The early history of the group is documented in Gustavus D. Pike’s The Jubilee Singers and their campaign for twenty thousand dollars (1873),  held in the library of the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum and that of the National Museum of American History, as well as available in our Digital Library.

After the war, she was one of the first pupils of the newly formed Fisk School, the later Fisk University.

When Fisk University invited her back because of her musical talent, she became a member of the Jubilee Singers.

We can listen to that and hear, perhaps, echoes of those first Jubilee Singers, like Ella Sheppard, Thomas Rutling, Maggie Porter, and Benjamin Holmes, and reflect on the remarkable history of the group.

Both Marsh and Pike include sheet music of the spirituals sung by the Jubilee Singers, if you would like to play their music and participate in the spiritual tradition yourself.