American Experience; Jubilee Singers: Sacrifice and Glory; Interview with Toni Anderson, Music Historian

so the journey from ohio to new york new york was a destination was the goal george wife felt that if he could get his singers into new york city where the ama headquarters were and have the ama officials see them and hear them that things would change that perhaps he didn't get the endorsement which he had so long force saut for perhaps you get the endorser and it's a long sought after nagano a radical errors so george white the gold george white's plan was to go from ohio to new york city he felt that if he could get his singers and to new york city where the ama headquarters where were the ama officials weren't if they could hear him saying here and see these the students saying do you try to give their endorsements by the time they got to new york city though it had been a month almost two months and they were in dire straits at this

point it was either going to be a sink or swim they would either get the endorsement of the ama and really get off and running or they wouldn't have to pack their bags and go home and as professor spence and said get home as best they could there was no way to even get home no finances so it this was a critical turning point for them what happened was that henry ward beecher agree to allow them to saying in his church at the close of one of his regular services he had the singer stand up and sing pi describes them as having look like a motley crew some of the singers just had to woolen sweaters around their neck to protect their throats they were poorly glad they certainly didn't look fancy but they sit at the saying in henry ward beecher stewart after they saying beecher came out of his seat and in his pocket pulling out his wallet saying we're going to take up an offering to take a collection he was so enthusiastic he promised a concert for them that week and his enthusiasm quickly spread to his

audience members the press picked this up as well arm while they called the singer's be cheers minstrels which was a derogatory way of describing them nonetheless it advertised them and people turned out to see who this group was one of henry ward beecher was the leading evangelical of the time he'd been a strong advocate of the abolitionist movement and he was a noted speaker probably the foremost minister of his day if beecher said but the singer's the jubilee singers were good and they were good if beatrice said that the jubilee singers were worth endorsing than they were worth endorsing so here's enthusiasm about this group convince the ama to take a second look and helped break down that fear that integrates them and that

hesitancy about i'm the legitimacy of the singers so once beach or indoors the group and the newspapers in the press reported this everything changed one cia once the ama decided to endorse the group was amazing the change in their fortunes all the sudden white could just be the music director because the ama provided an advance agent a business manager they went before them quote to cultivate the harvest so that the jubilee singers could come in and reap the harvest and yet it was incredible what a difference it made they'd they decided to launch a series of cancers drought new england and these concerts made all the difference in our fortunes for example between october of

eighteen seventy one in december those are the difficult days when the jubilee singers found themselves so to speak formed their identity change their programming created a whole new our repertoire songs identify themselves as the the messengers that carried the spiritual that deliver the spirituals during that time they also may know many just enough to keep them inching along but once they start of the new england campaign which began in january of eighteen seventy two and with ralph that spring to the many the fence are rolling and in those few months between january and may is when they made twenty thousand dollars and so it's incredible the difference and it was already all due to the fact that the ama not only endorsed them provided the necessary help to make the campaign work you talk about the reaction of the listeners the reaction of the audience is in

trouble but what was the reaction to this the same and while what was within that what was printed picture force of what how honest reacted and why would king and second it get past that durham says it does i think it's important to note that white audiences at least the white audiences that white took his group to sing before had rarely if ever seen black people singing on a stage and this is in part because they did not attend the mistress shows that was vulgar entertainment but also i think it was incredibly moving to them to see these young african americans standing up with all of their culture and

refinement with terror obviously gorgeous voices singing music that represented a past that these white people had given fines to overcome to overcome slavery and then had continued to give fines to support education and education that the jubilee singers toured as testimonials of what i love of what the the end result the desired end result was but beyond that i think what was probably unexpected to the wide audience is unsure in a sense when they read the advertisement of the jubilee singers were coming and that this was from fisk university they probably expected to see average american students and hear the singing they knew that's what they were going to hear but i think what was unexpected to them was how deep and how emotional the music was at that enters into that they'd never

really heard spirituals so this was new music for them and to deliver a new tax and then to watch the singer saying in so many of the critiques and so many of the reviews reflect about the deep emotion that poor fourth out of the singers and there the intensity of feeling one review uses the phrase of their whole being seen to dilate so intense where there their emotions and their countenances that it adds such expression to the music but that it was it was awesome to the audience it was invigorating it's interesting to think about also why why europe especially it's become that

well but the cause immunity when you think about what was so emotionally moving there were so many things that were emotionally moving about the jubilee singers because they represented the whole idea of it which was reflected in the missionary movement of bringing christianity to the masses to the newly freed masses of racial uplift of it's creating a pattern an avenue for them to to better themselves and to become equal members in society and that is what they may always fought for was equality equal members in society and then to see it to see the transformation of of where the students had from what they had come into what they've now represented and to see them stand and saying and i'm going to sing these particular songs created intense emotion in the audience won't come about the songs

