Chicago Gospel Music Festival

CTL-E-0615 · Event · other · 1985

PROVISIONAL evidence grade of this record

The Chicago Gospel Music Festival began in 1985 as the Dorsey Gospel Festival at the South Shore Cultural Center, supported by Mayor Harold Washington's Neighborhood Festival Program.

Notes

Merged into canonical KG 2026-10-03 from MUSIC-001; source entity IDs: CTL-DR-MUSIC-001:music-001-node-068; source research type(s): event. Description completed 2026-10-03 from the source research record (claims) during the KG completion pass.

Sources

https://southsidedrivemag.com/my-journey-to-founding-the-chicago-gospel-music-festival-by-sasha-doltonn/ (primary source)
https://www.choosechicago.com/articles/chicago-music/your-guide-to-gospel-music-in-chicago/

Record CTL-E-0615 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · evidence grade: PROVISIONAL · 2 sources (1 primary) · CTL research: MUSIC-001.
Directory: all entity records · the knowledge graph

Cite this record

Cite as: CultureTechLens, “Chicago Gospel Music Festival (CTL-E-0615),” CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph, October 2026. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-0615/

Chicago: CultureTechLens. “Chicago Gospel Music Festival (CTL-E-0615).” CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph. Chicago, IL: CultureTechLens, 2026. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-0615/
APA: CultureTechLens. (2026). Chicago Gospel Music Festival (CTL-E-0615) [Entity record]. CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-0615/
MLA: CultureTechLens. “Chicago Gospel Music Festival (CTL-E-0615).” CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph, 2026, https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-0615/

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From the Archive

The archive in pictures

Black Chicago’s musical record, kept frame by frame. Photographs from the CultureTechLens research record — rights-cleared, credited, and cited like everything else here.

Chuck Berry, publicity photo, 1957Photo: Universal Attractions (publicity photo), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

In a booth at a South Side tavern, Chicago, 1941Photo: Russell Lee, FSA-OWI, Public Domain, via Library of Congress

Musicians performing in a South Side tavern, Chicago, 1941Photo: Russell Lee, FSA-OWI, Public Domain, via Library of Congress

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