SubscribeChicago’s planned gospel museum sparks memories
Gospel music is in my DNA. I grew up hearing it in my childhood church in Savannah and even sang some of the songs of the day while in the junior choir. One of the songs that I took the lead on was “In Times Like These.” The lyrics of that song still live in me.
“In times like these, you need a Savior
In times like these you need an anchor
Be very sure, be very sure
Your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock”
I don’t sing well, can’t carry a tune in a bucket; anyone standing near me in church or at my kitchen sink will tell you that. But I love to sing and sometimes a song will just bubble up. Just last night, my brother George, who came over for dinner and Scrabble while he was in town for a meeting, cracked: “You sang like your mama, and she couldn’t sing either.”
My dad could sing, though. He enjoyed crooning in the choir at Thankful Baptist Church, where he was a deacon for most of my childhood, and at Solomon Temple Church of God in Christ, the church my mother and most of my siblings attended and ythat he joined when I left home to go to college.
After his death about 18 years ago, I discovered a sheaf of sheet music that he treasured, all hymns of the church, including music penned by Thomas A. Dorsey. I now have it tucked away somewhere, and the recent news that Chicago will soon get a long-planned-for gospel museum brought it back to mind.
Dorsey, who is known as the father of gospel music, will be among the gospel icons honored in the town where he penned most of his music – gospel and blues. A new museum dedicated to gospel music is slated to open later this year in Chicago, which calls itself the birthplace of gospel music.
It has been a difficult stretch for Rev. Stanley Keeble, who tried for years to honor the gospel heritage of the Windy City, but the Chicago Gospel Music Heritage Museum finally has found a home in the former parsonage of the Metropolitan Apostolic Community Church on South King Drive.
Marian Anderson, Mahalia Jackson and the Roberta Martin Singers performed in the church, which has been rooted in the African American community since 1889. Poet Gwendolyn Brooks and journalist Ida B. Wells attended the church, which was designated a Chicago Landmark in 2007.
“It’s enormously important to have a museum like this in Chicago. Gospel music is part of the faith history of African Americans, as is how they shared that music with all people,” said the Rev. Leon D. Finney, pastor of Metropolitan Church, seen in front of the parsonage in this Chicago Sun-Times photo.
Other cities also have museums that honor gospel music, including Detroit, which has the virtual International Gospel Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
I enjoyed my trips to Chicago in the past. I’ll be sure to put the gospel museum on my itinerary the next time I go.
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