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Will the Circle Be Unbroken?: The Sacred Music of the African American Diaspora Main Menu Will the Circle Be Unbroken? The Sacred Music of the African American Diaspora Enter the Exhibit What is African American Sacred Music? From Spirituals to Soul Songs of the Underground Railroad The Legacy of the Fisk Jubilee Singers Women and Worship Music of the Revolution: Sacred Music and Protest Gospel Roots: African American Churches in Los Angeles Albert J. McNeil The Albert McNeil Jubilee Singers Jester Hairston Don Lee White Hansonia Caldwell Opening the Exhibit What’s a Music Exhibit without the music? Take an audio journey through the CSUDH Sacred Music Archives collections Sign our Guest Book! Gerth Archives and Special Collections, California State University Dominguez Hills

Cabinet Card of the Fisk Jubilee Singers

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From Spirituals to Soul Beth McDonald
Contents of this tag:
1. Scott Joplin
2. Gary Clark, Jr.
3. Ella Fitzgerald at the Downbeat Club in New York. Dubbed "The First Lady of Song," Ella Fitzgerald was the most popular jazz singer in the United States for more than 50 years. With an unparalled vocal range and exceptional tone and phrasing, she sang everything from ballads to “scat songs” for a global audience, sold 40 million records, and won 13 Grammy awards. Photo by William P. Gottlieb, courtesy of the United States Library of Congress's Music Division
4. BB King B.B. King is possibly the most well known blues musician in the world. He was part of the early blues scene on Beale Street in New York in the 1940s and was instrumental in the evolution and definition of the genre. A virtuoso guitarist, King developed a sophisticated and distinctive playing technique, integrating elements from early blues guitarists like Blind Lemon Jefferson to create a unique style that influenced many later blues and rock guitarists. Photo by John Shearer/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images
5. Beyonce Knowles Beyoncé Knowles-Carter is a singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. She rose to fame as the lead singer of Destiny's Child, one of the best- selling girl groups of all time. As a solo artist, she has become one of the world’s bestselling music artists and an outspoken advocate for social justice issues. She has been listed among Time's 100 most influential people and ranked as the most powerful woman in entertainment. Photo courtesy of Theo Wargo/Getty Images for TIDAL.
6. Mahalia Jackson performs at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam
7. Marian Anderson at the Easter Concert at the Lincolm Memorial
8. Cabinet Card of the Fisk Jubilee Singers
9. Ma Rainey
10. Thomas A. Dorsey
11. Yolanda Adams
12. W. C. Handy circa mid 1930s W.C. Handy was one of the most influential songwriters and blues musicians in the United States. Handy did not create the blues genre but was the first to publish music in the blues form, adapting the blues he heard on the street into a series of compositions that helped spark America’s first blues craze, including “Memphis Blues,” “Yellow Dog Blues,” “Beale Street Blues,” and “St. Louis Blues.”
13. Kendrick Lamar
14. NWA The rap group NWA is widely considered one of the greatest and most influential groups in the history of hip hop music. They were among the earliest pioneers of the gangsta rap genre. Drawing on their experiences with racism and excessive policing, NWA wrote intensely political music, with depictions of drugs, crime, and women that caused considerable controversy. Their sharp, staccato style and raw, authentic lyrics led the genre in new directions and continue to impact the development of hip-hop.

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The Legacy of the Fisk Jubilee Singers The Fisk Jubilee Singers were instrumental in preserving the unique American musical tradition known today as spirituals. In 1866, Fisk University was founded in Nashville, Tennessee as the first American university to offer a liberal arts education to “young men and women irrespective of color.” By 1871, the five-year-old university was facing serious financial difficulty. To avert bankruptcy and closure, Fisk's treasurer and music director, George L. White gathered a nine-member student chorus, consisting of four black men (Isaac Dickerson, Ben Holmes, Greene Evans, Thomas Rutling) and five black women (Ella Sheppard, Maggie Porter, Minnie Tate, Jennie Jackson, Eliza Walker) to go on tour to earn money for the university.

The Jubilee Singers' performances were a departure from the familiar "black minstrel" genre of white musicians' performing in blackface and early performances were met with confusion and hostility. As the tour continued, audiences came to appreciate the singers' voices, and the group began to be praised. In early 1872 the group performed at the World's Peace Jubilee and International Musical Festival in Boston, and for President Ulysses S. Grant at the White House in March of that year.

In a tour of Great Britain and Europe in 1873, the group, by then with 11 members, performed for Queen Victoria. The queen, fascinated by the singers, commissioned a massive portrait of them which still hangs in the university’s Jubilee Hall. They continued to tour and perform and between 1875 and 1878 raised an estimated $150,000 for the university.

The Jubilee Singers are credited with the early popularization of the Negro spiritual tradition among white and northern audiences; many were previously unaware of its existence. They broke racial barriers in the US and abroad in the late 19th century and influenced many other troupes of jubilee singers who would go on to make their own contributions to the genre, such as the Original Nashville Students, Chicago’s Williams Jubilee Singers, and the Los Angeles- based Albert McNeil Jubilee Singers. The Jubilee Singers perform to this day. In 2017, they were inducted into the Gospel Hall of Fame.

Hear the Fisk Jubilee Singers perform "I Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray" and "Rockin' Jerusalem"