Ffeil / File 2/70 - Fisk Project 2007

Established in 1865 at the former Union Army barracks near the present site of Union Station, Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee was the first educational facility set up to educate freed slaves and their children and was named in honour of General Clinton B. Fisk of the Tennessee Freedmen's Bureau. Fisk's world-famous Jubilee Singers originated as a group of students who first set out to tour the United States and Europe in October 1871 simply in an attempt to raise enough money to keep their debt-ridden university open. In 1874, they embarked on a fund-raising tour of Britain, where they had a particular impact on the people of Wales. Such was their popularity in Swansea that further concerts had to be hastily arranged and a total of $20,000 was raised to further their appeal - sufficient to help build Fisk University's Jubilee Hall, the first permanent structure built for the education of black students. In 1907, the choir returned on a goodwill visit to thank the citizens of Swansea for their generosity, with all monies raised at concerts donated to the city's charitable causes.

Dr Paul Kwami, composer, teacher and conductor, was born in Ghana. He studied music at Ghana's National Academy of Music and taught there until relocating to the United States in 1983 to study music at Fisk University, Nashville, where he joined the Fisk Jubilee Singers. He graduated in 1985. In 1994 he became a full-time faculty member and was made Musical Director of the Fisk Jubilee Singers. From 1996 to 2003 he served as Chair of Fisk University's Music Department. He also received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in conducting from the American Conservatory of Music. Dr Kwami was the first African to hold the position of Musical Director and the position of Curb-Beaman Chair of the Fisk Jubilee Singers. «

Born in Nigeria, where she graduated in law and served as both solicitor and barrister, Uzo Iwobi relocated to Wales, where she lectured in law at the Swansea Law School for nine years. In 2004 she founded the African Community Centre (see African/African Caribbean Art Strategy: African Community Centre), serving as its chair for fifteen years. She has also worked with the Home Office-based Police National Diversity Team (PNDT), where she was involved in developing national policies on race relations and diversity, and has served as Commissioner of the Commission for Racial Equality. She currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of Race Council Cymru and sits on the board of several voluntary organisations. In 2008, Uzo Iwobi was awarded the OBE in recognition of her services to community relations in South Wales.