We'll Understand It Better By and By by Bernice Johnson Reagon

Gospel choirs have proliferated in countries across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Since the 1970s, with the release of “Oh Happy Day” (1969) by the Edwin Hawkins Singers and the global popularity of the Hollywood film Sister Act, Gospel has become a worldwide phenomenon. His programs influenced the formation of many community gospel choirs throughout the country. They joined the gospel train to institutionalize this tradition within African American communities as did James Cleveland when he organized the Gospel Music Workshop in 1968 to preserve the gospel tradition and to feature new talent. In the 1930s, jubilee quartets that traditionally sang spirituals began to include Dorsey’s songs and their radio broadcasts spread the “good news.” By the end of the decade, several female gospel groups and male gospel quartets began forming, and larger choirs followed.

Gospel songwriters Lucie Campbell and William Herbert Brewster advanced the tradition in Memphis. Dorsey opened his own publishing house and local gospel songwriters Roberta Martin, Kenneth Morris, and Lillian Bowles became active in the publishing business. The migration of rural Blacks between 19 more than doubled its population of African Americans, and the spread of gospel music through the National Baptist Convention and the National Convention of Choirs and Choruses created a market for it. Chicago, with its recording and publishing companies, quickly grew as a center for gospel music.

We'll Understand It Better By and By by Bernice Johnson Reagon