A History of the African-American Spiritual

How the African-American Spiritual has maintained its integrity
in the face of major social and musical challenges

[Based on an article by Thomas Lloyd published in the August 2004 issue of the Choral Journal of the American Choral Directors Association; all rights reserved.]

5. The Fisk Jubilee Singers sing for the world

Fisk Jubilee Singers circa 1870s

Fisk Jubilee Singers circa 1870s

Seen in this context, it was quite startling for white audiences to see on stage a group of nine former slaves, dressed not in the tatters of Jim Crow or the slick-city outfits of Zip Coon, but in simple, dignified suits and gowns, performing the spiritual songs of the slaves with a restraint, control, and expressive intensity that would take the audience’s breath away. One listener closely affiliated with the singers, Mary Spence, observed:

[the opening pianissimo was so exquisite in quality, full of the deepest feeling, so exceedingly soft that it could hardly be heard, yet because of its absolute purity carrying to the farthest part of any large hall, it commanded the attention of every audience. As the tone floated out a little louder, clearer, rose to the tremendous crescendo of 'My Lord calls me', and diminished again into exquisite pianissimo sweetness, the most critical enemy was conquered.[1]

In four tours between 1871 and 1882, the vocal ensemble of between 9 and 11 singers succeeded beyond anyone’s wildest expectations. They achieved their initial goal of raising a huge sum of money ($150,000) for the survival of Fisk University that would go on to educate a range of important leaders, from early literary figures such as W.E.B. DuBois and James Weldon Johnson, to such political leaders as John Lewis and Alcee Hastings. The Jubilees introduced the spiritual songs of the slaves to millions of listeners across the northeastern United States and Europe. In so doing, they served to preserve a cornerstone of African-American culture for their own people and to bequeath to the world one of its most life-affirming cultural legacies.

Even in the early days of the first tour when they needed every cent of ticket revenue just to keep going, the Jubilees were also pioneers in the dawning struggle for civil rights by refusing to perform in auditoriums or churches that prohibited blacks’ attendance. They confronted the harsh segregation of public accommodations in the supposedly more hospitable North, often by reminding hotel managers and restaurateurs how differently they had been treated in Europe. They had some success in breaking a number of racial barriers along the way, such as the segregation of Pullman rail cars in 1880.[2]

Andrew Ward has aptly summarized the lasting impact of the music they performed and the way they performed it:

What the Jubilees accomplished for themselves and the nation was to demonstrate the dignity, intelligence, and educability of black Americans. In the circles of the wealthy, a man might once have gotten away with casually remarking that higher education was wasted on blacks. But without abandoning their own culture and traditions, the Jubilees provided vivid and convincing proof to the contrary. Their music demonstrated to the world that there was something of lasting value in African-American culture.[3]

Word of the Fisk Jubilee Singers' success spread quickly among the other newly emerging colleges such as the Hampton Institute in Virginia and the Fairfield Normal Institute in South Carolina.[4] However, this increased touring activity diluted critical financial support for touring ensembles from church foundations. By the time of the fourth tour of the Fisk Jubilee Singers (1879-82) decreased funding from the American Missionary Association forced to operate independently of the university.

The Fisk singers had adopted the name "Jubilee" (associated with the biblical "year of Jubilee" when all slaves were to be freed) to differentiate themselves from minstrel groups and their repertory.[5] However, their popular success had such an effect that minstrel groups began to call themselves "Jubilees" as they took the new sacred songs and added them to portions of their shows, mocking the religious gatherings of the slaves.[6]

By the end of the fourth tour, the declining health of George White and exhaustion of Ella Sheppard led to two separate Fisk Jubilee Singer groups being formed by two of their singers, Frederick Loudin and Maggie Porter. Both groups toured the world, including East Asia, until the turn of the century. But by then, the Jubilees were all but lost in the crowd of imitators and minstrel troupes.[7] W. E. B. DuBois observed:

Since their day they have been imitated -- sometimes well, by the singers of Hampton and Atlanta, sometimes ill, by straggling quartettes. Caricature has sought again to spoil the quaint beauty of the music, and has filled the air with many debased melodies which vulgar ears scarce know from the real.[8]

Notes:

[1]Mary Spence, "A Character Sketch of George L. White," Fisk University News, Oct. 1911 (Fisk University Collection), quoted by Ward 153-4.

[2]Joe M. Richardson, History of Fisk University 1865-1946 (University of Alabama: 1980) 49 (cited in Ward 383).

[3]Ward 394-5.

[4]Southern 229.

[5]Ward 139.

[6]Lott 235-6.

[7]Ward 373-93.

[8]W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk (1903; reprint ed., New York: Signet Classic 1995), 267, quoted in Tim Brooks, '"Might Take One Disc of This Trash as a Novelty" : Early Recordings by the Fisk Jubilee Singers and the Popularization of "Negro Folk Music,"' American Music 18:3 [Fall 2000] 282 (the phrase at the beginning of the title of Brooks's article refers to a remark made by Thomas Edison before deciding not to issue three test cylinder recordings of the Fisk Jubilee Quartet (Brooks 295)).