Q 01/05

Which 'father of gospel music' wrote 'Take My Hand, Precious Lord' and 'Peace in the Valley'?

A) James Cleveland

B) Thomas A. Dorsey

C) Andrae Crouch

D) Charles Tindley

Answer · why

B) Thomas A. Dorsey

He wrote about 3,000 songs in all, a third of them gospel, after years playing blues piano as 'Georgia Tom'.

Q 02/05

Dorsey wrote 'Take My Hand, Precious Lord' in 1932 after which personal tragedy?

A) He lost his eyesight to illness

B) His church burned to the ground

C) His publishing company failed

D) His wife and infant son died

Answer · why

D) His wife and infant son died

Nettie Dorsey died in childbirth and the baby followed 24 hours later, the same week Dorsey co-founded what became the National Convention of Gospel C...

Q 03/05

Before turning to gospel, Dorsey toured as pianist for which blues singer?

A) Bessie Smith

B) Mamie Smith

C) Ma Rainey

D) Ethel Waters

Answer · why

C) Ma Rainey

Billed as 'Georgia Tom', he then cut hokum records with guitarist Tampa Red before his spiritual awakening.

Q 04/05

Dorsey served as music director of which Chicago congregation for 50 years?

A) Ebenezer Baptist Church

B) Greater Salem Baptist Church

C) Olivet Baptist Church

D) Pilgrim Baptist Church

Answer · why

D) Pilgrim Baptist Church

He introduced improvisation, clapping and shouting to services at a time when they were widely condemned as unrefined.

Q 05/05

Mahalia Jackson sang 'Take My Hand, Precious Lord' at whose funeral in April 1968?

A) Robert F. Kennedy

B) Ralph Abernathy

C) Martin Luther King Jr.

D) Medgar Wiley Evers

Answer · why

C) Martin Luther King Jr.

His last words before he was shot were a request that Ben Branch play it at that night's meeting.