The Luca Family Singers were an American singing group, originally from New Haven, Connecticut, in the 19th century, the most famous such singing family modeled after the popular

Hutchinson Family Singers The Hutchinson Family Singers were an American family singing group who became the most popular American entertainers of the 1840s. The group sang in four-part harmony a repertoire of political, social, comic, sentimental and dramatic works, a ...

. Like the Hutchinsons, the Lucas were active in

abolitionism Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The Britis ...

, and began performing in 1850 at abolitionist meetings.Southern, pg. 106 The Luca Family consisted of Alexander C. Luca Sr. (1805-85), a Congregationalist choir director, and his sons, Alexander C. Luca Jr. (second tenor), Simeon G. Luca (first tenor)(1836-54), John W. Luca (bass or baritone) (1834-1910) and Cleveland O. Luca (soprano) (1827-72). In addition to singing as a quartet, they were also instrumentalists. Alexander Sr.'s wife, Lisette Lewis Luca (1810-56), and his sister Diane Luca also performed with the group on some occasions. Cleveland Luca was a well-known pianist who left the family after being hired by

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...

to teach music there.Averill, pg. 28

References

* *

Notes

African-American history of Connecticut American vocal groups 1850 establishments in Connecticut {{US-singing-group-stub