Sissieretta Jones: An Opera Star and Jim Crow Introduction Research Questions Born in 1868, Sissieretta Jones (Mathilda Sissieretta Joyner) grew up in Portsmouth, to Consider Virginia, where her family recognized and encouraged her musical talents early. Her family moved to Providence, Rhode Island, where Jones studied at the Providence Academy of Music, and later at the New England Conservatory and Boston Conservatory. In 1883, she How did Sissieretta married David R. Jones, who would also act as her first manager. Jones impact the opportunities for future Segregation and discrimination against African Americans were common in the United African American opera States and despite Jones' talents, hampered her musical career. In 1892, the young, singers? talented African American soprano took the stage at a three-day event, the "Grand Negro Jubilee," held at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The jubilee entertained a mixed- How was Sissieretta race audience with music and performances associated with African American culture. Jones treated in Asia, Although African American audiences knew and celebrated the musical talents of Sissieretta South America, and Jones, the event introduced Jones to white audiences, who became captivated by the Europe compared to the soprano's voice. The performance launched her career into stardom. She came to be known United States? as the "Black Patti," as a comparison (which she did not like) to the famous white opera singer Adelina Patti. Jones would go on to become the most famous African American What do you believe singer of her time in the United States and around the world. She performed for general Sissieretta Jones audiences, as well as the rich, royal, powerful, and influential. Jones toured throughout the wanted to communicate United States and internationally, including the West Indies, South America, Australia, India, to black, white, and South Africa, Russia, and Europe, including England, France, Germany, and Italy. interracial audiences with her performances? Despite her legendary career, Jones was denied roles, such as the lead of the Metropolitan Opera in 1896. Nonetheless, she persisted, and her appearances communicated an image that disputed the racist stereotypes against African American women of the day. In the early Why do you believe Jim Crow era, she was the first African American performer to share the stage with white Sissieretta Jones was performers and one of the highest-paid African American performers. Although not the first forgotten? classically trained African American woman singer in the United States, she and others such as Elizabeth Taylor-Greenfield (ca. the 1820s – 1876), Flora Baston (1846 – 1906), Mellie Brown-Mitchell (1845 – 1942), and Marie Selika (1849 – 1937), challenged and expanded the performance possibilities for African American woman from minstrel shows, vaudeville, and burlesque (which often reinforced negative racial stereotypes) to the musical genres of classical concerts and opera. By the time of her death in 1933, Sissieretta Jones was the most celebrated African American singer of her time. Secondary and Primary Text Resources: 1. Donnelley Lee, Maureen. Sissieretta Jones: "The Greatest Singer of Her Race", 1868 - 1933. Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press, 2012.

2. Abbott, Lynn and Doug Seroff. Out of Sight: The Rise of African American Popular Music, 1899 - 1895. Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, 2009.

3. Story, Rosalyn M. And So I Sing: African American Divas of Opera and Concert. New York: Harper Paperbacks, 2000.

4. Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow. New York: Penguin Press, 2019.

5. Carnegie Hall. "Sissieretta Jones: The Black Patti—From the Carnegie Hall Archives". YouTube video, 2:24. Posted [Feb. 2013].https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yxm_YMaBUUs. NMAAHC Resources: List of Resources: 1) Broadside for a performance by Madame Sissieretta Jones

2) Sissieretta Jones Albumen silver print (Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution)

3) Opera glasses and case owned by Mary Church Terrell (Gift of Ray and Jean Langston in memory of Mary Church and Robert Terrell)

4) Swedish Red Cross Medal of Honor (Gift of Mattiwilda Dobbs)

Pages 1 - 2 Photo Banner: All items and images are part of the Collection of the Smithsonian National Sissieretta Jones Albumen Museum of African American History and Culture, unless otherwise noted. silver print (Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, To find these resources and more information, visit: Smithsonian Institution) https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/collection