Mahalia Jackson Birthplace — New Orleans, Louisiana

Mahalia Jackson was born on October 26, 1911, in the Carrollton neighbourhood of New Orleans, and became the greatest gospel singer in American history — a contralto of volcanic power and emotional depth who refused throughout her career to record secular music despite offers that would have made her even wealthier. She grew up attending the Plymouth Rock Baptist Church and absorbing the blues records of Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey alongside the church music, a combination she incorporated into a gospel style that was raw, rhythmic, and emotionally overwhelming in a way that more formal church music was not.

Jackson moved to Chicago as a teenager and built her reputation on the church circuit before recording 'Move On Up a Little Higher' in 1947, which sold eight million copies and made her nationally famous. She sang at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy and, most significantly, preceded Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I Have a Dream' speech at the March on Washington in August 1963. When King appeared to be departing from his prepared text, it was Jackson who called from behind him: 'Tell them about the dream, Martin' — the prompt that unlocked one of history's great speeches.

New Orleans has a historical marker acknowledging Jackson's birth in Carrollton. The neighbourhood is on the bend of the Mississippi River in uptown New Orleans. She is buried in New Orleans at Providence Memorial Park. Chicago's Greater Salem Baptist Church, where she worshipped and performed for decades, is the more significant site of her active career.