The Fisk Jubilee Singers Across the Atlantic
In 1874 a choir of African American singers concluded a successful tour of Britain, singing songs that confronted American racism. Victorian audiences had never heard music like it.
Eight years after the abolition of slavery in the United States, a choir of 11 African American singers, almost all of whom had been born into bondage, arrived in London. Hoping to raise money for a new college in Nashville, Tennessee, the Fisk Jubilee Singers undertook a gruelling 13-month tour across the length and breadth of Britain. They were a sensation, counting Queen Victoria and William Gladstone among their many admirers. By introducing audiences to ‘spirituals’ or ‘sorrow songs’, the group brought firsthand testimony of immeasurable suffering, faith and resilience across the Atlantic.
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