Shropshire, Louise

Louise Shropshire was born Louise Jarrett on February 15, 1913 in Coffee County, Alabama to a family of sharecroppers. Her grandparents had been slaves. In 1917, her family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. Louise married Robert Shropshire Sr. who was a bail bondsman.

Shropshire was a choral director and composer of religious hymns. While attending the 1935 National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses in Cincinnati, she was discovered by Reverend Thomas A. Dorsey. Shropshire went on to publish several gospel compositions and co-wrote some with Rev. Dorsey. Her compositions include: I Know Jesus Pilots Me, Are you Worthy to Take Communion, Come on, Jesus Will Save You Right Now, Crucified for Me, and His Precious Blood . The song, If My Jesus Wills, which she wrote sometime in the 1930s or early 1940s is argued to be the base of the Civil Rights Movement hymn, We Shall Overcome .

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