Professor John Wesley Work of Nashville (1873-1925) earned a position as a Latin and Greek instructor at Fisk University in 1898. While teaching, he became a leader in the movement to preserve, study, and perform spirituals. With his brother Frederick Jerome Work, he published a number of collections of slave songs and spirituals, including 1901's collection New Jubilee Songs as Sung by the Fisk Jubilee Singers. For eighteen years, Work trained and performed with professional and student groups of Jubilee singers. In 1923, Work left Fisk to serve as president of Roger Williams University in Nashville, where he stayed until his death on September 7, 1925. Work was married to Agnes Haynes Work (1876-1927).