[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 16226-16227]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



              FISK JUBILEE SINGERS COMMEMORATIVE STAMP ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. ALCEE L. HASTINGS

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, August 2, 2001

  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, today I am proud to introduce a 
resolution calling on the U.S. Postal Service to honor the Fisk Jubilee 
Singers with a commemorative stamp. The Fisk Jubilee Singers are true 
heroes in the fight for civil rights and racial equality in education. 
Their heritage goes back more than one hundred and thirty years to just 
after the Civil War. These singers are part of a unique group of former 
slaves who made it their passion to achieve the kind of education that 
they did not have access to before emancipation. Their spirit has been 
felt all across this nation and around the world, and it is my honor to 
stand before you today to tell you about the legacy of the Fisk Jubilee 
Singers, whom I hold near to my heart.
  The Fisk School was founded in Nashville, Tennessee, just after the 
end of the Civil War. This school was intended to transcend the racial 
divide, with the founders of the University opening the doors of 
education to all persons, regardless of their race. Recently 
emancipated slaves, ecstatic at the limitless possibilities for

[[Page 16227]]

freedom offered by learning, took it upon themselves to create in the 
Fisk School an educational institution that would give to them a sense 
of profound moral purpose in the great American democracy. The sale of 
slave paraphernalia paid for the opening of the school, and in 1867 the 
Fisk School became Fisk University, now the oldest university in 
Nashville.
  Fisk University's accomplishments in the advancement of educational 
opportunities for African-American's is far too long to mention here. I 
will tell you briefly that some of the most honored African-American 
artists, thinkers and activists attended or were involved with Fisk, 
including W.E.B. DuBois, Booker T. Washington, Charles Spurgeon 
Johnson, James Weldon Johnson, and Thurgood Marshall, to name a few of 
the more distinguished African-Americans. Indeed, Fisk University 
played an enormously profound role in the advancement of black learning 
and culture in America. I am both humbled by and proud of the time that 
I, too, spent at Fisk University. Many of the values I hold dear to my 
heart today I learned from my colleagues and professors at Fisk.
  It was in 1871 that a group of students formed the Fisk Jubilee 
Singers, a choral group, with the intent to raise money for their 
beloved University. That same year, these singers took all of the money 
from the school's treasury and used it to tour around the United States 
and Europe. During that tour they raised enough money to preserve the 
University and to construct Jubilee Hall, which became the South's 
first permanent structure built for the education of black students. 
This building has also been dedicated as a National Historic Landmark. 
I swell with pride to tell you that the Jubilee Singers were the first 
internationally acclaimed African-American musicians. They introduced 
so-called ``slave songs'' to the world and are considered responsible 
for preventing that historic and spiritual music from extinction. The 
Firsk Jubilee Singers still perform to this very day.
  Mr. Speaker, the Fisk Jubilee Singers have made a lasting 
contribution to racial equality and black culture in America. They 
introduced the spiritual as a musical genre, and demonstrated a truly 
unique commitment to their education. It is time that we in Congress 
honor their incredible achievements in such a manner that all of 
America will come to know of their commitment.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to pass my resolution encouraging 
the Postal Service to issue a postage stamp commemorating the legacy 
and achievements of the Fisk Jubilee Singers.

                          ____________________