Born in Villa Rica, Georgia in 1899, Thomas Dorsey grew up with a father who was an itinerant preacher and a mother who was a respected organist. This upbringing easily made the church his first exposure to music. When he was 9, his family moved to Atlanta with a vibrant music scene. He worked at the Eighty-One Theater, and there he was exposed to the talent of renowned musicians such as Gertrude “Ma” Rainey and Bessie Smith.

In 1916, Thomas Dorsey moved to Chicago, where his recognisable talent quickly furthered his music career. First working for Will Walker’s Whispering Syncopaters, he also became a composer and arranger for the Chicago Music Publishing Company under J. Mayo Williams and a music coach for Paramount and Vocalion Records. Building on his success in blues, he began moving into gospel music through a series of church involvements. 

The mural depicts a sharp turning point in Thomas Dorsey’s life when he faced the death of both his wife and baby in childbirth. It was his tremendous grief that prompted him to renounce blues and turn to gospel. With his life thrown into crisis, he turned to the piano for solace and wrote his most famous song "Precious Lord, Take My Hand." Initially, Dorsey’s blend of gospel and blues faced difficulties with mainstream churches as many ministers saw gospel as blasphemous. Eventually though, the kind of gospel that Dorsey helped nurture in Chicago became a quintessential part of African American religious life. In 1932, he was chosen as the director of the gospel choir at Chicago’s second largest church, Pilgrim Baptist. And in the same year, he was elected as the founding national president of the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses.