Page 15 - 2022-bfw-white-fomm3e-HS.indd

1865–1877

The Fisk Jubilee Singers A Social Revolution 335
this 1880 photograph illustrates the middle-class refinement of the Fisk Jubilee Singers.
this sense of middle-class respectability also revealed the singers’ commitment to racial
uplift: the presentation of positive images of blacks as a way to enhance their freedom
struggle. as former slaves and the children of former slaves, the Jubilee Singers pioneered
an african american music tradition that relied on polished versions of slave spirituals. their
noble presentation of this black religious folk music provided a critical counterpoint and
challenge to negative stereotypes of blacks resulting from the minstrel tradition. Over time,
the Jubilee Singers’ performances for audiences around the world enhanced black and
white respect for blacks and their culture. Granger/Granger — All rights reserved.

homes; . . . to teach respect for labor, . . . and in this way to build up an industrial sys-
tem for the sake not only of self-support and intelligent labor, but also for the sake
26
of character.” Samuel Chapman Armstrong, Hampton’s white founder and Booker
T. Washington’s mentor, believed that training young people in skilled trades, rather
than teaching a classical liberal arts curriculum, would best enable poverty-stricken
former slaves to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. As skilled laborers and highly
trained domestic servants, they would earn adequate wages, build self-respect, and
win the admiration of whites. Students at Hampton paid their way by working on cam-
pus, which helped them learn the occupational skills that would qualify them for jobs
after graduation. Many learned to teach trade skills such as carpentry and sewing, and

Copyright ©2021 Bedford/St. Martin's Publishers. Distributed by Bedford/St. Martin's Publishers.
Not for redistribution

10_whitefomm_3e_21015_ch09_322_365.indd 335 8/13/20 4:26 PM