A Sweet Legacy of Justice & Music
The Honorable Bishop C.M. “Sweet Daddy” Grace, Bishop Clarence M Bailey, and the Deep Legacy of the United House of Prayer for All People
Photo by Ángel L. Martínez
In November 2023, the same weekend of traveling to the annual National Day of Mourning (hekd every last Thursday of November) in Patuxet, Wampanoag Territory (Plymouth, Massachusetts), I was part of a voyage to another place.
Two days later came a voyage to Pine Grove Cemetery in New Bedford, Massachusetts, to another place and another a powerful story: the resting place of Charles Manuel “Sweet Daddy” Grace (ca. 1881-1960) founder and first bishop of The .United House of Prayer for All People of the Church on the Rock of the Apostolic Faith,
The gravesite turned out to be rather easy to find, as a life-size statue of him adorns the tomb where Grace is buried alongside several family members, migrants and their descendants of Cape Verde, in his lifetime a Portuguese colony off the coast of West Africa. (He changed his name from Marcelino Manoel da Graça, and a large white stone inscribed with the original family surname is set prominently near the monument.)
Grace, by the way, unlike most other preachers, did not shy away from the “Father” appellation, which morphed into “Sweet Daddy” for himself and his successors.
Of course, soon after this voyage, I searched for the website of the United House of Prayer. Unfortunately, it was there and then when I found out that Grace’s third successor, Bishop Clarence M. Bailey, had passed during the previous summer.
This was disappointing, because I attempt to keep track of news of this sort. For news about the Black church, the best sources are either their respective websites or, more likely, Black media, especially what is called now legacy media.
To all US-based independent media producers, readers and listeners: keep in mind that legacy media includes platforms for stories that are told and have yet to be told primarily by Black, Latin, Caribbean, Indigenous and Asian news sources.
Before I continue, those of you familiar with my work may wonder why I write here about a the passing of a church leader, moreso after I paid my respects to another. What, you may wonder, relevance have they in talking about art and liberation? Again, these are based in differences between voices of the political and cultural mainstream (and even those critical of them) and voices of nationally oppressed peoples.
I write because there is more to the story behind the passing of a leader of a particular religious organization. And for those of you here for the music, you won’t leave unfulfilled. Feel free, then, to skip to the end. If you do, be aware that there is rich context that explains the music.
In North America and the Caribbean, the most fascinating studies of Black religion and spirituality, including Black atheism and agnosticism, have long been about those outside the religious mainstream.
The United House of Prayer for All People has had many contemporaries in other movements that either formed outside of white organizations or, if multiracial, has had Black origins. Collectively, they have been compelling subject matter.
Part of the reason why they are usually off the mainstream radar, even among political activists, is because many of these groups hold beliefs that are not found in mainline Protestant or, generally, Western Christian traditions. These include, and this list is not exhaustive, the Moorish American Science Temple founded by Noble Drew Ali, Father Divine’s Peace Mission Movement, the Nation of Islam and many organizations and movements (including Muslim Mosque organized by Malcolm X [Al Hajj Malik Shabazz]) that had their origins in the teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, the African Orthodox Church (founded under the auspices of Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association, famous for its St. John Coltrane Church in San Francisco), and the former Christ United Church of Rev. Dr. Frederick Eikerenkoetter (Reverend Ike, whose Upper Manhattan cathedral doubles to this day as the legendary concert venue United Palace), and spirituality based in the Khemetic (ancient Egyptian) tradition.
It is a reminder of Black migrations of which the Southern U.S. is but one area of origin.
Grace is also a fascinating case study for migration studies, specifically of Cape Verdeans in New England and recent African migrants generally, and the breadth of Blackness that changed because of post-1865 migrations. Any talk of racial reckoning would be incomplete without acknowledgement of these legacies which include Caribbean, Creole, and Garifuna, populations.
United House of Prayer has a history of practicing economic justice.
Grace began the tradition of using donations to the church from followers to build housing for many of them. The United House of Prayer became known for buying significant plots of land nearby for this purpose. Further, cheap food is frequently served in their structures, for example, Saints’ Paradise Kitchen in their headquarters, an ornate structure at 601 M Street NW, Washington, DC, which is known as God’s White House. Frankly, the vibe is infinitely more preferable to that other White House!
From its inception to the present day, the Church’s musical tradition of trombone-oriented shout bands is legendary.
Music in the Pentecostal tradition, from which Grace derived his theology, with its intricate focus on the steel guitar, is as radically different from gospel music as is, for example, sacred harp. Given the centrality of the trombone, similar practices of which are usually termed as a trombone choir, the music for United House of Prayer’s services, concerts, and parades reminiscent of New Orleans and other Afro-Caribbean styles, is infectiously, well, brassy and buttressed by drum kits and other amplified instruments.
Given the uniqueness of shout band tradition, the church’s large pool of talent merited a generous sampler by Smithsonian Folkways, Saints' Paradise: Trombone Shout Bands from the United House of Prayer.
Unfortunately, the full songs are on CD only but you can read and/or download the liner notes for a deeper understanding of this ear-catching tradition.
https://folkways-media.si.edu/docs/folkways/artwork/SFW40117.pdf
You can also do a search for the bands represented in this broad-reaching collection: Madison’s Lively Stones, McCullough Sons of Thunder, Happyland Band, Madison Prayer Band, Clouds of Heaven, and Kings of Harmony. (The surnames are of those who succeeded Grace as “Sweet Daddy.”) Note the venues of sone of the recordings, such as Carnegie Hall abd Wolf Trap.
What is interesting about the sampler is that only some of the prominent ensembles are included. Note that there is hardly, if at all, a congregation that does not have at least one combo.
And what I wish to say in conclusion is: Peace, Bishop Bailey, for continuing on the work of “Sweet Daddy “ Grace, to whom I say “Peace and blessings” and may what you built keep on.
𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐄𝐒 𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐔𝐄𝐋 "𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐓 𝐃𝐀𝐃𝐃𝐘 𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐄" 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐭-𝐬𝐨-𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐡 𝐃𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐲 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞....𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐔𝐄𝐋 (𝐰𝐞 𝐛𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐦 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬) 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐚 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐢/𝐋𝐨𝐮𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐚 𝐃𝐞𝐥𝐭𝐚. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐔𝐍𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐏𝐑𝐀𝐘𝐄𝐑 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐭 𝐋𝐨𝐮𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐖𝐀𝐘 𝐁𝐋𝐕𝐃 𝐈 𝐡𝐢𝐭 𝐮𝐩 𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐧 𝐝𝐞𝐧....