1619 - First Africans arrive in Virginia singing African music
1640-1680 - Large scale slave labor introduced in the British Caribbean
Mid-late 1700’s - The folk Negro spiritual emerges
1787 - The African Methodist Episcopal Church is founded
1865 - Slavery abolished by the 13th amendment
1871 - The arranged Negro spiritual created by the Fisk Jubilee Singers
1890-1920’s - Transitional/Early Gospel Music
Famous Name(s): Rev. Charles A. Tindley
Songs: “Beams of Heaven,” “I’ll Overcome Some Day” (which later becomes “We Shall Overcome,” the Civil Rights anthem)
1929-1940's - Traditional Gospel Music Emerges
Some Famous Names: The Reverend Thomas A. Dorsey, The Male Quartets: The Golden Gate Quartet, The Dixie Hummingbirds
Songs: “Precious Lord,” “Peace in the Valley,” “If We Never Needed the Lord Before,” “Milky White Way”
1945 -1960's - The Golden Age of Gospel Music
Some Famous Names: Mahalia Jackson, The Clara Ward Singers, Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Songs: “Move on up A Little Higher,” “Soon I Will Be Done,” “Surely, God Is Able,” “Packing Up,” “Up Above My Head,” “This Train”
Late 1960s-1980 - Contemporary Gospel and The Mass Choir Sound Explode
Some Famous Names: Andrae Crouch, Edwin Hawkins, Mattie Moss Clark, The Rev. Charles Nicks Jr. & St. James Adult Choir, The Harold Smith Majestics, The Rev. James Cleveland
Songs: “I’ll Be Thinking of You,” “Soon and Very Soon,” “Oh Happy Day,” “Wonderful,” “Climbing up the Mountain,” “Salvation Is Free,” “I Really Love the Lord,” “The Doxology (Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow),” “Peace Be Still”
1980’s to present - Urban Contemporary Gospel Music
Some Famous Names: The Clark Sisters, The Winans, BeBe and CeCe Winans, Kirk Franklin, Yolanda Adams, Donnie McClurkin, Commissioned, Witness, Vickie Winans, John P. Kee/New Life, Vanessa Bell Armstrong
Songs: “You Brought the Sunshine,” “The Question Is,” “Heaven,” “Stomp,” “Open My Heart,” “We Fall Down, “Ordinary Just Won’t Do,” “Standard,” “Shake Yourself Loose,” “Show Up,” “He Looked Beyond My Faults and Saw My Need”
1985 – Present - Praise and Worship Music
Some Famous Names: Min. Thomas Whitfield and the Whitfield Company, Fred Hammond, Israel and New Breed, ByronCage, Martha Munizzi, Shekinah Glory Ministry, J. Moss
Songs: “Precious Jesus,” “Let the Praise Begin,” Rejoice,” “The Presence of the Lord Is Here,” “Because of Who You Are,” “Praise Is What We Do,” “We Must Praise”
1987 – Present - Christian Rap / Holy Hip Hop Some Famous Names: The Cross Movement, Da Truth, Lecrae, Trip Lee
Songs: “Cry No More,” “That Great Day,” “Jesus Muzik,” “Invasion (Hero)”
