Arthur C. Jones
© 2004 by The Spirituals Project
No portion of this material may be reproduced by any means without written permission from The Spirituals Project.

In the 1870’s, a performing ensemble known as The Jubilee Singers, from Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, raised more than $150,000 (many millions in today’s dollars) to keep their financially troubled school from closing. They did this by embarking on two major tours (one in the U.S. and another in Europe), performing new concertized versions of the spirituals that the singers (all but one of whom were ex-slaves) had grown up with. In spite of grueling experiences on tour that included threats to their physical health as well as many encounters with racial prejudice and discrimination, the Jubilee Singers persisted in their determination to keep their school alive. As a result, Fisk University today is a vibrant institution, rightfully proud of its heritage. Its roster of graduates includes the famous sociologist W.E.B. DuBois; noted poets James Weldon Johnson and Nikki Giovanni; historians John Hope Franklin and David Levering Lewis; and numerous others who have distinguished themselves across a wide array of academic disciplines and professions.

If The Jubilee Singers had done nothing else but keep Fisk University alive, that would have been a singularly remarkable achievement. However, the young singers from Nashville accomplished something else of equal historical importance: They brought the sounds of the spirituals to the world stage, expanding dramatically the cultural and geographical reach of these songs. Created and first sung by enslaved Africans as a survival tool in the crucible of North American slavery, the spirituals now became available as an unlimited source of inspiration for creative and performing artists around the world.

The Jubilee Singers could not possibly have anticipated the far-reaching cultural impact of their work. In the century after their 1870’s tours, artistic creations inspired by the new concert spirituals tradition would emerge in settings throughout the U.S. and abroad. In his famous 1903 book The Souls of Black Folk, Fisk graduate W.E.B. DuBois referred to the spirituals as “the most beautiful expression of human experience born this side of the seas,” and he praised The Jubilee Singers for bringing this music to the world stage.

The accuracy of DuBois’ assessment of the spirituals would be affirmed in the works of creative and performing artists, including composers of classical music, dancers, choreographers, and jazz artists, all of whom looked to the spirituals as a major source of inspiration. Frequently the works these artists produced would be employed in the service of progressive social change. Today, nearly a century and a half after the original Jubilee Singers’ tours, creative and performing artists continue to be inspired by the spirituals. What follows here is just a sampling of the many ways in which the spirituals tradition, first given worldwide exposure by the Jubilee Singers, came to have an influence on performing and creative artists around the world.