Los Angeles, Gospel In

During the 1930s, gospel was not wholeheartedly accepted by the Los Angeles black populace, although from 1906 to 1909 the city had been home to the Azusa Street Revival that scholars believe to be the genesis of Pentecostalism. Most gospel performances during the early period occurred when traveling musicians from the Midwest and South visited the city. After gospel pioneers from Chicago—Sallie Martin (1896–1988) and Thomas Dorsey (1899–1993)—frequented churches in both black and white neighborhoods,...