Thomas Rutling

Thomas Rutling (1854-1915) is known for being an original member of the Fisk Jubilee Singers that toured throughout the United States and Europe. He was a tenor in the group.

Rutling was born on December 24, 1854 into slavery. His father had either been sold by slavers or had run away before his birth. He was the youngest out of nine children. Thomas’s mother was sold when he was three, he had no idea what had happened to them. At eight, he was put into the fields but they soon redirected him to household work. In 1865, Union soldiers freed Thomas. He travelled to Nashville where his sister taught him how to read and write. Thomas then started to work for a surgeon- soon moving on to enroll in high school at Fisk University. Many teachers of the American Missionary Association tutored former slaves in army huts around and on the campus. Thomas paid for his tuition by becoming a waiter for the teachers’. He started to become more and more interested int eh Literary Society’s weekly debates, this helped with his linguistic skills. In 1871, he joined the university’s choir as a tenor. They toured far from Tennessee to gather funds and spread awareness for the university. The choir was soon named the Fisk Jubilee Singers, since they sang renditions of Negro spiritual songs (which made more people interested in them). They even performed for the president, Ulysses S. Grant, in March 1872 at the White House.

The choir soon went worldwide. In April 1873, the Fisk Jubilee Singers were touring in England. After being sponsored by the Freedmen’s Missions Aid Society, the duke and duchess of Argyll wanted to see a performance. The queen even called, the singers were a success! There final London Performance in May 1874 raised over 10,000 euro. Thomas himself made around $250 per quarter.

The Fisk Jubilee Sings (with Thomas Rutling still singing tenor) returned to England in May 1875. They stayed there until June 1878. There was even a Jubilee Hall at Nashville in 1876, the reason why they toured in the first place. Many people started making black choral groups, exploiting the market, and pirating copies of the groups arrangements. They went to Switzerland, gave a concert in Geneva, toured London again, the group was all over the place and starting to risk their health and voices. In 1878, the tour finally ended in Hamburg.

Thomas Rutling had spent 7 years touring with the company, he fell ill during and decided to go to Switzerland after it ended. He even seemed to have fathered a son in Austria. Thomas then returned to England, where he was sponsored by August Manns, an orchestral director. Once he noticed that people were not as interested in him singing anymore he moved to being a voice teacher at schools in Britain until 1907. He toured again but mainly in church halls where members were still interested in Fisk University. Thomas going on to write an autobiography, which had music but was only sixty-four pages and was published in Bradford and Devon. Thomas Rutling died on April 26, 1915 at 97 Valley Drive, Harrogate. The death seemed to be cause by either disease of liver cancer. His friends paid for his funeral and plot in Grove Road cemetery, even the stone cross inscribed “Late Jubilee Singer, Fisk University. They sing the song of the lamb”. The plot also contains the remains of some of his friends from Harrogate. Thomas Rutling was remembered with love and affection, his impact (mainly in Britain) was significant. He was remembered for his singing, his eloquence, and his role as a representative of the Afro-American arts.