Fisk Jubilee Singers

In 1871 Fisk University, established for emancipated African Americans in 1866, faced closure due to financial exigency. George Leonard White, the school's treasurer and music teacher, organized a small choral group composed of student singers, which performed several concerts in Nashville and throughout the South. On October 6, 1871, White and his nine-student choral ensemble departed on a Northern tour. On tour, the singers performed mostly popular tunes, sacred anthems, and patriotic songs, interspersed with “slave songs” or spirituals. Later in 1871, White named the group Jubilee Singers in memory of the Jewish year of Jubilee, a moniker that resonated with a biblical call for freedom. In 1873 the Jubilee Singers traveled to England and performed before Queen Victoria. By May 1874, the singers raised enough funds to purchase land for a campus and to construct the imposing Jubilee Hall. Confounding critics who questioned the fitness of African Americans for higher education, the contributions of the Jubilee Singers to the university and to the establishment of the spiritual as an authentic musical expression are immeasurable.