Charles Albert Tindley
American Methodist minister and gospel music composer (1851-1933)
Charles Albert Tindley (July 7, 1851 – July 26, 1933) was an African-American Methodist minister and gospel music composer. His composition "I'll Overcome Someday" is credited as the basis for the U.S. Civil Rights anthem "We Shall Overcome". Another of his hymns is "Take Your Burden to the Lord and Leave It There" (1916), as well as "What Are They Doing in Heaven?" (1901).
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.
Early life and education
Tindley was born in Berlin, Maryland, on July 7, 1851. He was born a free man prior to the American Civil War, but had a deep and intimate understanding of the system of slavery in the United States because his father was an enslaved man and because he himself had grown up around enslaved people. Tindley's status was based on antebellum slavery codes which determined that he was a free man because his mother was a free woman.
After the Civil War, he moved to Philadelphia, where he found employment as a hod carrier (brick carrier). He and his wife Daisy attended the Bainbridge St. Methodist Episcopal Church.
The public source identifies “Charles Albert Tindley” as american Methodist minister and gospel music composer (1851-1933). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Charles, Albert and Tindley.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Nov 29, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q1256750. VIAF identifies the subject as 278492834. The Library of Congress control number is n82037906. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1851, 1933, 1916 and 1901.
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This entry incorporates text from “Charles Albert Tindley” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.