Dreaming of Jubilee

A friend gave me a copy of an article from Christianity Today about the Jubilee Singers of Fisk University.  Fisk was one of several institutions established by Arthur and Lewis Tappan's American Missionary Society to "educate, uplift, and elevate" freed slaves.  Such institutions were poorly funded, and the Jubilee Singers were a choir of black men and women who went on fundraising tours on behalf of Fisk, performing to mostly white audiences.  The article notes that while they intended to prove that freed slaves were capable of performing "the best of the Western musical canon," it was the spirituals that had the profoundest effect on their audiences, which led to a revised program focusing on "slave songs of faith."

One short paragraph in the article really struck me; the author, David Neff, says that the songs of the Jubilee Singers "gave white audiences a striking vision of Christ's liberating power," and their vision "gave hope that those with other bondages might experience their own exodus."

My friend gave me a copy of this article because it mentioned Henry Ward Beecher, who gave his endorsement to the group, thereby legitimizing it in the eyes of white audiences.  My friend knows that I am a fan of all things Beecher or Stowe, and that Harriet Beecher Stowe is my hero and the focus of my research.  I am particularly interested in the emphasis on literacy of some nineteenth-century Christian abolitionists.

As this blog attests, I also love Sara Groves, and especially  her new album, Invisible Empires.  I could blog about what every single song means to me - and I may, eventually - but today is special, because it's not about me.  Today it is about how one of her songs always reminds me of some friends.   Sara wrote this song to encourage her friends at International Justice Mission, an organization that advocates and intervenes to end the modern-day slavery of human trafficking and sex trafficking.  The song is "Eyes on the Prize," which is a re-make of a civil rights song. Just as the Jubilee singers' music embodying one form of freedom could anticipate another, I think this song can encourage all who seek to end systemic injustice in Jesus' name, starting with the conviction that human beings are innately valuable because they are made in the image of God.  This was the motivating force behind the efforts of the Tappans, of Stowe, and of Wilberforce.  Here is Sara performing a live version, and here is a link to her telling the story behind the song.




I have many friends who friends who are involved in a present-day abolitionist movement.  Inspired by William Wilberforce and other Christian abolitionists, they are seeking the abolition of human abortion in the culture - particularly United States culture.  Today seemed like an especially good day to dedicate this song to these friends, considering some disappointing events in the news.  It took Wilberforce, acting with a cast of supporting characters, most of a lifetime and an entire political career to effect the abolition of slavery in the UK, but it happened.  The way is slow, and perhaps not always linear.  Jubilee is the dream.  Your work is good.