Freedom Song: When Gospel Came to the Empire

Freedom Song – When Gospel Came to the Empire by Harvey Brough (music) and Justin Butcher (words).

Sing it loud, sing it clear! SNS Students, Vox Holloway and the Hackney Empire Community Choir return to the Empire with their soulful hit show.

In 1871 a group of singers from Nashville, Tennessee, took to the road to raise money for their university. But this was no ordinary student choir. The Fisk Jubilee Singers were freed slaves. Their mission was not only to build the first black University in the Southern States after emancipation but also to fight for the right of all African Americans to be educated.

Facing down racial abuse and physical hardship, they introduced the world to plantation spirituals, ‘songs of sorrow’ never before heard in public. They toured the USA and Europe, where, incredibly, they serenaded Queen Victoria and performed in concert halls and cathedrals across Britain. They…