Enter the Exhibit
This exhibit showcases the role Sacred Music plays in the cultural institutions of the African American communities of Los Angeles, as well as the ways in which those traditions have impacted the politics, social structures, and history of African Americans in Los Angeles and the surrounding areas.
The exhibit is made up of materials from the African Diaspora Sacred Music and Musicians (ADSMM) program and the Georgia & Nolan Payton Archive of Sacred Music. The Payton archive consists of music, books, periodicals, documents, audio & visual materials, posters, and photographs. The collections were donated to the CSUDH Gerth Archives and Special Collections by Dr. Hansonia Caldwell, emeritus professor at CSUDH, and Sallyanne Payton, one of the founders of the ADSMM and the Payton Archive. Both Caldwell and Payton are longtime supporters of the Gerth Archives and sponsors of this exhibit.
The primary goal of these collection is to facilitate research and documentation of collections of African Diaspora sacred music created and/or performed by the multicultural population of Southern California. The materials in the collections are available for research in the CSUDH Gerth Archives and Special Collections.