Fisk Jubilee Singers

Unknown artist, 1872

Download3000 × 1851 px View on a wall Edit

Medium: Albumen silver print
Size: Image/Sheet: 5.8 x 9.2cm (2 5/16 x 3 5/8"); Mount: 6.3 x 10.6cm (2 1/2 x 4 3/16")
Museum: Smithsonian Institution
Rights: CC0 — no rights reserved

Through concerts in cities large and small, these nine original members of the Fisk Jubilee Singers were among the first performers to introduce white audiences to a repertoire of authentic African American spirituals. The Fisk Free Colored School (now Fisk University) in Nashville, Tennessee, opened in 1866 to offer a liberal arts education to formerly enslaved men, women, and children. Five years later, a lack of resources threatened Fisk’s survival. In response, the school’s treasurer and choir director organized a choral ensemble and launched a national tour to raise funds.