Caption from poster__

 Thomas Dorsey

  "I had hope, faith, courage, aspiration and most

of all determination to accomplish something

 in life... I resolved to make a mark for myself."

 Thomas Dorsey "I had hope, faith, courage, aspiration and most
of all determination to accomplish something in life... I resolved
to make a mark for myself." Thomas Dorsey, on his attitude
after dropping out of school at the age of eleven During the early
1930s, Thomas Dorsey created gospel music the African American
religious music which married secular blues to a sacred text. Under
the name "Georgia Tom" he performed with blues artist Ma Rainey
 and her Wild Cats Jazz Band. He wrote over 400 compositions,
but it is for "Take My Hand, Precious Lord" that he is best known.
Dorsey was the son of a Baptist preacher; his mother was the
church organist. Throughout his early years he felt torn between
the sacred and the secular. At eleven, he left school to take a job
at a local vaudeville theater. Six years later, Dorsey left Atlanta for
Chicago. He was part of the Great Migration north. In Chicago,
Dorsey found success almost immediately. He was known as the
"whispering piano player," called to perform at after-hours parties
where the pianist had to play quietly enough to avoid drawing
police attention.  At twenty-one, his hectic and unhealthy schedule
led to a nervous breakdown. He convalesced back home in Atlanta.
There, his mother admonished him to stop playing the blues and
 serve the Lord.  He ignored her and returned to Chicago, playing
with Ma Rainey. He married his sweetheart, Nettie Harper. But in
1925, a second breakdown left Dorsey unable to play music.
After his recovery three years later, Dorsey committed himself to
composing sacred music. However, mainstream churches rejected
his songs. Then, in August 1932, Dorsey’s life was thrown into
crisis when his wife and son died during childbirth. In his grief,
he turned to the piano for comfort. The tune he wrote, ?Take My
Hand, Precious Lord,? came, he says, direct from God. Dorsey
co-founded the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses
in 1933. Six years later, he teamed with Mahalia Jackson, and the
team ushered in what was known as the ‘Golden Age of Gospel
Music.’ Dorsey himself became known as the father of gospel
music. He died in 1993.