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

this is the roots you can drop the group's existence there were times when when some members left the group and decided to stay in england and generally these are the male members of the group which is understandable when you think about the limited opportunities for african american males in the states especially during this time and those members who decided to stay in europe include edmond watkins who stayed and pursued musical studies in london and thomas rattling who stayed in england and in germany to pursue a concert career and in a career is a music educator and isaac dickerson he was supported by dean stanley was sort of a patron to him to support his and finance his studies at

edinburgh university to go into the ministry one thing thats interesting about the jubilee singers is because of the way they structure their programs by intersperse inc speakers in between sets of songs they often relied in use the members of the group especially the male members to be as spokespersons for the group and what this did was it gave many of them opportunities to develop the rhetorical scales this was important rising dickerson he was often a spokesperson and any even became a speaker at sunday school meetings in and a preacher for some of their meetings and so his opportunities and during and his tenure with the jubilee singers help develop his speaking skills now here they are these members are all surrounded by the ama in this game a missionary christian evangelism mindset and isaac dickerson and a body enter the suffering eyes and

dickerson agreed and espouse the same cause so he decided to stake at studies for the ministry in edinburgh university then riding on his bicycle he traveled throughout france as an evangelist learned the language and began preaching they decided to visit on palestine and israel and came back singing land where he was outed for the rest of his life as an evangelist iran a small mission and tom stand and arm was well known and well loved in his community and was very popular for his lantern lectures which was a sickness a slide presentation from the different places he visited in palestine and israel but is it really you know generally it was the male

members of the group who decided to stay in england after the group disbanded last year the singer's return to the states but those numbers that decided to remain often pursued either concert careers or or some states another crew aaron they have some financial backing and then watkins for example stayed in london and pursued musical studies thomas rattling one of those mischief makers decided to stay in england and he tried a concert career he dabbled with a concert career for a while and then ended up residing in harem gate have basically known as a music educator teacher singing isaac dickerson was in at another interesting fellow who stayed in england he was another one of those mischievous fun loving fellows that when he was on the first during the first campaign was able to secure a patron who finances education i'm at edinburgh university he decided to go into the ministry he had been given a lot of speaking opportunities during his tenure with the

jubilee singers and opportunities to speak before sunday schools and i've been in different ways to be able to stand up and espouse the cause for which they were singing so you decided to pursue ministry says it entered university never robison thought this was a tree waste of money are the true educator and hurt the future elementary school principal felt that isaac dickerson we just didn't have the right stuff to be a scholar she may have been right but he ended up leaving the university and taking on the bicycle which was a and i'm also an opportunity for him to show off in front of the ladies by doing great tricks on the bicycle but eventually he wrote a bicycle throughout france and became an evangelist he learned the language so quickly that he that people were amazed that they were able to understand him any began preaching throughout france he then went to italy and palestine and came back finally to

england where he was known and well loved in his community as investor and evangelist he ran a small mission and tom stand and he was well known for his lantern lecture series which was based on it slides taken from his travels he also makes his art thought of bicycle america robinson writes at one point that she had seen dickerson and she says yes he's fine letting he's also a big flirt he just broken his arm because he was trying to show off doing these tricks on his bicycle any taken a tumble so she thought the bicycle was a bit of a dangerous vehicle for him to write ok to the city's comeback what do you expect

for the singers to decide to return to the states it must have been a difficult transition they even wind and dined in england by the best of society by the elite by the nobility and accepted as equals and they had not been there so long that they could completely forget no way could they forget what their life has been like in the states and the racism and discrimination that they dealt with on a daily basis so coming back to the states i'm sure must have been a difficult decision for many but most of them returned frederick loudon battled battled that decision or the reality that decision all of his life he returned to his boyhood town of ravenna ohio and eventually started his own fisk jubilee singers and two word world why i became a mass quite a fortune and build a beautiful house furnished for without furnishings from around the world gathered in his world travels and yet

always was stung with the reality of discrimination and prejudice they still had to battle even this despite the fame and fortune and his success that reality was always before him when he returned home well what's interesting about all of the singers is that every single one of them on whom there is information show the vapor dissipated in very respectable careers and also contribute in ways they continue to build harm their community and to work for equality and racial uplift tom green evans green evans returned after the first tour he decided to stay and remain in nashville and pursued a career in politics eventually becoming one of the first black man from tennessee to serve on the general assembly

