vol 14, (2004), pp. 27-52.
Graham, Sandra. ‘On the Road to Freedom: The Contracts of the Fisk Jubilee Singers,’ American Music, Vol 24, No. 1 (spring, 2006), pp. 1-29.
LINKS
Fisk University History: https://www.fisk.edu/about/history
The current Fisk University Jubilee Singers: http://www.fiskjubileesingers.org/index.html
African American History: http://www.blackpast.org/
Fisk University History: https://www.fisk.edu/about/history
The current Fisk University Jubilee Singers: http://www.fiskjubileesingers.org/index.html
African American History: http://www.blackpast.org/