06/19/2026
Happy Juneteenth! This holiday commemorates the day that enslaved people in Galveston finally learned they were free, over two years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Just 1 year after this event, Fisk University opened in Nashville, TN, the first U.S. University open to both men and women, regardless of race. The students were primarily former enslaved Black Americans, and by 1870, the school was financially struggling.
In 1871, George White, a Fisk music professor and the University Treasurer, formed the Jubilee singers, a group of students who embarked on a musical tour in the U.S. and Great Britian to raise money to fund the University. The group was so successful that they were able to raise about $40,000 in their initial tours. The group continued touring until 1878.
In 1875, the story of the Jubilee Singers was published, along with many of their songs. The UConn Archives and Special Collections holds several editions of the publication, two of which (the 1875 edition, as well as a later 1883 edition), are a part of the Samuel and Ann Charters Archives of Blues and Vernacular African American Musical Culture. The stories and songs of the Jubilee Singers during the reconstruction period following the end of the Civil War provide interesting insights into the ways in which young formally enslaved Black Americans forged a life for themselves in a political, legal, and social system that was set up to disenfranchise them, and the ways that these same students and teachers told their own story in publications like this one.
Request to view this item in our reading room: s.uconn.edu/jubilee_singers
