41 Facts About Sissieretta Jones

Matilda Sissieretta Joyner Jones was an American soprano.

Sissieretta Jones sometimes was called "The Black Patti" in reference to Italian opera singer Adelina Patti.

Sissieretta Jones sang for four consecutive presidents and the British royal family, and was met with international success.

Besides the United States and the West Indies, Sissieretta Jones toured in South America, Australia, India, southern Africa, and Europe.

Sissieretta Jones remained the star of the Famous Troubadours for around two decades while they established their popularity in the principal cities of the United States and Canada, Jones retired from performing in 1915.

Matilda Sissieretta Jones Joyner was born on January 5,1868 or 1869, in a house on Bart Street in Portsmouth, Virginia, United States, to Jeremiah Malachi Joyner, an African Methodist Episcopal minister and Henrietta Beale, a singer in a church choir and washerwoman.

Sissieretta Jones's father had formerly been enslaved, but was educated and literate.

Sissieretta Jones was the oldest of three children, although her siblings died when they were young.

On October 29,1885, Jones gave a solo performance in Providence as an opening act to a production of Shakespeares's Richard III staged by John A Arneaux's theatre troupe.

Sissieretta Jones made her New York City debut on April 5,1888, at Steinway Hall.

Sissieretta Jones made successful tours of the Caribbean in 1888 and 1892.

Around this time one critic at the theatrical journal the New York Clipper dubbed her "the Black Patti" after Adelina Patti, an epithet that Sissieretta Jones disliked, preferring Madame Sissieretta Jones.

In February 1892, Sissieretta Jones performed at the White House for President Benjamin Harrison.

For three of her White House performances, Sissieretta Jones had to enter the building through the back.

Sissieretta Jones was finally allowed to enter through the front door for the Roosevelt performance.

Sissieretta Jones performed at the Grand Negro Jubilee at New York's Madison Square Garden in April 1892 before an audience of 75,000.

Sissieretta Jones sang the song "Swanee River" and selections from Verdi's La traviata.

Sissieretta Jones was so popular that she was invited to perform at the Pittsburgh Exposition and the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

In June 1892, Sissieretta Jones became the first African American to sing at the Music Hall in New York.

Sissieretta Jones's notes are as clear as a mockingbird's and her annunciation is perfect.

Sissieretta Jones received $2,000 for a week-long appearance at the Pittsburgh Exposition, noted for being the highest fee ever paid to a black artist in the United States.

Besides the US and the West Indies, Sissieretta Jones toured in South America, Australia, India, and southern Africa.

Sissieretta Jones noted in her letters that she encountered less racial prejudice in Europe, and that performers' skin color was irrelevant to their reception by audiences.

In 1896, Sissieretta Jones returned to Providence to care for her mother, who had become ill.

Sissieretta Jones found that access to most American classical concert halls was limited by racism.

Sissieretta Jones formed the Black Patti Troubadours, a musical and acrobatic act made up of 40 jugglers, comedians, dancers and a chorus of 40 trained singers.

The revue paired Sissieretta Jones with rising vaudeville composers Bob Cole and Billy Johnson.

Sissieretta Jones led the company with reassurance of a forty-week season that would give her a sustainable income, guaranteed lodging in a well-appointed and stylish Pullman car, and the ability to sing opera and operetta excerpts in the final section of the show.

Sissieretta Jones was the highest-paid African American performer of her time, remaining the star of the Famous Troubadours for around two decades while they toured each season and established their popularity in the principal cities of the United States and Canada.

Sissieretta Jones Troubadours made an important statement about the capabilities of black performers to its predominantly white audiences, showing that there were diverse artist genres and styles besides minstrelsy.

Sissieretta Jones was written about in Olio, a poetry collection by Tyehimba Jess that won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.

Sissieretta Jones's restored wedding gown at the time was on display at the John Brown House Museum in Providence.

The research for the book was partly based on a scrapbook of Sissieretta Jones which was on display at Howard University.

In 2013 Sissieretta Jones was inducted into the Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame.

Sissieretta Jones filed for divorce in 1898, citing his drunkenness and lack of support.

Sissieretta Jones divorced him in 1899 for his misuse of their money and gambling.

In 1915, her mother fell ill, so Sissieretta Jones retired from performing and moved back to Rhode Island to take care of her.

Sissieretta Jones devoted the remainder of her life to her church and to caring for her mother, taking in homeless children and caring for her two adopted children.

Sissieretta Jones lived off her holdings for a number of years, but was eventually forced to sell most of her property to survive, including most of her medals and jewels and three of her four houses.

Sissieretta Jones died in poverty on June 24,1933, from cancer at the Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island.

Sissieretta Jones did not have the money to pay for a gravestone upon her death, and is buried in her hometown at Grace Church Cemetery.