22 • September 30, 2021 - October 6, 2021
THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS
IN
THE
CLASSROOM
Ella Sheppard, pianist and original member of Fisk Jubilee Singers
By HERB BOYD Special to the AmNews
ently that marriage ended and he married again, and was once more purchasing his wife from slavery for $1,300. Her free papers, however,
Thus far we’ve profiled three members of the legendary Fisk Jubilee Singers—Eliza Walker (alto), Isaac Dick- Ella Sheppard erson (tenor), and Benjamin Holmes (bass). Before we close out the series on the original Jubilee Singers with a group portrait, we highlight the musicianship of Ella Sheppard, who was listed as a soprano, but she was also an accomplished pianist. Sheppard’s account actually begins with her telling Gustavus Pike about her father, who bought himself from slavery in Nashville, Tenn., where she was born in 1851. She was gravely ill at 15 months while living in Mississippi with an inattentive mother. When her father heard that their master was preparing to sell her he hurried to Mississippi, paid $350 for her and brought her back to Nashville with him. “Shortly after,” Sheppard continued, “he returned to purchase my mother. were not completed and six The bargain had been made; months later her father’s busimy father, mother, and the ness failed from his inability overseer, were in Nashville, and to pay his debts. “One night he the bill of sale was to be signed was secretly warned by a white the following day, when word gentleman that his creditors came from her master that she intended to claim my mother. must not be sold, but returned If a man bought his wife, she to Mississippi; and so she was was considered his slave until obliged to leave her husband free papers were made out, and child at once, and go back and could be taken for debt again into slavery. My father the same as any other properthen kept a livery stable, and ty. My father quickly returned was doing quite a good busi- to his house, and hastened ness, owning four carriages and my mother off for Cincinnaeight horses.” ti that very night. They went It is not clear in her recollec- a long distance to a station in tion exactly what happened the woods, where they would then between her father and not be recognized, to take the mother but appar- twelve o’clock train. Soon after he took me and followed,
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leaving everything to his creditors. Here he began life over again. We had literally nothing to start with, but collected household furniture piece by
piece. My mother took in washing and ironing, and when able to do so, kept a private boardinghouse. I attended the Seventh Street colored school, but when twelve years old, was obliged to leave my studies on account of ill health, and could not return to them till I was fourteen.” She had begun taking piano lessons a year before with a German woman. For two and half years she studied with her. But a tragedy would interrupt this process when her father died of cholera. Their financial situation was not very good but she was fortunate enough to be adopted by J.P Ball who
thoroughly trained her in music. A succession of teachers and benefactors entered her life and eventually she was off to Fisk University. “First week a friend sent me one music scholar,” she said, “and in a few weeks I had two others. At the end of the term I was nearly sick, and spent the vacation with my stepmother. I entered school again in the fall, and studied till Christmas, and then gave myself entirely to preparing for the concert shortly to be given. After the concert I was thrown onto my bed, and not able to do any thing. Permission was granted to me to remain at the school, and help or pay as I was able; and I should have been forty-four dollars in debt at the end of the year, had it not been for the sewing I did at odd moments, or when confined to my bed. That vacation I was offered the position of assistant music teacher in the University. I retained that position during the year, and at the close, after assisting to prepare the pupils to sing the Cantata of Esther, I was requested to remain, and help drill the Jubilee Singers during the summer, before we started for the North.” As you see, Sheppard had to overcome a number of obstacles to attain her musical plateau. In the next and final installment we will profile the remaining original members of the Jubilee Singers, Thomas Rutlin (tenor), Maggie Porter (soprano), Minnie Tate (alto), and Greene Evans (bass).
ACTIVITIES FIND OUT MORE Once again Gustavus Pike is the primary and indispensable source of this and other profiles of the singers. DISCUSSION There are a number of perplexing and unanswered questions about Sheppard’s life and if Pike didn’t disclose them they are probably lost forever. PLACE IN CONTEXT Like the other members of the Jubilee Singers, Sheppard was born a decade or so before the Civil War, though no date is given for her death.
THIS WEEK IN BLACK HISTORY Sept. 27, 1912: Legendary composer W.C. Handy publishes “Memphis Blues,” the first notated blues song. Sept. 28, 1975: WGPR-TV (Where God’s Presence Radiates), the first Black-owned TV station, is launched in Detroit. Sept. 29, 1962: President Kennedy orders federal troops to ensure the integration of the University of Mississippi.
