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Today’s Black History WOW!
Jennie Jackson was born in Kingston, Tennessee in about 1852. Her grandfather was enslaved in the household of President Andrew Jackson, which is how she acquired her last name, Jackson. Her parents were also enslaved, but she was raised in freedom from an early age, after her mother, a laundress, was freed. They lived in Nashville, Tennessee, during, and after the American Civil War. Jackson enrolled at Fisk Free Colored School (later named Fisk University) as one of its first students after it opened in 1866. She joined the Jubilee Singers when they formed in 1871.
The Fisk Jubilee Singers. Jennie Jackson is the 4th from the left.
The group's tour was initially met with skepticism and racial prejudice. However, their undeniable talent and the emotional depth of their music quickly won them acclaim and admiration. The funds raised from their tours were crucial in saving Fisk University from financial ruin and securing its future as a leading institution for African American education.
Jackson toured with the Fisk Jubilee Singers from 1871 to 1877, including concerts in Great Britain and Europe. They sang spirituals and other music in a cappella arrangements. Their tours raised funds for the Fisk University campus. Their audiences included Henry Ward Beecher, William Lloyd Garrison, Queen Victoria, Mark Twain, and President Ulysses S. Grant. She left the group in 1877 when she fell ill with colitis.
Jackson later sang with a reorganized version of the group and with fellow Fisk Jubilee Singer Maggie Porter Cole's group. In 1891 she formed her own sextet, the Jennie Jackson Concert Company. She also taught voice.
Jennie Jackson married Rev. Andrew J. DeHart in 1884 and lived in the Walnut Hills neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. She was widowed in 1909.
Jennie Jackson died at home in Cincinnati in 1910, at age 58 years. In 1978, Jackson and the other original members of the Fisk Jubilee Singers were granted posthumous honorary Doctor of Music degrees from Fisk University.
The legacy of Jennie Jackson and her fellow singers continues to the present day. The Fisk Jubilee Singers are still active, carrying forward the mission and spirit of the original ensemble.
Today In Black History
In 1868, Francis L. Cardozo was installed as the secretary of state of South Carolina, becoming the first Black cabinet officer at the state level.
In 1868, Louisiana and South Carolina became the last states to ratify the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, guaranteeing civil rights to all Black and formerly enslaved men.
In 1893, renowned surgeon Dr. Daniel Hale Williams performed the world’s first successful open-heart surgery at Provident Hospital in Chicago, Illinois.
In 1927, Attorney William T. Francis was named as the minister to Liberia.
In 1955, E. Frederick Morrow was appointed an as administrative aide to President Dwight D. Eisenhower, becoming the first Black person to hold an executive position on the White House staff.
In 1972, Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of the African nation of Ghana, was re-buried in Nkroful, Ghana.
In 1979, Dr. Walter Massey was named the Director of the Argonne National Laboratory.
In 2002, The African Union was established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, electing as its first chairman, Thabo Mbeki, the then-president of South Africa.
In 2011, South Sudan gained its independence from Sudan and seceded.
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