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Matthew Washington Kennedy, Jr.
10 March 1921 – 5 June 2014
He was an American classical pianist, professor, choral director, composer, and arranger of Negro spirituals. He is widely known as the director of the historic Fisk Jubilee Singers of Nashville, Tennessee, from 1957 to 1986
Employed by Fisk University as an instructor in 1947, Kennedy became a member of its music faculty in 1954 as an associate professor. In 1956, he married pianist Anne Gamble. Kennedy was appointed director of the Fisk Jubilee Singers in 1957, and he mentored hundreds of young students for the next twenty-three years.[4] In 1958, Kennedy made his own solo piano debut at Carnegie Hall.[5] Over the years, Kennedy toured the world as a concert pianist and as director of the Fisk Jubilee Singers.[6][7] He was appointed acting chairman of the Fisk University Music Department in 1975. He retired from Fisk University in 1986. Kennedy had served on resource panels for the Tennessee Arts Commission and on boards of the Nashville Symphony Association and the John W. Work, III Memorial Foundation. He received the Achievement Award from the National Black Music Caucus of the Music Educators' National Conference, distinguished service awards from the National Association of Negro Musicians, the Fisk University Alumni Association, and Omega Psi Phi fraternity. Kennedy held lifetime memberships with the NAACP and the Fisk University General Alumni Association. He was a member of the Nashville Fine Arts Club, where he served as president.[citation needed] He was also a member of the Nashville Symphony Guild, Gamma Phi chapter of Omega Psi Phi, First Baptist Church, Capitol Hill, and an inductee into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in Macon, Georgia. At Fisk, he was inducted into Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia music fraternity. In 2003, Kennedy released his first album, Familiar Favorites. In 2006, he received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Fisk University.[8] In September 2006, Jim Cooper, representative of Tennessee, entered a statement honoring Kennedy into the Congressional Record, which took place during the Proceedings and Debates of the 109th Congress, Second Session, in Washington, DC.[9][citation needed]
Kennedy continued to play the piano for the congregation at First Baptist Church, Capitol Hill, in Nashville after he was in his 90s. He died on June 5, 2014, at the age of 93.
Rev. Jesse Jackson
The John hope and Aurelia E. Franklin Library join the nation in mourning the passing of the Rev. Jesse Jackson (October 8 1941- February 17 2026).
Rev. Jackson’s lifelong commitment to equality, voting rights, economic empowerment, and educational access left an indelible mark on our country and inspired generations of leaders, scholars, and activists. The Franklin Library recognizes the profound historical significance of Rev. Jackson’s life and legacy. His work intersects with many of the movements, individuals, and records preserved in our holdings, reminding us of the vital role we play in documenting struggles for freedom and the ongoing pursuit of equity. We honor Rev. Jackson’s enduring contributions and extend our deepest condolences to his family, colleagues, and all who were touched by his ministry and leadership. May his legacy continue to inspire reflection, scholarship, and action.
Here at Fisk, we remember Rev. Jackson for his steadfast support of the University, especially his powerful address at the 1971 Black Community Conference, where he spoke to more than 2,000 people gathered in the gymnasium.
Lewis Wade Jones
Renowned sociologist and educator.
March 13, 1910 – September 1979
He was born in Cuero, Texas, the son of Wade E. and Lucynthia McDade Jones. A member of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity, he received his AB degree from Fisk University in 1931, and followed it with postgraduate study as a Social Science Research Council Fellow at the University of Chicago in 1931–1932.
Jones returned to Fisk, where he continued to work closely with Charles S. Johnson as a research assistant, supervisor of field studies, and instructor in the Department of Social Sciences from 1932 to 1942. In 1949, the two co-wrote A Statistical Analysis of Southern Counties; Shifts in the Negro Population of Alabama.
Jones was a Julius Rosenwald Foundation Fund Fellow at Columbia University, where he was awarded an MA degree in 1939 with the thesis "Occupational Stratification Among Rural and Small Town Negroes before the Civil War and Today." He earned his PhD in 1955.
Before the recording project at Fort Valley, where he was a member of the summer faculty, Jones, along with Johnson and John Wesley Work III collaborated with the Archive of American Folk Song on the Library of Congress/Fisk University Mississippi Delta Collection (AFC 1941/002). This project was a two-year joint field study conducted by the Library of Congress and Fisk University during the summers of 1941 and 1942. The goal of the partnership was to carry out an intensive field study documenting the folk culture of a specific community of African Americans in the Mississippi Delta region. The rapidly urbanizing commercial area of Coahoma County, Mississippi, with its county seat in Clarksdale, became the geographical focus of the study.
Almost immediately following Jones's March 1943 recordings at Fort Valley, he served for three years in the United States Army, and became a reports analyst for the domestic branch of the Bureau of Special Services, Office of War Information. He was associate editor of the Negro Yearbook in 1952 and contributed articles to journals.
Jones spent much of the remainder of his career at Tuskegee Institute School of Education, as assistant professor of sociology, director of research for the Rural Life Council, research coordinator, and professor. He was a consultant to a variety of organizations, including the Opportunities Industrialization Centers, the Bureau of Social Science Research, and the U.S. Department of Labor.
On August 13, 1966, he married Queen E. Shootes, a home economist.
At the time of his death, Lewis Jones was a professor of sociology and director of the Tuskegee Institute Rural Development Center.
Roland Hayes
1887–1977
Famed tenor and former Fisk Jubilee Singer
Bro. Roland Hayes was a renowned African-American lyric tenor, composer, and a celebrated member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. As the first Black man to achieve international fame as a concert vocalist, he was recognized for singing in five languages and elevating African-American spirituals on the classical stage.
Fraternity Membership: Hayes is listed among the notable members of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. (Arts & Literature).
Artistic Legacy: He began his career in the early 1910s, studying at Fisk University, and later became a pioneer in the 1920s, performing for European royalty and in major American venues.
Civil Rights Incident: In 1942, he was arrested and beaten in Georgia after his wife and daughter were forced from a white-only section of a shoe store, a violent incident that sparked national attention and inspired a poem by Langston Hughes.
Honors: He taught at Boston University, received numerous accolades, and was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1991.