Famed Fisk Jubilee Singers perform in Oak Ridge fundraiser
A hush fell over the more than 500 people in attendance at Oak Ridge’s Grove Theatre when the Fisk Jubilee Singers entered the auditorium on Good Friday evening.
The famed group of Fisk University students from Nashville brought history to life in singing old spirituals like “Great Day” and “Down by the Riverside” to a full audience. The Fisk Jubilee Singers are an a cappella group with roots dating to 1871.
Among those present in the audience were a stalwart few of the remaining Scarboro 85, the students who desegregated Oak Ridge Schools in 1955. Cali Foster, a fourth grader at Glenwood Elementary School introduced the singers. She is the great granddaughter of Ernestine Avery, one of the Scarboro 85 students.
The Scarboro 85 Monument Committee organized the event as a fundraiser for a future monument in Oak Ridge’s A.K. Bissell Park honoring the Scarboro 85. The 85 attended Oak Ridge High School and Robertsville Middle School, but the name Scarboro 85 refers to the school and neighborhood from which they came.
Oak Ridge historian Rose Weaver, a member of the committee who put on the event, felt moved by the performance.
“I felt as if I was in a fantasy world,” she said. “Many Blacks present may also have recalled there was a time when they could not sit in the Grove Theatre and that there would definitely not have been a performance of a Black group in the establishment.”
Though most of their songs were uplifting, songs like “And I Cry” with lyrics like “Sometimes I feel like I lost my soul again,” touched the hearts of many.
“Tears ran down my face as I could imagine the injustices perpetrated on the slaves and just the sheer hopelessness of freedom. We could all sense the sadness and pain as the singers assembled themselves in a tight circle that also may have symbolized suffering, yet also depicted unity,” said Weaver who later shared a poem that she wrote for the occasion.
She recalled the one arrangement of “In Bright Mansions” when the choir held a seemingly endless chord, as the singers each quietly took individually spaced breaths, and the bass, the lower voice, repeated the tone.
“They sang and harmonized and blended in ways I could not imagine a choir could,” said Weaver. Choir director George P. Wilson would step to the side, providing the audience with an unobstructed view of the singers–singers whose performance, Weaver said, “captured every one of us throughout the evening with renditions of songs that took us back centuries.”
Prior to the performance of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, Oak Ridge High School Chorus and a community group comprised of members of several churches, the Oak Ridge Chorus, directed by Amanda Ragan and Sarah Henrich performed. Additional musical selections included a solo by LaShemia Pruitt. The choir of the Oak Valley Baptist Church sang “Praise, Honour and Glory,” directed by Harold Wheat. Mayor Warren Gooch provided greetings in support of the Civil Rights warriors of Oak Ridge and the Scarboro 85. He expressed his whole-hearted supported of the fundraising effort for the monument.
Coordinating the event were Trina Watson, Vanessa Spratling, High Places Community Church, Pastor David Alred, John Spratling, Katy Watts and Naomi Asher.
Spratling serves as the President of the Scarboro Monument Committee. Those who wish to contribute to the Scarboro 85 Monument Project can go to scarboro85monument.com for more information.