Minnie Tate Hall (GW011)

(1857 – April 29, 1899)

from The Greenwood Project

Minnie Tate’s maternal grandmother was a slave in Mississippi until she and her children, including Minnie’s mother, were freed. The family traveled north on foot, carrying their possessions, until finally being welcomed into a German settlement in Tennessee, where the children received a first-rate education. Minnie, born in Nashville and educated by her mother, entered Fisk University at 14, soon becoming one of the original Jubilee Singers. She participated in the Singers’ American tour (Oct. 1871-Mar. 1872) and their journey to Great Britain and Europe (May 1872-May 1874), but the grueling journeys exacted a toll: Minnie was only 17 when they returned from Europe in 1874 but by then, sources said, “Contralto Minnie Tate had sung her voice to shreds.” There is no evidence that she ever sang publicly again. Minnie’s husband, R. A. Hall (also a former Jubilee Singer), died in 1886, leaving 29-year-old Minnie alone to raise their son Roger. Minnie herself died in 1899 at age 42.

Minnie Tate, teenage contralto with the Fisk Jubilee Singers. (Public domain.)

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The Greenwood Project is a series of 160-word biographies of individuals who lie at rest in Mt. Ararat and Greenwood cemeteries, two historic African American burial grounds in Nashville, Tennessee. The project, which began in September 2014 (and is still available on Facebook, at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064806156276), shares the stories of more than 300 consequential individuals, primarily African American, who changed the course of city, state, and national history through their words and deeds. (All biographies were written by Kathy Lauder unless otherwise noted.)