Prints and Photographs Division, Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-120855ĭuring the 1930s, Gospel music emerged from the coalescing of three types of musical activity: a) the hymn style of Charles Albert Tindley (1851-1933) a Philadelphia minister who composed hymns based on negro spirituals, adding instrumental accompaniments, improvisation and 'bluesified' third and seventh intervals b) the minimalist, solo-sung 'rural Gospel' tunes that appeared as a counterpart to the rural blues and c) the uninhibited, exuberant worship style of the Holiness-Pentecostal branch of the Christian church. Echoing the ways of the single-room churches of the agrarian South, the storefront churches of the northern cities became the key setting for the development of Gospel. When many African American communities migrated from rural to urban life during the first half of the twentieth century, they brought their worship culture with them. An example is ' De Gospel Cars,' by the popular composer Sam Lucas. Songs written by African American composers in the decades following emancipation that focused on biblical themes and often drew from spirituals were the source for the development of Gospel. The precursor to black Gospel music is the African American spiritual, which had already been around for well over a century before Gospel music began its rise to popularity starting in the 1930s. One of the few quartet groups that still performs Gospel a capella.

Northern Kentucky Brotherhood Singers, performing at the Library of Congress, 2009 (webcast).An example of a World War II song sung in the Gospel style that was emerging in African American congregations at the time. Playlistįive recordings from Library of Congress collections Its development coincided with - and is germane to - the development of rhythm and blues. Listen to this page African American GospelĪfrican American Gospel music is a form of euphoric, rhythmic, spiritual music rooted in the solo and responsive church singing of the African American South.

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