Reverend J. Gordon McPherson and the Shiloh Baptist Church choir, Sacramento, 1880-1910

Title: Reverend J. Gordon McPherson and the Shiloh Baptist Church choir, Sacramento, 1880-1910
Alternative title: Churches in Sacramento
Date Created: [1880-1910]
Date: 1880/1910
Collection: Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections

Description: Shiloh Baptist Church was the second church in Sacramento to be founded and organized by and for African-Americans in 1856. When the church observed its 110th Anniversary in 1966, congratulatory messages were received from the following government officials, including President Lyndon Johnson.
Studio portrait of Reverend J. Gordon McPherson with members of the choir of Shiloh Baptist Church, including Lucy Ray (seated, left), Maude Ray (seated, right), and Mae Russell (standing, right), with a landscape backdrop behind them.
Reverend J. Gordon McPherson (1869-1936), known as "Black Billy Sunday," was the an evangelistic preacher in the West, one-time pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church, and founder of Sacramento's first black newspaper: The Forum. McPherson lived in New Orleans at various points in his life, where he died in April 1936.
Caption: Written on back of photo: Rev. McPherson shown with part of choir at Shiloh Baptist Church, Sacramento, Calif. Seated from left: Lucy Ray, Rev. McPherson, and Maud Ray. Standing from left ?________, ?_______, Mae Russell.

Genre: photographs
Names: Simmons, Maude Ray, 1879-1943
McPherson, J. Gordon
Russell, Mae
Shiloh Baptist Church (Sacramento, Calif.)
Hundley, Lucy Ray, b. 1870
Subject Geographic: Sacramento (Calif.)
Resource type: still image
Subjects: African American clergy
African American churches
African American choirs