The renowned African American anti-slavery and women's rights activist, Sojourner Truth, also began public speaking in 1851, but in the musical world, Europeans ere still the best-known touring artists in the United States. Newspaper discourse depicted the 'Black Swan' as an exotic rarity, and in reality, Greenfield had few contemporaries in the national spotlight. However, the obviously racialized 'Black Swan' sobriquet also called attention to Greenfield's former slave status and thus simultaneously distanced her from these European contemporaries. The 'Black Swan' sobriquet exemplified the nineteenth-century practice of referring to female singers with bird nicknames, aligning Greenfield with such stars as Jenny Lind (the 'Swedish Nightingale'), who were then launching similar tours of North America. This was the popular music of her day, common to public and private spaces, both concert stages graced by touring European prima donnas and domestic parlors where women presided over family pianos.

She sang opera arias, sentimental parlor songs, ballads of the British Isles, and the occasional hymn. Hailed as the 'Black Swan' by newspaper critics, the vocalist attracted nationwide attention for her musical accomplishments and for her identity as a former slave-a biographical fact that profoundly influenced her reception. In October of 1851, Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield made her public debut and launched a two-year tour of the Northern United States and Northeastern Canada.

Finding Elizabeth by Taylor Fenner