Editing Thomas A. Dorsey (section)

==Leader of a movement (1930–1933)==
This new style began to catch on in Chicago, and Dorsey's musical partners Theodore Frye, Magnolia Lewis Butts, and Henry Carruthers urged him to organize a convention where musicians could learn gospel blues. In 1932 however, just as Dorsey co-founded the Gospel Choral Union of Chicago – eventually renamed the [[National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses]] (NCGCC), his wife Nettie died in childbirth, then 24 hours later, their son.{{efn|Dorsey later filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the Illinois Research Clinic in response. The outcome of this is unknown other than the clinic stating they would no longer serve black patients. (Marovich, p. 102.)}} His grief prompted him to write one of his most famous and enduring compositions, "[[Take My Hand, Precious Lord]]".{{efn|The song is attributed to Dorsey; the melody is influenced by "Must Jesus Bear the Cross Alone?" by George Nelson Allen (1852). (Harris, pp. 209–240.)}}

Chapters of the NCGCC opened in [[St. Louis, Missouri|St. Louis]] and [[Cleveland]]. Now at the center of gospel music activity in Chicago, Dorsey countered his bereavement by immersing himself in marketing his songs. An unintended consequence of his sales strategy helped spread gospel blues, as he worked with numerous musicians who assisted in selling his sheet music traveling to churches in and around Chicago. Rehearsals for sales pitches took place in Dorsey's nearly bare room in his uncle's house.<ref name="norton">Norton, Kay, "'Yes, [Gospel] Is Real': Half a Century with Chicago's Martin and Morris Company", ''Journal of the Society for American Music'', (2017), Volume 11, Number 4, pp. 420–451.</ref> Frye and [[Sallie Martin]] were two of the first and most effective singers Dorsey took with him to market his work. Dorsey and Martin established a publishing company called Dorsey House of Music, the first black-owned gospel publishing house in the U.S.<ref name="appreciation ajc">[[Bernice Johnson Reagon|Reagon, Bernice Johnson]], "Appreciation; The Precious Legacy of Thomas Dorsey; The Man Who Brought Gospel To the Masses", ''The Washington Post'', (January 31, 1993), p. G04.</ref><ref>[https://www.chipublib.org/fa-martin-and-morris-music-company-papers Martin and Morris Music Company Papers], [[Chicago Public Library]], Retrieved August 2020.</ref> His sheet music sold so well, according to Heilbut, it supplanted the first book of compiled songs for black churches, W. M. Nix's ''Gospel Pearls'', and the family Bible in black households.<ref>Heilbut, p. xxvi.</ref> He also mentored many young musicians, including training a teenage [[Mahalia Jackson]] when she first arrived in Chicago, although he said she did not entirely accept his instruction: "She said I was trying to make a stereotyped singer out of her."<ref>Marovich, pp. 80–81.</ref><ref>Heilbut, p. 63.</ref>

In addition to the high spirited choir performances, Dorsey began introducing uptempo [[Negro spiritual]]s, what he referred to as "jubilees", alongside published hymns in worship services.<ref name="harris 241-271">Harris pp. 241–271.</ref> Faced with rapid changes, old-line church members who preferred formal, more sedate music programs objected, leading to conflicts in and between Chicago's black churches. As a result, his sales pitches and chorus performances were not always well received. He is often quoted saying that he had "been kicked out of the best churches in the country".<ref name="bennett ajc">Bennett, Tom, "OBITUARY: Thomas A Dorsey, 93, 'Father" of Gospel Music'", ''The Atlanta Journal and Constitution'', (January 25, 1993), Section B; p. 6.</ref> He found resistance among ministers, musicians, and parishioners alike. Some objected to the degradation of worship through blues shouting.<ref>Reagon, pp. 23–24.</ref> Others took offense to such lively music overshadowing the minister's spoken word, or women delivering spiritual messages through song, taking the place of the preacher who was typically male.<ref>Harris, p. 269.</ref><ref name="oneal">O'Neal, Jim, Van Singel, Amy: "Georgia Tom Dorsey" in ''The Voice of the Blues: Classic Interviews from Living Blues Magazine'', Taylor and Francis, (2013). Web (pp. 39–115.)</ref>

Simultaneously, a shift in Chicago's black churches was taking place. Hundreds of thousands of newly arrived migrants from the South, with an appreciation of blues, began to outnumber an older guard of ministers and parishioners who favored classical European music in services.<ref name="harris 180-208">Harris pp 180–208.</ref> Ministers who would not have considered changing their music programs just a few years before became more open to new ideas. Services were thus altered in multiple ways to welcome the influx of migrants, for spiritual and pragmatic reasons: attracting and keeping new members helped reconcile many churches' debts.<ref>Marovich, p. 98.</ref>

Despite the objections, within months gospel blues had proven to be established in Chicago's black churches. In 1933, Dorsey directed a 600-person chorus at the second meeting of the NCGCC, now boasting 3,500 members in 24 states. Black gospel choirs were asked to perform at several white churches in Chicago. And Dorsey's own Pilgrim Baptist Church choir performed at the [[Century of Progress|1933 World's Fair]].<ref>Harris, p. 268.</ref><ref>Marovich, p. 107.</ref>