ABSTRACT
Perhaps more than any other genre in the history of African American music, gospel music is replete with women who are highly respected icons in the fi eld. The fi rst million-selling gospel records were by Mahalia Jackson and Clara Ward; the art and craft of gospel piano were fashioned by Texas-born Arizona Dranes; Sallie Martin and Magnolia Lewis Butts were prominent in the founding of the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses in 1932, the fi rst organization created to promote and disseminate gospel music. Women have been and continue to be vocalists, composers, and choir directors of repute; they have been instrumentalists, owners of music publishing companies, and radio announcers. In the history of gospel music, women have been neither invisible nor silent. Furthermore, at least on the surface, they wielded formidable respect and power, comparable to if not exceeding that of their male counterparts.
