Editing Thomas A. Dorsey (section)

==Legacy==
Gospel historian Horace Boyer writes that gospel music "has no more imposing figure" than Dorsey, and the ''Cambridge Companion to Blues and Gospel Music'' states that he "defined" the genre.<ref name="boyer">Boyer, pp. 57–62.</ref><ref>Moore, p. 52.</ref> Folklorist [[Alan Lomax]] claims that Dorsey "literally invented gospel".<ref name="dedication ajc"/> In ''[[Living Blues]]'', [[Jim O'Neal]] compares Dorsey in gospel to [[W. C. Handy]], who was the first and most influential blues composer, "with the notable difference that Dorsey developed his tradition from within, rather than 'discovering' it from an outsider's vantage point".<ref name="oneal"/> Although he was not the first to join elements of the blues to religious music, he earned the honorific  "Father of Gospel Music", according to gospel singer and historian [[Bernice Johnson Reagon]], for his "aggressive campaign for its use as worship songs in black Protestant churches".<ref name="appreciation ajc"/>{{efn|Numerous sources state Dorsey coined the term "gospel" to refer to sacred music, but W. M. Nix, the singer who inspired Dorsey at the 1921 National Baptist Convention, compiled a songbook titled ''Gospel Pearls'' to sell at the convention, which was the first mention of "gospel" to refer to music in black churches. Dorsey moreover considered Charles Tindley to be the originator of gospel music. (Harris, p. 68., Heilbut, p. 25.)}}

Throughout his career, Dorsey composed more than 1,000 gospel and 2,000 blues songs, an achievement Mahalia Jackson considered equal to [[Irving Berlin]]'s body of work. The manager of a gospel quartet active in the 1930s stated that songs written by Dorsey and other songwriters copying him spread so far in such a short time that they were called "dorseys".<ref>Reagon, p. 21.</ref> Horace Boyer attributes this popularity to "simple but beautiful melodies", unimposing harmonies, and room for improvisation within the music. Lyrically, according to Boyer, Dorsey was "skilled at writing songs that not only captured the hopes, fears, and aspirations of the poor and disenfranchised African Americans but also spoke to all people".<ref name="boyer"/> Anthony Heilbut further explains that "the gospel of [Charles] Tindley and Dorsey talks directly to the poor. In so many words, it's about rising above poverty while still living humble deserting the ways of the world while retaining its best tunes."<ref name="Heilbut, pp. 28–29"/>

Aside from his prodigious songwriting, Dorsey's influence in the gospel blues movement brought about change both for individuals in the black community and communities as a whole. He introduced rituals and standards among gospel choirs that are still in use. At the beginning of worship services, Dorsey instructed choruses to march from the rear of the sanctuary to the choir-loft in a specific way, singing all the while. Choir members were encouraged to be physically active while singing, rocking and swaying with the music.<ref>Reagon, p. 24–25.</ref> He insisted that songs be memorized rather than chorus members reading music or lyrics while performing. This freed the choir members' hands to clap, and he knew anyway that most of the chorus singers in the early 1930s were unable to read music. Moreover, Dorsey refused to provide musical notation, or use it while directing, because he felt the music was only to be used as a guide, not strictly followed. Including all the embellishments in gospel blues would make the notation prohibitively complicated. Dorsey instead asked his singers to rely on feeling.<ref>Marovich p. 95.</ref>

{{quote box
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I think about all these blue-collar people who had to deal with Jim Crow, meager salaries, and yet the maid who cleaned up somebody else's house all week long, the porter, the chauffeur, the gardener, the cook, were nobody. They had to sit in the back of the bus, they were denied their rights, but when they walked into their church on Sunday morning and put on a robe and went down that aisle and stood on that choir stand, the maid became a coloratura, and when she stood before her church of five hundred to a thousand, two thousand people, she knew she was somebody. And I think the choir meant so much to those people because for a few hours on Sunday, they were royalty.  
| source = – Gospel singer [[Donald Vails]]<ref>Marovich, p. 96.</ref>
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While presiding over rehearsals, Dorsey was strict and businesslike. He demanded that members attend practice regularly and that they should live their lives by the same standards promoted in their songs. For women, that included not wearing make-up.<ref>Marovich, pp 90–95.</ref> Choruses were stocked primarily with women, often untrained singers with whom Dorsey worked personally, encouraging many women who had little to no participation in church before to become active. Similarly, the NCGCC in 1933 is described by Dorsey biographer Michael W. Harris as "a women's movement" as nine of the thirteen presiding officer positions were held by women.<ref>Harris, p. 266–269.</ref>{{efn|NCGCC annual meetings were also attended by members of the [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People]] (NAACP) and the National Association of Negro Musicians; the NCGCC sent letters that urged senators to vote for an anti-lynching bill in 1937.(Norton, Kay, "‘'es, [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.)}}

