Open and affirming churches/religions of all types

[CherylNYC]

Originally Posted by FireSignFemme

...

One guitar player great with Baptist roots was Sister Rosetta Tharpe. She was born Rosetta Nubin in Cotton Plant, AK. Her mother was a preacher for the Church of God in Christ founded in 1894 by a black Baptist bishop named Charles Mason, who encouraged rhythmic musical expression, dancing in praise and allowing women to preach in church. Encouraged by her mother she began singing and playing the guitar as 'Little Rosetta Nubin' at the age of four and was cited as a musical prodigy*.Your post reminded me of her and I thought I'd post it for any Southern Baptists who might be out there.




*Source - compilation wikipedia and guitar world dot com

Thank you for posting this. I've loved Sister Rosetta Tharpe for decades. She's just now getting some revived interest with a documentary about her life and a PBS biography. I haven't seen either of them, so I don't know if they gloss over what historians have often described as her 'unconventional lifestyle'. That's usually code for gay. Sister R.T. was just as at-home in country juke joints and big city night clubs singing proto rock and R&B as she was at church singing gospel. When I heard Sister R.T's gospel recordings with Marie Knight I was sure they were more than just performing partners, and that was before I ever heard a peep about her 'unconventional lifestyle'. I have no historical evidence whatsoever about Marie Knight, by the way. That's just my hunch.