The early life and career of the "Black Patti": The odyssey of an African American singer in the late nineteenth century

The early career of the African American singer Matilda Sissieretta Jones ( 1868-1933), known as the "Black Patti", was unique in nineteenth-century Am erica. Reviewers gave high praise to her singing, and she attracted large m ixed-race audiences to her concerts across the country. Her fame was such t hat, during the early 1890s, she appeared as the star of several companies in which she was the only black performer. This article documents her early life in Portsmouth, Virginia, and Providence, Rhode Island; her two tours, in 1888 and 1890, to the Caribbean and South America; and her varied conce rt appearances in the United States and Europe up to the formation of the B lack Patti Troubadours in the fall of 1896.