History

Who: The history of gospel music started with a musician named Thomas Dorsey way back in the 1920s. He started a gospel band at his local church in Brooklyn, and he would use traditional means to play his songs, with a slight hint of jazz in them. He was considered the father of the gospel. 

When: Gospel music was born from the traditional hymns and spiritual songs sung by Africans during the slave trade era. They sang these songs to help them cope with being kidnapped and to give them some hope that one day they would be free.  

Where: Gospel music originated in the American South and is still primarily an American genre, although it has spread to other countries as well. It combines Christian lyrics, often taken from the Methodist hymnal, with American musical forms including jazz, blues, ragtime, and bluegrass. This music has its roots in the spirituals composed and sung by African slaves in the 18th and 19th centuries, but it has evolved and changed through the years. It is most recognized today as the form it first took in the 1920s when Sanctified churches encouraged joyful personal expression of religious faith. ( Sources: MusicExpert.org)