Charles Albert Tindley

7 July 1859—26 July 1933

CHARLES ALBERT TINDLEY (b. Berlin, Md., July 7, 1859; d. Philadelphia, Pa., July 26, 1933), a Methodist preacher, was the son of slave parents, Charles and Esther Tindley. His mother died when he was four years old, and the following year he was separated from his father. By his own determination he learned to read and write when he was seventeen. Shortly afterward, he moved to Philadelphia, worked as a hod carrier, was janitor of a small church, and attended night school. He took a correspondence course from the Boston School of Theology.

Ordained to the Methodist ministry, he joined the Delaware Annual Conference in 1885 and served the following charges: South Wilmington, Delaware, 1885–86; Cape May, New Jersey, 1886–87; Odessa, Delaware, 1887–89; Pocomoke Circuit, Maryland, 1889–92; Fairmount, Maryland, 1892–95; Ezion Delaware, 1895–97; Wilmington, Delaware, 1897–99; presiding elder of the Wilmington District, 1899–1902.

In 1902, he became pastor of the [Bainbridge Street Methodist Church] of Philadelphia, the church where he had once been janitor. So successful was his leadership that, in 1907, a new building was needed for the growing congregation [so it purchased the former Westminster Presbyterian Church on South Broad Street and rebranded as Calvary Methodist Episcopal Church, but changed its name again to East Calvary Methodist in 1914 to solve a conflict with another church of the same name]. A new building was erected at Broad and Fitzwater Streets in 1924, and in spite of his protests, the church was renamed the Tindley Temple Methodist Church. Here he preached to great throngs of people. Both blacks and whites were represented in the leadership of the church, along with Italians, Jews, Germans, Norwegians, Mexicans, and Danes.

He wrote both words and music for many gospel songs, among the most popular of which are “Nothing between,” “Leave It There,” “I Have Found at Last a Savior,” “Stand by Me,” and “We’ll Understand it Better By and By.” It was Tindley’s song “I’ll Overcome Some Day,” written in 1901, that served as a basis—more in spirit and thought than in actual words or melody—for “We Shall Overcome,” a theme song of the civil rights movement.

by William J. Reynolds
Hymns of Our Faith (1964)

Featured Hymns:

The storm is passing over
We’ll understand it better by and by

Collections of Hymns:

Soul Echoes No. 1 (1905)
Soul Echoes No. 2 (1909): HathiTrust
New Songs of Paradise (1916): HathiTrust
New Songs of Paradise No. 4 (1923): WorldCat
New Songs of Paradise No. 5 (1934): PDF
New Songs of Paradise No. 6 (1941): PDF

Archives & Manuscripts:

Tindley Temple United Methodist Church Records, Charles Albert Tindley Institute (Philadelphia, PA): http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/d/pacscl/SMREP_CATI01

Related Resources:

E.F. Tindley, The Prince of Colored Preachers: The Remarkable Story of Charles Albert Tindley of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Flint, MI: Schultz Print. Co., 1942): WorldCat

William J. Reynolds, “Charles Albert Tindley,” Hymns of Our Faith (Nashville: Broadman, 1964), pp. 423–424.

Ralph H. Jones, Charles Albert Tindley: Prince of Preachers (Nashville: Abingdon, 1982): WorldCat

Eileen Southern, “Charles Albert Tindley,” Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African Musicians (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1982), p. 376.

Bernice Johnson Reagon, “Searching for Tindley,” We'll Understand It Better By and By (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian, 1992), pp. 37–52: WorldCat

Horace Clarence Boyer, “Charles Albert Tindley, progenitor of African American gospel music,” We'll Understand It Better By and By (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian, 1992), pp. 53–78: WorldCat

S.T. Kimbrough, Jr. & Carlton R. Young, eds., Beams of Heaven: Hymns of Charles Albert Tindley (NY: United Methodist Church, 2006): WorldCat

S.T. Kimbrough Jr., “The lyrical theology of Charles A. Tindley: Justice come of age,” Readings in African American Church Music and Worship (Chicago: GIA, 2014), pp. 201–226.

Bernice Johnson Reagon, et al., “The Song Ministry of Charles A. Tindley,” Wade in the Water, Ep. 13 (National Public Radio, 20 June 2019): NPR

Rafael Marquis Griffin, An Examination of the Theological and Social Themes Observed in the Hymns of Charles Albert Tindley, dissertation (New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 2020).

