The early 1930s was still a time of racial divides, and black composers often struggled to get their music published and publicized. Unfortunately for Dorsey, his efforts to peddle his own sheet music were unsuccessful. Using his background and musical ability, Dorsey joined forces with other African-American musicians of the time and began performing and writing his own songs. During his childhood, he was raised on his family’s values of music and religion, and he quickly became an accomplished blues pianist. Dorsey, affectionately known in gospel music circles as “Georgia Tom,” was born in 1899 to a Baptist preacher father and a music teacher mother. What Thomas Dorsey and his friends kept as the defining attributes of gospel music – the call-and-response format, ample room for improvisation, rhythm, frequent use of the flattened seventh and third in melodies – remain true even today.” – Robert Darden, People Get Ready! “Gospel is first and foremost a direct descendant of spirituals. The fundamental changes in style, intention, and functionality served to create both racial and geographical barriers between the two principal subgenres of gospel in the 1920s. Those parameters, more than musical style, framed the world of southern gospel' (Goff Jr., 724). 'Southern gospel artists and their fans became more fully committed to political and social action, ultimately responding to the vision pushed by evangelicals. Southern gospel was used to communicate political messages outside of an exclusively religious setting. In the south, white gospel gained increasing popularity as a social force. Gospel music was a form of worship and religious expression, but it also began to be used as fuel for the political and social debates and associations of the 20s. This northern gospel was evolving stylistically, incorporating jazz and blues into the traditional African spirituals. The strength of black gospel music, though it had originated primarily in the south, was now in the north, where racial tensions were weaker.

People Get Ready! by Robert Darden