Join Dr. Chris Stacey for a presentation on Chicago's Gospel Music Becomes A Cultural Force - 1939-1963. This presentation opens with Mahalia Jackson’s role in the 1963 boycott of Chicago’s Public Schools and seeks to answer: “How did Chicago’s gospel movement grow from two innovative gospel choirs in 1937 to a mainstream cultural and political force by 1963?” We will discuss how the Bronzeville gospel community gained control over the composition, production, and distribution of gospel music. Themes include the rise of religious radio broadcasting, the role of song battles, sexuality in the gospel world, the emergence of Chicago gospel on television, and the changing sound of gospel music – the merging of sacred and secular practices – from the late 1930s through the early 1960s.