Oak Ridge native recalls the pride, historical connection in being a Fisk Jubilee Singer

“I had an amazing time performing with the Fisk Jubilee Singers, learning of their legacy and history, as well as bonding with the current singers, who would become like extended family,” said Jon’Nesha Stevens, an Oak Ridge native who attended Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee.

The Fisk Jubilee Singers will be performing a benefit concert in Oak Ridge at the Historic Grove Theatre, 123 Randolph Road, at 6 p.m. March 29, which is Good Friday. Proceeds from the concert will fund efforts to create a monument to honor the Scarboro 85, the Black students who desegregated Oak Ridge Schools.

Stevens recalled her early years participating in SECME in Oak Ridge and how her visit to historically black colleges and universities motivated her to attend Fisk. She said her conversations with "Ms. Avery" and Darlene Johnson, SECME coordinators at Linden Elementary School, and the college tours by Cassandra Osborne, Oak Ridge High School coordinator, provided her resources to pursue a career in STEM and open the door to schools that had a diverse and rich history.

She said that prior to attending Fisk, her musical training through the Oak Ridge Schools' choral and orchestral programs and the Tennessee Governors School for the Arts program provided her with a varied background in music. That work prepared her for the Fisk Jubilee Singers' classical and gospel elements.

“Youth should explore all musical mediums and not limit their exposure by keeping an open mind,” Stevens said.

The Fisk Jubilee Singers provided her an opportunity to learn about a rich and diverse history that is sometimes overlooked.

Many do not know that Fisk  was originally known as the Fisk Free Colored School. Fisk University was established in 1866 to educate formerly enslaved people. By 1871, however, Fisk was severely in debt and the choral ensemble, the Fisk Jubilee Singers, traveled the world and saved the school.

Stevens was one of the Fisk singers from 2006 to 2010.

“Attending Fisk University and becoming a Fisk Jubilee Singer has been one of my greatest accomplishments. Performing with The Fisk Jubilee Singers instilled a deeper pride and sincere reverence for the sacrifices of my ancestors. It was a privilege to carry on the preservation of the Negro Spiritual and to uphold the legacy of the Fisk Jubilee Singers," she said.

Stevens said the school shares a rich legacy and she is proud to have experienced first-hand the history and connection of those rich Negro spirituals through song.

“I will be coming back to Oak Ridge at the end of March to attend the concert and see my fellow Fisk Jubilee Singers," she said. "It will certainly bring back memories. I encourage the community to attend and experience this musical history.

"My final thought to young Black students and Black America is to take interest in preserving and spreading the awareness of Negro spirituals and the lasting legacy of music that our ancestors intertwined into the history of American music," Stevens said. "One of my true mentors, Dr. Paul T. Kwami, past director of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, conveyed this daily to us.”

Stevens is a teacher at the Green Leadership and World Languages Magnet ElementarySchool in Raleigh, North Carolina. She teaches pre-kindergarten through fifth grade studies in elementary music and leads the school chorus.

She is the daughter of  Harvey Stevens Sr. and the late Marsha Hall Stevens. Her family includes aunt Willie S. Benton, stepmom Barbara Stevens, siblings Angela Stevens, Steffany (Stevens) Thomas, Stanton Stevens, Harvey Stevens Jr., and Jared Stevens, and Scarboro 85 members Alma Stevens and Emma McCaskill, as well as others.

She will be attending the 6 p.m. May 29 performance in Oak Ridge at the Historic Grove Theatre, 123 Randolph Road. Tickets can be purchased on Eventbrite.com or at TNBank, 401 S. Illinois Ave.

This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Oak Ridge native recalls 'amazing time' being a Fisk Jubilee Singer