Sallie Martin

Sallie Martin & Thomas Andrew Dorsey
in his studio, c. 1935.
Courtesy Kathryn Dorsey and family.

Sallie Martin was born in rural Georgia and moved to Chicago in 1927. She rose to prominence as an associate of Thomas A. Dorsey and the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses.

In 1940, Martin and Kenneth Morris formed Martin and Morris Music, Inc. Martin and Morris Music published a wide array of gospel artists and were the first gospel publishing house to promote the compositions of artists other than themselves. Other older publishing businesses, such as the Bowles House of Music, branched out into gospel as the market developed.

Martin and Morris Publishing House on Chicago's South Side
4312 South Indiana Avenue in 1940.
Courtesy National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.