SONG: Stand By Me (When the storms of life are raging)

Son of a slave father and free mother, Charles A.. Tindley (1851-1933) spent the years after the civil war teaching himself Greek and Hebrew and would go on to be the minister of one of the largest African American Methodist churches in America, rising from the position of sexton. In addition to being a community organizer and leader of protest marches, he is one of the founders of American Gospel Music and the author of dozens of hymns.