From the congregations of small African American churches in Memphis, Philadelphia, and Chicago to the nationwide fans of the Golden Gate Quartet, Mahalia Jackson, Sam Cooke, Clara Ward, Edwin Hawkins, and others, gospel music has profoundly influenced American culture. Bringing together some of the most renowned scholars in the field, this book focuses on six pioneering gospel composers, analyzing the evolution of their music and showing its impact on African American.

Worship traditions and contemporary music. The volume opens with an overview of gospel music in African American social history, including the migrations to and consolidation of various urban communities. Six following sections each focus on a pivotal figure in the history of gospel: Charles Albert Tindley, the first prominent gospel hymn composer; Lucie Eddie Campbell, who was influential in setting the standards for performance of religious music in the African.

American Baptist church; Thomas Andrew Dorsey, the "father of gospel music" and founder of the Chicago school of gospel; William Herbert Brewster, Sr., the composer who gave gospel music its first million-dollar sellers; Roberta Martin, who developed the piano style of gospel accompaniment and the choral sound of the 1930s and 1940s; and Kenneth Morris, gospel music's most influential publisher, choral arranger, and composer and an innovator who introduced the electric.

Hammond organ into the African American church. "We'll Understand It Better By and By" includes substantial musical analyses and 49 complete piano-vocal scores. Drawing on primary research that includes interviews with composers, their families and associates, and gospel performers, the book chronicles the development of composed gospel songs and performance traditions that evolved within the African American community during the first half of the twentieth century.