what is not right not just because it would just okay wins the spirituals were always religious in text and other odd status because in sport it's nice to know of the six hundred or more spiritual said that have been transcribed there's never a word of hatred or animosity there's always there are always filled with hope sorrow songs as the boys call them the songs of hope at the same time and so the text was was interesting and in the text alone made the song's interesting to the audience while they were religious or based on the bible a biblical text at the same time they were different it was because it was a black man's way of expressing religious idea from his perspective steal away to jesus i'm inching along

all of this all of these these metaphors that find them they're find themselves into this all of these metaphors that make their way into the spear shells become incredibly creative and different ways of expressing human sorrow and enjoy at the same time hope for tomorrow they're moving pieces they still are they raised their wages right right right right when the sinners left fisk university on october six eighteen seventy one were certainly i can imagine was in an environment in an atmosphere of

trepidation at a bit of fear the teachers that probably wave goodbye to the singers at the train station so do that this was her last hope to save the institution but we're certainly unsure of whether or not this was just some scheme that would we not take root of this is going to actually amount to anything but when the singer's return home they return home as he runs they've set out on this quixotic mission and they came back triumphant thank you mr hoving and as i think it's a better when the singer's left fisk university on october sixth eighteen seventy

one they left in a swift with a sense of urgency for the cause of saving their institution but also i'm sure with a bit of apprehension wondering whether or not this would succeed when you're wondering whether or not they would succeed but when they came back in the spring of eighteen seventy two they were welcomed home as heroes they had ventured out on what's what some call the quixotic mission they return triumphant and they succeeded and i think the triumph of that moment must have been really special very precious to the singers when they left they were just students when they came back they were performers who had received the appreciation and the praise of i've noted people up and down the east coast of america that had to feel really good story are they just a tree on a week and they don't stay

very long at home because they have to prepare for their next engagement which was the world peace jubilee so it's called world's world's royals peace they didn't stay very long at fisk maybe a week or so because they had to prepare and returned to boston for the world's peace jubilee event and this was an incredible event to for them probably the culmination of their entire year in terms of the feelings of triumph it was at this event that they had been asked to saying when the orchestra broke out into the battle hymn of the republic right good ok george white knew he had correctly forecast the possibility that the orchestra with saying and play the piece in one particular key which would pitch

the whole piece really high for the singers so day by day he would train his singers bi trans posing up another half step just to get into singing in that high tea and prepare them to sing with the orchestra and so as george why knew that at this particular event he it correctly forecast that the orchestra played the battle hymn of the republican the key of e flat and that would pitch to the whole piece really high for the singers so day by day as he drilled him for this particular event he would to transpose the piece the past that eventually inching them up to the correct key some of their voices the voices would be ready at the event there was another group that saying prior to them that had not properly planned for this high tea and they were really straining to make it work

when it came time for the jubilee singers to enter into a chorus their voices rang out and a full in loud and clear and the audience went wild because they were so incredible johann strauss jr was in the crowd and he takes his cap off and waves around and throws it up i always with its milan and in the crowd screams a julie's the jubilee is forever so it was a great culminating event for a long hard year to cover was younger there was a routine and after this initial to war the ama decides that they will start a second tour and out because it has been so financially successful and has brought such recognition to fisk university as well as to the ama and to their cause so they spend the summer and george why

reorganizes the troop eventually our initially starting off with a quartet and then a second group trying to sing two groups out that doesn't last long before he dissolves the quartet reorganizes again just back into one group and they begin by then the second year at seventy two when the fall by touring against run america but it's not long before they decide that they've reached this harvest for one reason and not only have a hit many of their major congregations that would support them but by within a year by the fall of eighteen seventy two there's so many copycat groups out that call themselves the jubilee singers that it's beginning to flood the failed and so the ama looks to europe they were partners in a sense our sister institutions in a sense with the er friedman's friedman's

freeman's aid mission fridge freeman's mission freeman stayed in mexico mr go is this is because that was just for her intimate connection right to learn about it ok after a while here in the states so many copycat groups have sprung up that are not only using their name fisk jubilee singers but we're actually even using the testimonials and an arm acting as though they were the real thing that the market was flooded so to speak they had reached this harvest and they needed to find another venue for fund raising the ama looked them to england to bomb chefs perry's group freeman's missions aid society i may get no

answers in the center that's happening another safely ashley cooper k matching donors and eventually so many copycat groups have sprung up that not only use officially singer's name but appropriated their testimonials and ponds themselves off as the real thing that the jubilee singers had to look elsewhere for an audience and a new audience they needed a new audience to raise funds so the ama looked turned their eyes to europe they look to england they had some connections with another abolitionists group the freemans missions aid society headed by the right honorable earl of chefs very has quite a distinguished a noble failure they decided that if they can get over there and get the sponsorship of shots shots varying his organization there perhaps there would be some addison possibility there to raise