Due to Dorsey's influence, the definition of gospel music shifted away from sacred song compositions to religious music that causes a physical release of pain and suffering, particularly in black churches. He infused joy and optimism in his written music as he directed his choirs to do perform with uplifting fervor as they sang. The cathartic nature of gospel music became integral to the black experience in the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]], when hundreds of thousands of black Southerners moved to Northern cities like Detroit, Washington, D.C., and especially Chicago between 1919 and 1970. These migrants were refugees from poverty and the systemic racism endemic throughout the [[Jim Crow laws|Jim Crow South]]. They created enclaves within neighborhoods through church choirs, which doubled as social clubs, offering a sense of purpose and belonging.<ref>Marovich, pp. 2–4, 96.</ref>

Encountering a "golden age" between 1940 and 1960, gospel music introduced recordings and radio broadcasts featuring singers who had all been trained by Dorsey or one of his protégées. As Dorsey is remembered as the father of gospel music, other honorifics came from his choirs: Sallie Martin, considered the mother of gospel (although Willie Mae Ford Smith, also a Dorsey associate, has also been called this), Mahalia Jackson, the queen of gospel, and [[James Cleveland]], often named the king of gospel.<ref>Marovich, pp 1–2.</ref> In 1936, members of Dorsey's junior choir became the [[Roberta Martin Singers]], a successful recording group which set the standard for gospel ensembles, both for groups and individual [[Voice type|voice roles]] within vocal groups.<ref>Reagon, pp. 26–27.</ref> In Dorsey's wake, R&B artists [[Dinah Washington]], who was a member of the Sallie Martin Singers, [[Sam Cooke]], originally in the gospel band [[the Soul Stirrers]], [[Ray Charles]], [[Little Richard]], [[James Brown]], and [[the Coasters]] recorded both R&B and gospel songs, moving effortlessly between the two, as Dorsey did, and bringing elements of gospel to mainstream audiences.<ref name="lornell"/><ref>Ferris, pp. 108–109.</ref><ref>White, Armond, "[https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/soul-man/ Soul Man]" ''The Nation'', (July 31, 2003). Retrieved August 2020.</ref>

Despite racial segregation in churches and the music industry, Dorsey's music had widespread crossover appeal. Prominent hymnal publishers began including his compositions in the late 1930s, ensuring his music would be sung in white churches. His song "[[Peace in the Valley]]", written in 1937 originally for Mahalia Jackson, was recorded by, among others, [[Red Foley]] in 1951, and [[Elvis Presley]] in 1957, selling more than a million copies each. Foley's version has been entered into the [[National Recording Registry]] as a culturally significant recording worthy of preservation.<ref name="lornell"/><ref name="bennett ajc"/>

Notably, "Take My Hand, Precious Lord" was the favorite song of [[Martin Luther King Jr.]], who asked Dorsey to play it for him on the eve of [[Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.|his assassination]]. [[Mahalia Jackson]] sang at his funeral when King did not get to hear it. Anthony Heilbut writes that "the few days following his death, 'Precious Lord' seemed the truest song in America, the last poignant cry of nonviolence before a night of storm that shows no sign of ending".<ref>Heilbut, p. 31.</ref> Four years later, [[Aretha Franklin]] sang it at Jackson's funeral. Since its debut it has been translated into 50 languages.<ref name="wapo obit"/><ref name="bennett ajc"/>{{efn|Dorsey later stated that all the praise he received for this song never eclipsed his grief, saying, "None of it's ever been soothing to me, from that day to this day." Labowskie, Mark, "[https://www.popmatters.com/say-amen-somebody-1982-2495818722.html Say Amen, Somebody (1982)]", Pop Matters (March 11, 2007). Retrieved August 2020.}}

Chicago held its first gospel music festival as a tribute to Dorsey in 1985; it has taken place each year since then.<ref>Van Matre, Lynn, "Praises To Be For 'Father of Gospel'", ''The Chicago Tribune'', (June 13, 1985). p. 12.G.</ref><ref>Ben-Arnots, Zach, "[https://abc7chicago.com/gospel-music-chicago-thomas-dorsey/5433633/ Living Legends of Chicago Gospel Honor Tradition, Carry on Family Legacies]", ABC7Chicago.com (July 31, 2019). Retrieved August 2020.</ref> Though he never returned to his hometown, efforts to honor Dorsey in Villa Rica, Georgia, began a week after his death. Mount Prospect Baptist Church, where his father preached and Dorsey learned music at his mother's organ, was declared a historic site by the city, and a historical marker was placed at the location where his family's house once stood. The Thomas A. Dorsey Birthplace and Gospel Heritage Festival, established in 1994, remains active.<ref>"[https://villarica.org/pview.aspx?id=21417&catid=566 History of Villa Rica, Georgia]", City of Villa, Rica, Georgia website, Retrieved August 2020.</ref><ref>"[https://www.exploregeorgia.org/things-to-do/list/gospel-sacred-music Gospel and Sacred Music]", Explore Georgia website, Retrieved August 2020.</ref>

As of 2020, the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses has 50 chapters around the world.<ref>"[https://ncgccinc.org/history/ History]", National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses website, Retrieved August 2020.</ref>