Today in African American History, July, 01

On July 1 in Black History...

In 1877, Benjamin O. Davis Sr., the first modern American Black General was born.
In 1888, Ben Taylor was born on this date in 1888. He was an African-American baseball player of the Negro Leagues. Ben Taylor played the game like few others could!
In 1893, Walter Francis White was born on this date in 1893. He was an African-American activist and administrator and NAACP guide during the 20th Century.
In 1910, the first classes commenced at North Carolina Central University (NCCU).

Thomas Dorsey

In 1899, Thomas Dorsey was born.  Dorsey was an American pianist, arranger and composer, known as the "Father of Gospel Music."  was at one time so closely associated with the field that songs written in the new style were sometimes known as "dorseys."Earlier in his life he was a leading blues pianist known as Georgia Tom.  As formulated by Dorsey, gospel music combines Christian praise with the rhythms of jazz and the blues. His conception also deviates from what had been, to that time, standard hymnal practice by referring explicitly to the self, and the self's relation to faith and God, rather than the individual subsumed into the group via belief.
Dorsey, who was born in Villa Rica, Georgia, was the music director at Pilgrim Baptist Church in Chicago from 1932 until the late 1970s. His best known composition, "Take My Hand, Precious Lord", was performed by Mahalia Jackson and was a favorite of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.. Another composition, "Peace in the Valley", was a hit for Red Foley in 1951 and has been performed by dozens of other artists, including Queen of Gospel Albertina Walker, Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash. Dorsey died in Chicago, aged 93.
In 2002, the Library of Congress honored his album Precious Lord: New Recordings of the Great Songs of Thomas A. Dorsey (1973), by adding it to the United States National Recording Registry

http://www.dovesong.com/Positive_music/archives/gospel/Dorsey.asp