[If the Savior wants somebody just to fill a humble place]

Composer: Charles A. Tindley

Charles Albert Tindley was born in Berlin, Maryland, July 7, 1851; son of Charles and Hester Tindley. His father was a slave, and his mother was free. Hester died when he was very young; he was taken in my his mother’s sister Caroline Miller Robbins in order to keep his freedom. It seems that he was expected to work to help the family. In his Book of Sermons (1932), he speaks of being “hired out” as a young boy, “wherever father could place me.” He married Daisy Henry when he was seventeen. Together they had eight children, some of whom would later assist him with the publication of his hymns. Tindley was largely self-taught throughout his lifetime. He learned to read mostly on his own. After he and Daisy moved to Philadelphia… Go to person page >

Arranger: Francis A. Clark

F. A. Clark (Francis A.) was a respected Black musician and composer from Philadelphia. Dianne Shapiro, from "Charles Albert Tindley: Progenitor of Black-American Gospel Music," by Horace Clarence Boyer, in The Black Perspective in Music Vol. 11, No. 2 (Autumn, 1983), pp. 103-132 (retrieved online from JSTOR, 8/27/2020) Go to person page >