Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-12-25
REFUSED By HOTELS.
The Calling Experiences OF the Fisk Jubi-
lee SINGERS.

lee SINGERS
A Syracuse IN. " special says
The Fisk Jubilee Singers, who began
two-nights' engagement here last eve
ming, are announced for q Christmas
entertainment at Troy under the usual
condition of a money forfeiture in the
event of their failure to appear. Ar
rangements were made early in the
season, including a contract with Ii. X.
Bush, of the Revere House, for
boarding and lodging the company.
Word has just been received by their
manger that, being colored people,
their patronage is not desired at that
hotel, and that other houses in the city
have also declined to furnish accommo-
dations. As a result they will, in or
der to fulfill their engagements, be
forced to.look for shelter in private re-
sidences, and the following advertise
ment has accordingly been sent to the
Troy papers
"WANTED-Accommod for the Fisk
University Jubilee Singers, thirteen Chris
tian men and women. The principal hotels
have refused TO entertain these people on
account OF their color. Any one having
suitable accommodations address IL. Cush-
ing, Troy, y. "
OF the original company that started
from Fisk School, now Fisk University,
at Nashville, Tenn, in 1871. only three
are left, Mrs. Jennie Jackson Hart,
Mrs. Maggie l.. Porter Cole, and Miss
Georgia Gordon. Most of the present
members, however, joined the organza-
ton as early as 1875, since which time
two trips have been made TO Europe.
To Times correspondent this evening
a member of the company said
"lnsults like that thrown upon us
by the illiberal Trojan are rather gall
ing at the present stage of our career,
but then we have had to put up with
similar and even worse indignities again
and again, and have become hardened
to them, as to something inevitable at
times under the existing regulations of
American society. Some Of our worst
experiences have been endured in the
nations own capital. We began with
this sort of thing and have kept it
with us ever since. At ChilllcOthe,
H., we gave our first paid concert,
and the proceeds were given to the suf-
Gerers by the great Chicago fire, but we
were refused accommodations in two
hotels, and obtained shelter in the third
only on condition that we should hide
ourselves from the other guests. At
Springfield, ILL.,, the home Of Abraham
Lincoln, few years ago, we were also
oStracized but the people, reSenpng
the outrage, gave us magnificent well
come, and Ex-Governor Palmer re-
ceived US as guests into his own
house. At GAINESVILLE, Ohio, six of
our girls had to sleep one night in a
single room over a shed, with no.
thing but their waterproofs for COW
eriDg, and at Fremont, the home
Of ex-President Hayes, we were sub
jected to gross indignities. All through
New Jersey we have been treated more
Shamefully than we ever were IN a
southern State. One of the most gall
ing experiences in our whole experience
was at Princeton, under the shadow Of
the great university. At Newark we
were once turned out of doors, and have
never been able to obtain hotel accom-
mOdations there since. Our worst eX-
periences in this State have been at
Albany, where we were once ordered
away from the lunch-counter at
a railway station. | might multiply
similar instances almost without num-
Der. On the other hand, we have been
recipients Of most distinguished atten-
tons from all classes in Great Britain
and on the Continent. The slave songs
have been sung before nearly every
throne in Europe. and the singers have
sat as guests at the tables of the no.
bleSt houses in England, ireland, Scot
land, France, Germany, and Austria.
With such remembranceS to look back
upon, and with other equally pleasant
"reminiscences at home, we can well al
ford to treat with contempt the petty
lndignities offered by the Troy publ
cans