funds again this was a bit of a risk they didn't know how it would be accepted or taken how europeans would respond to the spirituals if it would have the same meaning for them as it had for people here in the states but they decided it was worth the risk so they organized troop and send them off by steamship across the ocean after three weeks of what was i'm a bit of an ordeal for some of the members fighting cizik and as they landed in london and the next night they saying shots very had arranged a private concert for them at the willis's rooms and he had sent out private invitations so this was at a public concert but they needed to to see how a select group would respond to that to the jubilee singers the pay a prisoner next day were filled with reviews about the out concert at the rate will says rams and again they were

glowing reviews europeans englanders britain's slashed say britain's responded equally well if not more so to the music of the jubilee singers they appreciated the cause they consider england to be the precursor for emancipation and so they felt that they in a sense had played a part in this odd emancipation of slavery even here in the states and so they welcomed and embraced the cause and embraced the singers it's a different environment the for the jubilee singers in england because here they didn't have to go fighting for a hotel room in fact they not only didn't have to fight and hearts and and lobby to be treated as equals and that they were genuinely accepted and treated as equals and not only sell but they were welcomed as friends in guessed by some of the most distinguished

people that england had to offer know one of things that happens is very poignant beginning the you know the missionary caught exactly what about you in england similar to the states the jubilee singers came as christian evangelists they were still proponents of this missionary cause that they may espoused so in england it took a slightly different shape and form but at the same time wanting the must always be understood as at the jubilee singers were active participants in christian evangelism so right when they advertise themselves here in england

it becomes really clear that that this christian emphasis was something that was would set them apart from other groups for example when you look in the at advertisements you see that they advertise themselves as doing a service of song not necessarily doing a concert they always presented a service of song and the whole ship of the concert was different to you would always have someone who would introduce the singer's image does the cause and the groups the group's of selections that they performed to be interspersed with speakers people who would talk about the cause of freeman's education the particular cause of saving and raising fines for fisk university and in general the whole idea that as blacks in america are educated that they would be we create a pool from which missionaries could come for africa so you have this

linkage between emancipation and freeman's education and eventually the crystallization of africa what how were the christian hope for black visionaries of marriage and creating this world that they find the reason that that's a lender's people in cancer again people throughout england were especially supportive of that cottage because this was a time in england especially in the religious community where there was a fascination with africa in part that had begun with david livingston and his i'd excursions into africa his explorations and this is also ironically the time when england is colonizing africa yet at the same time in the christian community there is a sense that that christianity needs to be spread throughout africa and so the whole idea of that

at fisk university could produce potential missionaries who could return to africa and christianize their black brothers and sisters was very appealing to to the audience danced if by the time that the jubilee singers had done just a few concerts it didn't take but a few concerts in england before they became literally famous and whereas they had the track is really large crowds in america the crowds they attracted in england were nothing short of phenomenal in many of the places that they saying people would turn out and have bought tickets impact the house thirty minutes before the concert was to begin and they would have to then create second and sometimes their concerts just because of audience demand it was incredible arms of the famed that they generated and the excitement that they

generated in some cities when they were in their carriages would roll into town people would hang from the trees just to get a glimpse of them they would jump on the back of their carriages and ride with them through the town the women write sometimes of going shopping and some of that or sightseeing in some of the towns and they would walk down the street and they would decide to look a little shop window and as they were appearing in the window they would feel and begin to notice that a crowd gathered around him eventually they'd have to go to the front door and scoot out the back door just trying to get away from the crowds that would follow them jenny jackson was perhaps one of the darkest members of the troupe and it generated a lot of and curiosity and wit of many people were attracted to her in part because she was so dark skinned in and stood out from the rest of the group she would sometimes have two according to america robins and beat her way with her or use her umbrella and beat her way down the street just to be able to walk down the sidewalk it was it was incredible the amount of

attention that they generated tradition tradition during the time that they sing in england from eighteen seventy three eighteen seventy four nineteen seventy five those were years of intense work for the singers for the jubilee singers they kept a grueling schedule when you go back and look at their itinerary it's amazing that that they were able to even function many times they would have a concert almost every night in some in one instance they had they saying five nights in a row in five different cities throughout scotland and you have to remember that this is a time when they had access to train and coach so transportation was more

primitive and it took a lot longer to get between dispute between cities some of the city's maybe ten fifteen or thirty miles apart so if you can imagine singing one night a concert getting up the next morning and traveling to sing another concert in another city and this continued there was very little breaking their schedule during the concert season which was basically like an academic school year between our guests to may and they kept the schedule up over and over and over for the next three years it was it was such an intense schedule that at one point when when you sing it with sometimes join the troop which often happened george white the singer might leave for personal reasons or george white might kick them out for his own personal reasons i'm bringing a singer into the group and sometimes in one particular inst as a new senior came into the group and could not keep up with the schedule at all it just wore her down within a matter a few short

weeks and she had to return to the states medal robertson said what that one point there was definitely hard work and that it was almost an understatement