By 1871, many of the old hospital buildings where Fisk University was housed were in desperate need of repair, the food was scarce, teachers were underpaid and local debts in the amount of $2000 could not be paid. There was some outside financial support from the Freedmen's Bureau and the American Missionary Association but it was not enough to sustain the school. It was thought that Fisk would have to close.

In an effort to save Fisk, George L. White, the treasurer and music instructor, suggested taking a group of singers north to secure funds for the ailing university. White, some years earlier, had recognized the musical talents of his students. He arranged several concerts in Nashville and other surrounding cities in Tennessee. After numerous successes, White began to think seriously about selecting the best voices and utilizing them to earn money for the school. During the summer of 1871, White trained the singers. It was then a matter of finances — where would the money come from for the tour?

Several individuals, including some influential officers of the American Missionary Association, believed that a tour of the North would be too expensive and success was uncertain. They had no intention of supporting White's plan. White informed them that he was depending on God, not on them.

On October 6, 1871, White and nine singers left Nashville with all but one dollar of institution funds, plus what he could borrow. The first stop on the tour was Cincinnati, where two congregational ministers opened their churches to the singers for "praise meetings." The next step was Chellocothe, Ohio, where the singers were able to collect $50. The singers, although in desperate need of money, donated the entire $50 to the Chicago Relief Fund to help the city recover from the Great Chicago Fire. A return trip to Cincinnati netted large audiences but little money. The singers were becoming discouraged, when suddenly the outlook brightened. A total of $130 was collected at a concert before the National Council of Congregational Churches. Also, several members of the American Missionary Association were present at this concert, and for the first time, the association endorsed the singers.

During the tours in Ohio, the singers changed their program of songs. Their concerts at first consisted of what the group called "white man's music" with only one or two "slave songs" being sung as encores. The singers had no intention of singing those sacred songs in public. It was only after the singers recognized the powerful effect the songs had upon the audiences, and at the insistence of White, that the slave songs or spirituals were added to the program.

Now that the troupe was singing spirituals they were being referred to as "minstrels" and sometimes "nigger minstrels." White realized it was time for the singers to have a name. One night in Columbus, Ohio, he held a prayer meeting and after praying all night he said, "Children, God has given you a name — you shall be called the Jubilee Singers," in memory of the Jewish year of Jubilee (Leviticus 25:8-17).

After several successful tours of the Midwest, the singers set out for New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Washington, D.C. While in Washington, President Ulysses S. Grant invited the troupe to sing for him at the White House. He listened attentively as the troupe sang "Go Down Moses," a song he especially liked.

The singers closed out their first season in Poughkeepsie, New York, and returned to Nashville on May 2, 1872. They brought with them $20,000 to pay the school debts and to purchase Fort Gillem, the present site of Fisk University.