Jennie Jackson
American singer (c. 1852 – 1910)
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Jennie Jackson (c. 1852 – May 4, 1910) was an American singer and voice teacher. She was one of the original members of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, an African-American a cappella ensemble. She toured with the group from 1871 to 1877. In 1891 she formed her own sextet, the Jennie Jackson Concert Company.
Jennie Jackson | |
|---|---|
Jennie Jackson DeHart, from a 1911 publication. | |
| Born | c. 1852 |
| Died | May 4, 1910 (aged 57–58) Cincinnati, Ohio |
| Other names | Jennie Jackson DeHart (after marriage) |
| Occupation | singer |
| Known for | original member of the Fisk Jubilee Singers |
Early life
Jennie Jackson was born in Kingston, Tennessee in about 1852.[1] Her grandfather was enslaved in the household of Andrew Jackson. Her parents were also enslaved, but she was raised in freedom from an early age, after her mother, a laundress, was freed.[2] They lived in Nashville, Tennessee, during, and after the American Civil War. Jackson enrolled at Fisk Free Colored School as one of its first students after it opened in 1866.[1] She joined the Jubilee Singers when they formed in 1871.[3]
Career
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.[4] Their tours raised funds for the Fisk University campus.[5] Their audiences included Henry Ward Beecher, William Lloyd Garrison, Queen Victoria, Mark Twain, and Ulysses S. Grant.[6][7][8] She left the group in 1877 when she fell ill with colitis.[9][10] She was at the center of a large 1873 painting of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, by Edmund Havel, commissioned by Queen Victoria to commemorate their performance for her.[11][12][13]
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.[14] She also taught voice.[15]
Personal life
Jackson married Rev. Andrew J. DeHart in 1884, and lived in the Walnut Hills neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio.[3][16] She was widowed in 1909, and she died at home in 1910, aged 58 years, in Cincinnati.[17] In 1978, Jackson and the other original members of the Fisk Jubilee Singers were granted posthumous honorary Doctor of Music degrees from Fisk University.[18]