I love music, especially songs sung a cappella where harmonies can shine. Nothing’s better . . . unless you add an interesting historical background to the mix.

 

Fisk University

On January 9, 1866, Fisk Free Colored School opened in Nashville, TN. In only a few months, enrollment shot up to 900 students—ages 7 to 70. This desire by African Americans for education created a problem—there weren’t enough teachers. So Fisk changed its focus to higher education, and one year after opening, it reorganized and incorporated as Fisk University.

Did You Know…

• Fisk University was named for Union general, Clinton B. Fisk.
• A private liberal arts college, Fisk is Nashville’s oldest institution of higher education.
• Fisk gained accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in 1930. It was the first historically black institution to do so.

 

Jubilee Singers

In 1870, Fisk University planned to move to north Nashville and a larger campus. But money was tight, and in 1871, the school faced the possibility of bankruptcy and closure. Then the university’s treasurer and music director hit upon a unique solution. He formed a nine-member student chorus, and on October 6, 1871, the a cappella choir went on tour to raise money for the school.

They began in Ohio. It wasn’t easy, especially in the early days. After a concert in Cincinnati, they donated every penny they had made—a small profit of thirty dollars—to the victims of the Great Chicago Fire (October 8-10, 1871).

Though this donation left them with few funds, the group continued to their next stop, Columbus, Ohio. There, met with a far-from-warm welcome by audiences and the press, as well as poor hotel conditions, discouragement overwhelmed them. That night they prayed for guidance. Should they continue the tour?

The next morning, their pastor had the answer. They needed a group name to capture audiences’ attention. He suggested they call themselves the Jubilee Singers in memory of the Jewish year of Jubilee, when certain indentured servants were set free. The name fit. After all, most of the students and their families were newly freed slaves.

Did You Know…

• Chicago’s Great Fire destroyed much of the city, killing approximately 300 people and leaving more than 100,000 residents homeless.
• Jubilee Day is celebrated each October 6 at Fisk University in commemoration of the day the Jubilee Singers’ set off on their first tour.

 

The Tours

On that first, eighteen-month-long tour, the Jubilee Singers worked their way through Ohio, before moving on to Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, and Washington D.C.

In Boston they performed at the World’s Peace Jubilee and International Music Festival. In Washington D.C. they performed for President Ulysses S. Grant, and, at a separate performance, sang for the Vice President and members of the U.S. Congress. By the time they reached New York, word of their concerts had audiences flocking to hear them. By the time they returned to Nashville, they were famous, garnering national attention and substantial donations.

The group raised nearly $50,000—that’s approximately $1.13 million in 2023 dollars—and built Jubilee Hall. This Victorian Gothic, L-shaped, six-story building was completed in 1876. It’s the oldest permanent building used for African Americans’ higher education in the U.S.

Did You Know…

• Between 1873-1878, the Fisk Jubilee Singers (FJS) performed for British, Dutch, and German monarchs while touring in England and Europe.
• Queen Victoria proclaimed the FJS “sing so beautifully they must be from the Music City of the United States.”
• Jubilee Hall was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1975.

 

The Songs

The FJS sang traditional Negro Spirituals and a few Stephen Foster songs. The group is credited with helping popularize the Negro Spirituals to the white and northern audiences. This was the first time many audiences had heard actual black singers, rather than white singers in blackface. As the tour progressed, the singers’ voices drew fans. As did the songs they introduced the audiences to.

One of the songs was Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, written by Wallace Willis sometime in the late 1860s. The song’s lyrics tell the Old Testament story of the Prophet Elizjah’s ascent into Heaven by chariot. Willis, a Choctaw freedman living and working near what is today, Hugo, OK, was likely inspired by the Red River. It obviously made him think of the Jordan River and the biblical account of Elijah being swept up to heaven.

Today, the song is one of the best-known African American Christian hymns. Its popularity, in part, can be contributed to the FJS who introduced it to audiences around the world. (Click here to hear the 1909 recording of FJS singing Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.)

Did You Know…

• The earliest known recording of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot is from 1894 and was performed by the Standard Quartette.
• A minister at a Choctaw boarding school heard Swing Low, Sweet Chariot and sent it and another song to the FJS.
• In 1939, Nazi Germany’s, Reich Music Examination Office, placed Swing Low, Sweet Chariot on their list of musical works “undesired and harmful.”
• The Library of Congress added Swing Low, Sweet Chariot to the U.S. National Recording Registry in 2002.
• On May 5, 2011, Swing Low, Sweet Chariot became the official Gospel Song of Oklahoma.

 

Summary

Born from the need to raise money, the original Jubilee Singers not only saved their university but unwittingly helped preserve their peoples’ religious songs, the Negro Spirituals. These young students also helped break down racial barriers, both in the U.S. and around the world. Today, over 150 years later, the Fisk Jubilee Singers continue to perform.

Did You Know…

• In 2000, the FJS were inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.
• The FJS received a star on the Music City Walk of Fame in 2006.
• In 2008, the FJS received a National Medal of Arts.
• In 2021, the FJS won a Grammy for their album Celebrating Fisk! The 150th Anniversary Album.