Widely hailed as the possessor of one of the great singing voices of her day, Matilda Sissieretta Joyner (1869-1933) enjoyed a successful career as a concert and variety performer from the late 1880s to the World War I era. Joyner's career had two phases. First she was a soloist, appearing in concert halls, churches, and other venues in North America and Europe. Later, she spent two decades touring the United States as the star of an all-black variety entertainment show. It is an example of the peculiar nature of race relations in America that Joyner, whose extraordinary talent was almost universally acknowledged and whose concerts and variety shows drew mostly white audiences, never appeared in opera.

Joyner was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, as Matilda Sissieretta Joyner. The year of her birth is usually given as 1869. According to William Lichtenwanger in Notable American Women, no record of her birth...