Jarboro was born in 1898 as Katherine (Katie) Lee Yarborough in Wilmington, North Carolina.

In 1930 she debuted in opera with Verdi's Aida at the Puccini Theatre in Milan, Italy.

[4] This milestone earned Salmaggi special recognition from First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

The New York Metropolitan Opera Association invited her to become a member, but when they realized she was not Italian, but Afro-Indian, they denied her membership.

[5] Her siblings alive at her time of death were Joseph Yarborough of Philadelphia, and Anna Gayle of Palmetto, Florida.