[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 493 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 493

      Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that a 
commemorative postage stamp should be issued honoring the Fisk Jubilee 
    Singers, and that the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee should 
    recommend to the Postmaster General that such a stamp be issued.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 4, 2000

 Mr. Hastings of Florida submitted the following resolution; which was 
             referred to the Committee on Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
      Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that a 
commemorative postage stamp should be issued honoring the Fisk Jubilee 
    Singers, and that the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee should 
    recommend to the Postmaster General that such a stamp be issued.

Whereas, 6 months after the end of the Civil War, the Fisk School was 
        established in Nashville, Tennessee;
Whereas the Fisk School was designed by its founders to be an educational 
        institution open to all, regardless of race or age;
Whereas the Fisk School was incorporated as Fisk University in 1867;
Whereas funding for the opening of the school was secured through the sale of 
        slave paraphernalia;
Whereas, in 1871, a group of students at Fisk University formed a choral group 
        with the goal of raising money to finance the institution;
Whereas, in that same year, that choral group, the Fisk Jubilee Singers, took 
        the entire contents of the University treasury with them for travel 
        expenses and set off on a tour of the United States and Europe;
Whereas, during their first tour, the Jubilee Singers raised enough money to 
        preserve their university and pay for the construction of Jubilee Hall, 
        the South's first permanent structure built for the education of black 
        students;
Whereas the Jubilee Singers introduced the world to the spiritual as a musical 
        genre; and
Whereas the Fisk Jubilee Singers continue to tour and perform to this day, and 
        have received countless awards and honors along the way: Now, therefore, 
        be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives 
that--
            (1) a commemorative postage stamp should be issued by the 
        United States Postal Service honoring the Fisk Jubilee Singers; 
        and
            (2) the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee should recommend 
        to the Postmaster General that such a postage stamp be issued.
                                 <all>