Sissieretta Jones

Born in Portsmouth, Virginia, in 1868 or 1869, Matilda Sissieretta Joyner grew up in Rhode Island. She got her start in music singing in the choir at the church where her father was a pastor. At age fourteen, she began formal music school; that was also the year she married David Jones. She eventually attended New England Conservatory, where she studied classical singing. At the time, opera companies were not hiring Black singers. But she wanted to sing opera. So, she went on tours and did concerts singing spirituals, popular tunes, and opera arias. Over the course of her career, she sang for four different US presidents. She died in 1933.