Singers pay tribute at gospel music’s birthplace

From the Associated Press – August 4, 2008

CHICAGO (AP) — A landmark church known as the birthplace of gospel music has opened its doors for the first time since a fire two years ago ravaged the structure on the city’s South Side.

The historic Pilgrim Baptist Church played host Sunday to members of the National Convention of Gospel Choirs in Chicago for their annual convention. The group toured the salvaged space of the church.

The building was designed in the late 1800s by the famous architectural firm headed by Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler.

Mahalia Jackson, Sallie Martin, James Cleveland, and the Staples Singers are among those who have sung at the church.

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TBGB:

The National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses is celebrating its Diamond Anniversary. It was organized in Chicago in 1933 and held its first convention at Pilgrim Baptist Church August 30 – September 1.

The first-ever event included a pre-convention musicale and a dedicatory sermon delivered by Pilgrim’s Rev. J.C. Austin. Chicago’s most prominent African American choral conductor, Professor J. Wesley Jones, was on hand to commend the singers and offer pointers. Featured soloists included Lawrence Evans, Dr. Ida Mae Myller, and of course plenty of gospel choral singing by ensembles directed by Prof. Thomas A. Dorsey, Magnolia N. Lewis-Butts, and delegates from other midwestern cities.

The photo above is from that first gathering at Pilgrim Baptist Church in 1933. Courtesy: NCGCC Diamond Anniversary Program.

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Back to the Diamond Anniversary Program: On Tuesday, August 5, the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses (NCGCC) honored several gospel legends, a number of them from Chicago. Honorees included Rev. Dr. Clay Evans, the Barrett Sisters, Shirley Caesar, Dr. Charles Hayes (Cosmopolitan Church of Prayer Choir), Dr. Teresa Hairston, the late Charles Fold, Dr. Bobby Jones, Eugene Smith (Roberta Martin Singers), Kenneth Woods, Jr. (Sallie Martin Singers, Knowles & Jackson Sextet), Donald Lawrence, Pamela Morris, Dorothy Norwood, Nash Shaffer, Albertina Walker, and Maceo Woods.

Congratulations to all of the honorees!