African-American A Cappella Ensemble
Founded in 1871 • Spirituals and Choral Music
Fast Facts
- A cappella group
- Located in Nashville, Tennessee
- Originally formed in 1871by formerly enslaved people to save their school (Fisk University) from bankruptcy
- George L. White was the first director of the group and took the choir on tour along the Underground Railroad path
- First singers to sing these songs in front of white audiences
- Performed at the World Peace Festival in Boston in 1872
- By the end of 1872, they raised $20,000 for their school
- These singers worked and still work to preserve African-American spirituals or “cabin songs”
- Collected and arranged African-American spirituals
- One of the most courageous advocates of civil rights
- Selected as a recipient of the 2008 National Medal of the Arts
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