Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part I of a three part pancocojams series about The Fisk Jubilee Singers.
Part I presents several online excerpts about the early history of The Fisk Jubilee Singers.
Part II presents information about "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" and provides the standard lyrics for this Spiritual.
This post also showcases a 1909 sound file of The Fisk Jubilee Singers' rendition of "Swing Low Sweet Chariot". Additional examples of this song are also showcased in this post for comparison purposes.
Part III showcases a 1909 sound file of The Fisk Jubilee Singers' rendition of "O Lord, I've Done What You Told Me To Do" riot". Additional examples of this song are also showcased in this post for comparison purposes. Two versions of lyrics for this song are also included in this post.
The content of this post is presented for historical and cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to the original Fisk Jubilee Singers for their musical legacy, and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
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Visit YouTube to view contemporary videos of this choral group that is part of Fisk University, a private historically Black university in Nashville, Tennessee.
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EXCERPTS ABOUT THE FISK JUBILEE SINGERS
These excerpts are presented in no particular order and are numbered for referencing purposes only.
Excerpt #1:
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisk_Jubilee_Singers
"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 Stephen Foster songs. 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.[1] In 2008 they were awarded a National Medal of Arts.
History
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. The five-year-old university was facing serious financial difficulty. To avert bankruptcy and closure, Fisk's treasurer and music director, George L. 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 … and five black women …. 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]
[...]
The group traveled on to Columbus, 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.
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 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. 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][12].
The original Jubilee Singers disbanded in 1878 because of their grueling touring schedule.
[...]
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]"...
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Excerpt #2:
From http://www.buckschoral.org/news-and-archives/resources/spiritual-history/chapter-5/ "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.]
..."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.”...
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"This context" probably refers to "black-face minstrelsy" as that is the focus of chapter 4 in this buckschoral.org series. Here's a link to that chapter: http://www.buckschoral.org/news-and-archives/resources/spiritual-history/chapter-4/ "Countering the images of black-face minstrelsy".
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Excerpt #3:
From https://pages.stolaf.edu/americanmusic/tag/fisk-jubilee-singers/ "African American Spirituals in post-slavery, pre-civil rights movement, America"
Posted on October 3, 2017 by Isaiah Pressman
..."the Fisk Jubilee Singers brought a style of singing and harmony to the white world that had been previously unknown and, in the process, won international fame for their university. While the Fisk Jubilee Singers were by not means the only African American musical ensemble singing spirituals,3 they are the most famous and remembered example to this day."...
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This concludes Part I of this three part series.
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