William Herbert Brewster, Sr.

Brewster came to Memphis to run a seminary that never opened. He was to be dean of a proposed Black seminary, but E. H. "Boss" Crump crushed the plan, so Brewster founded his own Brewster Theological Clinic, which grew to branches in twenty-five cities. He pastored East Trigg Baptist Church for more than fifty years and preached on WDIA. His songs reached the biggest names in gospel: Mahalia Jackson and Clara Ward sang them, and his Brewster Ensemble carried others. He also edited a Forest City newspaper for Black readers.

What the plaque says

William Herbert Brewster, Sr. 1897-1987 Born on July 2. 1897, in Somerville, Tenn., to sharecropper parents, the Rev. William H. Brewster was a prolific composer of gospel music, contributing over 200 works to the repertory. Two of his compositions, Move On Up a Little Higher (1946) and Surely, God is Able (1949) were the first black gospel recordings to sell over a million copies. An editor, educator, and poet, he founded the Brewster Theological Clinic, with branches in 25 U.S. cities. Known as the "father of gospel drama," be was honored for his music by the Smithsonian Institution in 1982. A year later, French television produced a program about his work. For many years, Dr. Brewster's home stood in this vicinity.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Sun Studio — 1.6 mi
  The small Union Avenue room where Sam Phillips recorded Rocket 88, Howlin' Wolf, Elvis Presley and the Million Dollar Quartet, now a National Historic Landmark.
• Beale Street — 1.9 mi
  The street that became the center of Black Memphis after the Civil War, home to Church's Park, W. C. Handy, Ida B. Wells and the blues, now a National Historic Landmark district.
• National Civil Rights Museum — 2.4 mi
  The Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King Jr. was killed on April 4, 1968, kept as a museum of the civil rights movement from the nineteenth century to today.
• 1866 Memphis Massacre Marker at Army Park — 2.5 mi
  A privately funded NAACP marker in a small downtown park, placed in 2016, that names the May 1866 attack on Black South Memphis as a massacre.

More markers nearby

• Humes High School Alma Mater of Elvis Presley — 0.3 mi
• Isaac Hayes — 0.7 mi
• Manassas High School / The Cora P. Taylor Auditorium — 0.7 mi
• Burkle Estate — 0.9 mi