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Give me wings : how a choir of former slaves took on the world / by Kathy Lowinger.

by Lowinger, Kathy.

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Annick Press, c2015.

782.4216296 L918g

Jubilee Singers.

Musicians, Black -- Juvenile literature.

Musicians, Black -- Biography -- Juvenile literature.

Blacks -- Biography -- Juvenile literature.

Slaves -- Biography -- Juvenile literature.

9781554517473 (hardcover)

1554517478 (hardcover)

9781554517466 (pbk.)

155451746X (pbk.)

144 pages : illustrations (some color), portraits, maps (some color) ; 25 cm.

Includes bibliographical references (page 136) and index.

"Never a slave!" -- John Brown's body -- We are all in this war -- Getting into paradise -- Root, hog, or die -- Songs for the right -- Sing up the walls -- Breaking the chains -- The good we might do.

Presents the story of the Jubilee Singers, a group of African Americans who traveled the path of the Underground Railroad, singing slave spirituals to raise money for their struggling school. The story of the "Jubilee Singers, [who] traveled from Cincinnati to New York, following the path of the Underground Railroad. With every performance they endangered their lives and those of the people helping them, but they also broke down barriers between blacks and whites, lifted spirits, and even helped influence modern American music: the Jubilees were the first to introduce spirituals outside their black communities [and are still active and highly regarded today].

The 1800s were a dangerous time to be a black girl in the United States, especially if you were born a slave. Ella Sheppard was such a girl, but her family bought their freedom and moved to Ohio where slavery was illegal; they even scraped enough money together to send Ella to school and buy her a piano. In 1871, when her school ran out of money and was on the brink of closure, Ella became a founding member of a traveling choir, the Jubilee Singers, to help raise funds for the Fisk Free Colored School, later known as Fisk University. The Jubilee Singers traveled from Cincinnati to New York, following the path of the Underground Railroad. With every performance they endangered their lives and those of the people helping them, but they also broke down barriers between blacks and whites, lifted spirits, and even helped influence modern American music: the Jubilees were the first to introduce spirituals outside their black communities, thrilling white audiences who were used to more sedate European songs. Framed within Ella's inspiring story, Give Me Wings is narrative nonfiction at its finest, taking readers through one of history's most tumultuous and dramatic times, touching on the Civil War, Emancipation, and the Reconstruction Era.

Biography, Juvenile.

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