other singers hughes capitalize on their experiences and the connections they had made to develop and start their own performing troops maggie porter married and an end with together with her husband had a very successful performing organization many the singer's continued to two are either in loudon scraper maggie porters group and america robinson todd typifies what some of the others chose to do and that is education benjamin holmes had returned home to teach america robinson came home to teach most of the singers in one way or another either continued in this process of disseminating the spiritual or an education and even those who pursued lucrative performing careers for example out and kept this connection to fisk university and this this this emotional bond where

was retained drought is lifetime even though he too author of the world he was sent home articles magazines our subscribers he would channel people back towards fisk university which is very interesting because he was never a student there thomas of all of the original members of the survivor of all the members who ever sang with the jubilee singers during his initial seven years of their campaign and there were more than twenty five because stevens came in and out on a connotation of all those singers only a handful of return to do any kind of further education at fisk and only one graduated that was america robinson she was the only college graduate of all of the singers have dissipated and the jubilee singers degree and what degree are asking i think they only

had a college diploma all and i think they had to grieve it's like we don't want them isaac dickerson once wrote home saying tell the people were singing for jesus and i think that's important to remember because while they were yes raising money to save their institution that was an educational mission they were always keenly aware that they were disappearance in spreading the gospel they were christian missionaries and many times are on occasion if if there was a large group in a public area george why we encourage the city's use that opportunity someone would preach sometimes it would be white sometimes it would be pike one of their business managers sometimes it would be one of the students possibly dickerson and then they would sing spurs once said that they saying they preach through there singing and i think that whole idea of realizing that in their music there was something more than just entertainment there was a message and

coupled with with because there was also the gospel this is also they're very christian missionary zeal as also seemed clearly in there because patients in such events as the moody sankey revivals in which one of the singers was converted mabel lewis who had been reared as a catholic was converted in an instant while singing and one of the revival meetings only from the audience thank you dave as you said this is also a new concept it's just this whole idea of using music to deliver a message in a public way was a novel idea people were accustomed to hearing preachers people were accustomed to singing hymns in a congregational format but the idea that you could use music as a medium through which to communicate the gospel and in a very real sense began with the jubilee singers

and out because of the questions i mean what what was that why was it was a joke part two the vista jubilee singers the jubilee singers eventually developed what were almost trademark pieces one of those was steal away to jesus noted because it had such interesting shading and yusef pianists simone for to smell the dynamics in it was really a captivating peace but a peace that was often requested was john brown's body which wasn't necessarily a spiritual but became a clearly identified with the jubilee singers because it was a song of emancipation john brown's body was the words to that particular the tune came from a camp meeting songs but the words were written by

some anonymous black soldier and was sung by african americans who are serving in in the military in fighting in the civil war john brown's body became almost a theme song for african americans and represented of course that entire struggle for emancipation so i was incredibly popular and had a variety of verses in that were added in and you know they came and went that john brown's body searches the things are what you say because they're close to wells oh years play with you it was this song john brown's body that julia ward howe heard and later used the same tune in to write her battle hymn of the republic that's it that's it

that's all i know the significance of the jubilee singers is great obviously because of not only what they achieved but what they stood for this particular time they worse as the group's such up they occupy this pivotal moment in music history in american history in african american history they were calm they pave the way they opened doors for acts of access for others the spying after americans to enter through and that alone is incredible and noteworthy but i think it's important to remember that they were people they were group but they were individual people and on each individually each person's life story is so rich in meaning because of what they

accomplished and not only what they accomplished but in ways they in the way that they did it and in the way that they were able to reach back and create opportunity for someone else coming along and so they gave they gave to fisk they gave to the ama they gave to the cause of christianity that they gave to their own race and very meaningful ways and very individual ways that their lives are a testimony oh yes to america they changed the course of history for us they help bridge the gap between the old and the new they helped americans are formulate opinions that were more in keeping with how they should be out towards african americans they helped puppeteer has

been saying i suppose one of her greatest gifts to america was not only their lives but their music a spiritual became and it is today the only true american music that we have and so it was such a touching form of music and great example of human emotion and human experience and they gave that music and they could have they could've chosen not to but they gave it and they gave it freely and and so that gift alone was that was worth it all the players to want to pay it's

been