South London Memories: Remembering the liberated voices of USA performers The Fisk Jubilee Singers

In 1873 a new kind of music was heard in London.

It had critics and royalty singing its praises. Eight years after the end of slavery in America, the Fisk Jubilee Singers introduced spirituals to this country.

These were sombre, majestic songs. The choir had been formed in Tennessee, where many newly-liberated slaves were educated.

The choir was 11 in number – seven women and four men, and eight of the 11 were former slaves.

Their aim was to raise funds for the newly-established Fisk University, for black students, in Nashville. So, in 1873, they made their first fundraising trip abroad, and it was to Britain they came.

After their arrival in London the choir gave a private performance to members of Parliament, church leaders and journalists.

The concert was also attended by the Duke and Duchess of Argyll. They were so impressed that they arranged for the singers to perform at Argyll Lodge the very next day.

This appearance was destined to be a more notable event than the choir’s members could ever have imagined, for Queen Victoria had been asked to attend.

Soon after her Majesty’s arrival, the Duke of Argyll informed the choir that she would be pleased to see them in an adjoining room.

At his request they sang, first, Steal Away to Jesus, then chanted The Lord’s Prayer, and then sang Go Down, Moses. Queen Victoria was impressed. Maggie Porter, a soprano in the choir who had been born into slavery in 1853, later recalled: “The Queen wore no crown, no robes of state.

I heard her deep, low voice saying ‘Tell them we are delighted with their songs.’” In her journal that night the Queen noted: “They come from America and have been slaves. They sing extremely well together.”

The choir’s appearance in front of the Queen opened many doors for them. Meanwhile, Charles Haddon Spurgeon took an interest in them.

He was one of the greatest Victorian Baptist preachers, and he was the founder of the Metropolitan Tabernacle, built for him in 1859-1861 at the Elephant and Castle.

It was the largest Protestant church in London and seated more than 6,000 people.

Spurgeon sympathised with the oppressed and it did not surprise anyone that he invited the Fisk Jubilee Singers to give a concert at the Metropolitan Tabernacle on July 30, 1873.

Six thousand people filled the church, and hundreds had to be turned away.

The collection that followed cleared about £220 – a huge sum in those days, and this was set aside for the choir’s university.

A lengthy review was published in the South London Press (August 2, 1873) which described the concert in detail.

This included Mr Spurgeon’s description of the choir: “They seem to have something about them which I have never heard before in anything ever given in the way of a performance.

“Our friends seem to sing from their hearts. They seem to preach in their singing, and this gives a force to the music such as no other thing could.

They have touched my heart…This is a real mystery and a deep theology in this singing that we can hardly understand. We have not been placed under the same circumstances. Very few of us have had our backs tingling under the lash, and have never had to work in a cotton plantation.

We have never known what it is to be without the things we enjoy now.” The original Fisk Jubilee Singers disbanded in 1878 because of their gruelling touring schedule.

The choir’s soprano, Ella Sheppard, later recalled that their strength failed them, partly because of the discrimination they faced in a racially segregated America.

She said: “Our strength was failing us under the ill treatment at hotels, on railroads, poorly attended concerts, and ridicule.

There were many times when we didn’t have a place to sleep or anything to eat.” However, by the time a new Jubilee Singers ensemble was formed in 1879 the original choir had been instrumental in preserving and popularising a unique American musical tradition known today as spirituals.

Stephen Bourne’s Speak of me as I am: The Black Presence in Southwark since 1600 (Southwark Council, 2005) is available to buy for £5 at the Southwark Local History Library and Archive, 211 Borough High Street SE1 1AA. Phone: 020 7525 0232.