Additional Links:

Tindley Temple Methodist Church: https://www.tindleytemple.net/

Charles Albert Tindley, Hymnary.org:
https://hymnary.org/person/Tindley_CA

J.R. Watson & Carlton Young, “Charles Albert Tindley,” Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology:
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/c/charles-albert-tindley

William H. Brackney, “Charles Albert Tindley,” American National Biography:
https://doi.org/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.0802240

DR. C.A. TINDLEY, NOTED COLORED PREACHER, DEAD
Pastor of Mt. Joy, Ezion Churches, Wilmington, in Early Ministry
NATIONALLY KNOWN AS RELIGIOUS ORATOR

The Rev. Charles A. Tindley, D.D., pastor of Tindley Temple, Philadelphia, one of the largest Negro congregations in the Methodist Episcopal Church, one of the foremost colored orators in the country, and the author of a number of hymns, died last night in the Frederick Douglass Memorial Hospital in Philadelphia. He had been ill since July 18 with an infection which threatened the loss of his left foot.

Dr. Tindley, who was a member of the Delaware Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, frequently preached at Brandywine Summit Camp. In 1885 he was pastor of Mt. Joy M. E. Church, this city, and in 1895 was pastor of Ezion Church here, serving there for two years. He then was named superintendent of the Wilmington District of the Delaware Conference, continuing for three years. He was called to the pastorate of the Bainbridge Street M. E. Church, Philadelphia. Dr. Tindley served the Tindley Temple for 32 years. He was a member of the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church for seven consecutive terms.

Dr. Tindley was the pastor of the largest Negro congregation in the United States, one which frequently overflowed services at the church. It numbered more than 10,000 members. He was the author of many hymns, and many of his lectures were delivered to audiences not of his race.

Born at Berlin, Md., July 7, 1859, of free parents, Dr. Tindley said of himself that he never saw a book until he was 17. At the age of 18 he was walking seven miles to and from school, but soon had to return to work. A few years later, as a hod carrier in Philadelphia and sexton of the church in which he later preached, he attended night school and passed his examination for the ministry. Dr. Tindley took a correspondence course from Boston Theological School, studied Greek and Hebrew under private teachers and elocution from a tutor. In 1911 Bennett College awarded the degree of doctor of divinity to him. Tindley Temple was the former Calvary Methodist Episcopal Church, whose congregation was of the Northern Methodist faith and which at the beginning of his pastorate had, it was said, few more than 300 members.

Dr. Tindley married Miss Jennie Cotton, of Philadelphia, who survives. Their home is at 1509 Christian street, that city. Of the hymns he wrote, his favorite was “I Have Found at Last a Saviour.” Others of which he was the author were “I’ll Overcome Some Day,” “We’ll Understand It Better By and By,” “Go Wash in That Beautiful Stream,” and “What Are They Doing in Heaven Today?” Assisted by the Rev. Andrew J. Sellars, former Pullman porter and his assistant pastor, Dr. Tindley supervised the feeding of more than 500 persons daily at Tindley Temple during the period of unemployment.

—Evening Journal (Wilmington, DE), 27 July 1933, p. 28

REV. CHARLES A. TINDLEY, who was the founder and pastor of the noted Tindley Temple in Philadelphia, died on [Thursday, July 26,] 1933, after a continuous service of thirty-two years. More than 8000 people Sunday passed the bier of Rev. Charles A. Tindley. The body of the pastor was on view in Tindley Temple, the church that he founded and of which he was pastor, at Broad Street, near Fitzwater.

It was a part of Dr. Tindley’s plan to preach to at least three congregations every Sunday morning. When the temple was filled he would deliver the sermon, and dismiss the congregation. Then fill the church again and preach the second sermon, and sometimes even the third sermon was necessary.

Mourners for the Methodist Episcopal clergyman were lined up three deep for two blocks in order to get a last glimpse of the man who did much to elevate the Negro in religious and civic life during his career of 32 years in Philadelphia. Thirty-two hundred people filed into the church Sunday to hear Rev. David Henry, superintendent of the Philadelphia district of the Methodist Episcopal Church, pay homage to Tindley. “This demonstration alone” Rev. Henry told the congregation, “will not show your love for Dr. Tindley and your appreciation of him. You must carry out his teachings and the program he has been following for the past 32 years.” Five of Dr. Tindley’s hymns were sung during the morning services including, “Nothing Between My Soul and Saviour,” “I Will Go If My Father Holds My Hand,” and “Here Am I, Send Me.”

The Southernairs, Negro quartet which has been singing over a nation-wide hookup over the air for the last three years, dedicated their broadcast from New York Sunday to the beloved pastor. All their musical numbers were hymns written by Dr. Tindley and included “Lord, Remember Me.” They also offered a prayer for him over the air.

—The Clarion Democrat (Clarion, PA), 3 Aug. 1933, p. 2