Charles Tindley

Rev. Dr. Charles Albert Tindley (July 7, 1851, Berlin, Maryland, USA – July 26, 1933) was an American Methodist minister and gospel music composer. Often referred to as "The Prince of Preachers", he educated himself, became a minister and founded one of the largest Methodist congregations serving the African-American community on the East Coast of the United States. Tindley's father was a slave, but his mother was free. Tindley himself was thus considered to be free, but even so he grew up among slaves. After the Civil War, he moved to Philadelphia, where he found employment as a hod carrier. He and his wife Daisy attended the Bainbridge St. Methodist Episcopal Church. Charles later became the sexton, a job with no salary. Never able...