Echoes of Freedom: Jessie Donaldson’s Song

Jessie Donaldson: A Forgotten Force for Freedom

Jessie Donaldson (née Heineken) is one of Wales’s most overlooked yet influential historical figures. Her life bridged education, abolitionist activism, and transatlantic humanitarian work — uncovered through the groundbreaking research of Professor Jen Wilson, founder of Jazz Heritage Wales.

Jessie was not merely an ally to the anti-slavery movement — she was at its heart. In 1833, she played a central role in securing freedom for an enslaved man named Willis in Swansea. Later, she relocated to Cincinnati, Ohio, a flashpoint in the struggle between slave and free states. There, she worked alongside key abolitionists — including Harriet Beecher Stowe and Frederick Douglass — and helped establish a safe house along the Ohio River, a vital route for those escaping slavery via the Underground Railroad.

Returning to Swansea years later, Jessie found herself once again at a crossroads of cultural change. Her return coincided with the arrival of African American performance groups like the Fisk Jubilee Singers, whose spirituals resonated deeply with Welsh audiences. Their music, rooted in sorrow and survival, struck a chord in Wales’s industrial heartlands and helped lay the groundwork for what Professor Wilson later called “freedom music” — a foundation for Wales’s jazz culture.

Jessie’s legacy is now honoured with a blue plaque in Swansea — a permanent tribute to her international impact and local roots.

At this point in the soundwalk, you are listening to “It Rained in My Heart”, composed by Wynn Philips and performed by the Iridium Collective. This piece was recorded live at the Elysium Gallery in Swansea and reflects the ensemble’s distinctive approach to improvisation, atmosphere, and emotional storytelling. The track offers a contemporary response to themes of loss, longing, and cultural memory — resonating with Jessie Donaldson’s legacy and the deeper emotional undercurrents of freedom music.

Contributors

Professor Jen Wilson (1944–2023) was a jazz pianist, writer, researcher, and activist. She founded the Women’s Jazz Archive in 1986 (now Jazz Heritage Wales) and dedicated her life to recovering the voices of women in Welsh musical history.

Kim Collis, County Archivist for West Glamorgan Archives, worked with Professor Wilson to bring Jessie Donaldson’s story into public recognition. His research and support were key to securing the blue plaque and preserving Donaldson’s place in Swansea’s civic history.

Visit the Jazz Heritage Wales Archive

Many of the original materials relating to Jessie Donaldson — including newspaper clippings, family research, and rare music ephemera — are preserved at Jazz Heritage Wales, located in the Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea.

The archive also houses:

• A first-edition Fisk Jubilee Singers songbook from their 1874 tour

• Documents from Wales’s Anti-Slavery movement

• Professor Jen Wilson’s Freedom Music research collection