Remembering the “Mother of Gospel Music” in Duck Hill

DUCK HILL, Miss. (WCBI) – A Duck Hill native known for being the ‘Mother of Gospel Music’ is honored in her hometown.

The unveiling of the Lucie E. Campbell Memorial Highway is a way to remember and honor her legacy.

Campbell is nationally known not only for her song writing, but also for being an educator and advocate for social justice.

Lucie E. Campbell was born in Duck Hill on April 30th, 1885.

When she was just a child, her family moved to Memphis where she made her name, but she would always come home to Duck Hill.

“Something Within” was Lucie Campbell’s first song.

It was written in 1919, but it’s still heard in churches today.

A blind musician playing on Beale Street in Memphis, was the inspiration for the song that began a long career.

“Some guys came out of the cafe from St. Louis and wanted him to play St. Louis Blues and Miss Lucy observed this and he said, ‘No.’ They offered him money and she walked up to him and said, ‘Honey, why did you not accept the money?’ And he said, ‘I can’t explain it, Miss Campbell. It was something within.’ And that’s how the song came about,” says Duck Hill Tourism Council member, Al White.

On top of her music, she’s also known for organizing the Blues Musicians on Beale Street in 1919.

Although the Duck Hill native moved to Memphis at a young age, she never forgot her roots.

“I think she would have been excited about this because if you go to Memphis, right, and all of the historical markers that you see in Memphis, within the first sentence it says, ‘She was from Duck Hill, Mississippi.’ She loved Duck Hill and she would always put that out front, in terms of where ever she went. She would acknowledge her home community.”

The unveiling of her highway memorial sign took place here, at Duck Hill Missionary Baptist Church, the same church she went to when she came to town.

On Thursday, it was almost as if she was there.

“It causes you to reflect on where you first heard that song and what it meant to you. Even when you were being carried out to a pond to be baptized because you didn’t have the swimming pools in the church, coming from the country, and hearing those songs and knowing that she is the person who actually wrote those songs means a lot to me,” says District 13 Senator Willie L. Simmons.

“When you have a significant national figure like this, that has done so much for gospel music and Mississippi and nationwide, Lucie E. Campbell was a person who dedicated her life to using music to bring people together and I think that’s an important thing for us all to remember that through the arts, we can bring people together,” says District 14 Senator Lydia Chassaniol.

The highway marker isn’t the only reminder of Campbell in Duck Hill.

In September, the community will host its third Lucie E. Campbell Gospel Festival.