“When the Fire Fell”

This chapter examines the sanctified churches' contribution to the development of Chicago gospel music. Female evangelist Mattie L. Thornton is considered the organizer of Chicago's first sanctified church, the Holy Nazarene Tabernacle Apostolic Church, around 1908. By 1919, about twenty Holiness churches had been established throughout the city. This chapter first considers Holiness and Pentecostal movements with sanctified denominations that played significant roles in planting the seeds of gospel music in Chicago, including the Church of God in Christ (COGIC). It then profiles two leaders in the COGIC church community whose progeny would become important figures in gospel music: Bishop William Roberts and Elder Eleazar Lenox. It also explores how gospel music and sermon recordings became a way for sanctified churches to spread their message beyond the confines of the church walls, focusing on such artists as Arizona Dranes and preachers like Rev. William Arthur White, Rev. Ford Washington McGee, Rev. D. C. Rice, and Rev. Leora Ross.