Gospel Music in the Los Angeles Black Community: A Historical Overview

Abstract

This study examines the history of gospel music in the Los Angeles black community from 1930 to 1970. While there is scant mention of Los Angeles in some publications on gospel music (Boyer 1964; Heilbut 1975; Broughton 1985), most of the literature has been concerned with the development of the genre as a style without much reference to locale except to acknowledge that Chicago is considered the birthplace of gospel. The few investigators who have chosen to use a specific region as a focus for their studies have concentrated on developments in the South (Cogdell 1972; DjeDje 1978; Downey 1979; Starks 1980; Dargan 1982; Stanley 1982, Lorell 1983 and 1988; and Boyer 1988b), the Northeast (Boyer 1973; Kelly 1968; and Williams-Jones 1987), and the Midwest (Waterman 1951; Jackson and Jones 1987). The articles by DjeDje (1983 and 1986) that concern the use of gospel music in Catholic churches in Los Angeles are an exception to the general trend. Most historical overviews on black American music, in general, and gospel music, in particular, also give much attention to the Midwest, because a large majority of the early performers were located in Chicago. In analyzing the history of gospel music in Los Angeles, a number of questions need to be raised. Who were some of the significant figures that caused the tradition to evolve as it has? In what way has gospel music from the Midwest, Northeast, and South made an impact on that in the West? What were the social and musical dynamics that contributed to the creation and expansion of gospel music in the city? Although the presence of blacks in the area now known as Los Angeles dates from the late 1700s, a substantial black community in Los Angeles did not come into existence until the 1800s, which coincides with