Photograph of the Jubilee Singers

Why this record matters

Date

1874

Catalogue reference

COPY 1/25/182

This photograph is a portrait of the 11 members of the Jubilee Singers, an African American a cappella group from Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. The choir members were students at the university and all but two of them were formerly enslaved. At the time the photograph was taken, in Spring 1874, the Jubilee Singers were visiting Britain as part of a European tour to raise funds for the university.

Fisk University was established in 1866 by the American Missionary Association to provide education for newly-freed African American enslaved people. The Jubilee Singers was founded as a student choir and aimed to raise money for the university, which was experiencing severe financial struggles. They toured the United States, and while they encountered severe racial prejudice as they travelled, they were also warmly received by huge audiences captivated by the African American spiritual music, which was little known among white audiences.

Following a successful tour of the USA, in 1873 the Singers embarked on an international tour of Britain and Europe. Their performances were attended by Queen Victoria and Prime Minister William Gladstone, among many others during their tour. The Queen reportedly requested they sing ‘Steal Away to Jesus’ during one performance, and she presented them with a gift of a large portrait of the group by court painter Edmund Havell. They also toured all over the country, giving performances in locations across England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

The tour raised enough money to build Jubilee Hall, the first permanent building at Fisk University, where the portrait gifted by Queen Victoria now hangs. The Jubilee Singers were celebrated for bringing African American spirituals to new audiences and preserving them for the future.

The tour was organised with the support of Christian organisations in the USA and Britain, including the Freedmen’s Mission Aid Society. They were also sponsored by Tory politician and philanthropist Lord Shaftesbury who was President of the Ragged School Union, and the Jubilee Singers gave concerts at some London schools.

Athro Alfred Knight, who was involved in many philanthropic and religious institutions and co-founded the Hackney Juvenile Mission, arranged to have this photographic portrait of the Jubilee Singers taken and he registered it for copyright protection with the Stationers’ Company on 2 June 1874. From left to right, the portrait shows Georgia Gordon, Mabel Lewis, Edmund Watkins, Maggie L. Porter, Isaac P. Dickerson, Jennie Jackson, Benjamin Holmes, Ella Sheppard, Thomas Rutling, Julia Jackson and Minnie Tate.

This portrait was engraved and published in newspapers, including the Illustrated London News on 6 September 1873. As well as this photograph, Athro Alfred Knight also registered a photograph of the autographs of the 11 performers, their choir leader and others involved in organising the tour.

The group was such an inspiration that following the tour, Hackney Juvenile Mission founded a children’s choir called the East London Jubilee Singers, which gave fundraising concerts performing songs from the original Jubilee Singers’ repertoire.

Two of the original singers went on to settle in the UK. Isaac Dickerson can be found in the 1891 census living in Tottenham with his occupation listed as an evangelist and Thomas Rutling can be found in the 1901 census living in Chorlton, Lancashire, working as a singing teacher.