When Sissieretta Jones, known as the Black Patti, returned from her second successful tour of the Caribbean and South America in July 1891, she was still largely unknown in the United States. All that changed on April 26, 1892 when she was the star soprano of a three-day “Grand Negro Jubilee” at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Her opening night performance helped launch her fame in America.

 

The Grand Negro Jubilee and cakewalk, managed by S. Goodfriend, ran April 26-28, 1892 (Tuesday through Thursday) at Madison Square Garden. Goodfriend had changed the dates for the event at the request of the Actor’s Fair Fund so it wouldn’t interfere with the Actor’s group’s three-day fundraiser at the Garden. To show their appreciation for Goodfriend’s willingness to change the date, many prominent theatrical and entertainment people bought seats and boxes for the opening night of the Jubilee.

 

By 9 p.m. on opening night, 5,000 people, a majority of whom were white, were seated in the auditorium of Madison Square Garden. The women were dressed in “dazzling” dresses and jewelry and most of the men wore evening clothes.

 

About half-way into the first part of the show, the 24-year-old Sissieretta made her entrance. She wore long white gloves and a gown of pearl gray, whose bodice was covered with gold medals she had received in the Caribbean and South America. She smiled broadly as she walked up the steps to the stage. Her first selection was the cavatina from Meyerbeer’s opera Robert le Diable. The audience loved her and called for more. She sang “Swanee River,” and  “Maggie, the Cows are in the Clover” for her encore. Later that evening, in the second part of the program, she sang “La Farfalla” by Gelli and “Sempre Libera” from Verdi’s La Traviata. It was quite a night for the young soprano.

 

In the days after the concert, newspaper critics sang her praises. One critic said she sang the cavatina from Robert le Diable with “a purity of tone, an accuracy of phrasing, and a richness and a power . . . .”

 

It would be months, however, before Sissieretta knew the extent of her success. In fact, years later, Sissieretta, in recalling that evening, said, “I woke up famous after singing at the Garden, and didn’t know it.” The concert turned out to be a turning point in her career. An important management contract, additional vocal training, and many more concert appearances followed this performance.

 

This concert had such historical significance that it prompted Langston Hughes and Milton Meltzer, in their 1967 book, Black Magic, A Pictorial History of Black Entertainers in America, to name Sissieretta’s 1892 Madison Square Garden performance as one of 36-milestones in the history of “the Negro’s participation in American entertainment.”

Maureen D. Lee
April 24, 2013Author of Sissieretta Jones: “The Greatest Singer of Her Race,” 1868-1933 (published by the University of South Carolina Press, 2012)