{"person":[{"sourceId":{"label":"Source ID","value":"1080"},"lastName":{"label":"Last Name","value":"Morgan"},"endDate":{"label":"Death Date","value":"1980"},"displayName":{"label":"Name","value":"Sister Gertrude Morgan"},"nameTitle":{"label":"Title","value":"Sister"},"objects":{"label":"Objects","value":[{"objectTitle":"dont for get to Read the whole Book","objectNumber":"1998.10.32","objectID":"2524"},{"objectTitle":"New Jerusalem","objectNumber":"1986.21.1","objectID":"703"},{"objectTitle":"God's Greatest Hits","objectNumber":"2000.22.1","objectID":"2769"},{"objectTitle":"Self-Portrait","objectNumber":"2012.24.2","objectID":"3198"},{"objectTitle":"Let's Make a Record","objectNumber":"2005.25.1","objectID":"3423"},{"objectTitle":"New Jerusalem","objectNumber":"2004.7.1","objectID":"3217"},{"objectTitle":"Moses Viewing the Promised Land","objectNumber":"2007.13.1","objectID":"3487"},{"objectTitle":"The Greater New Jerusalem","objectNumber":"2025.14.20","objectID":"9307"},{"objectTitle":"The Crucifixion","objectNumber":"2022.25.1","objectID":"8579"},{"objectTitle":"Untitled","objectNumber":"2008.12.1","objectID":"4023"},{"objectTitle":"The Barefoot Prophetesses","objectNumber":"1983.14.4","objectID":"1315"}]},"geographyDied":{"label":"Died","value":["Lafayette","New Orleans"]},"biography":{"label":"Biography","value":"In Sister Gertrude Morgan\u2019s works, a woman often appears attired all in white, much as Morgan dressed after 1957, when she anointed herself the Bride of Christ. Her hundreds of vibrant paintings were one part of her lifetime commitment to an evangelistic mission; she employed metal lids and Styrofoam trays as surfaces alongside paper and cardboard, using various methods to spread the gospel. She also sang and played guitar and tambourine as a street preacher, rhythmically repeating words like \u201cpower\u201d and \u201challelujah\u201d to passersby in the French Quarter of New Orleans. In her visual art she likewise returned to themes over and over, particularly in the late 1960s, when she depicted vivid scenes of New Jerusalem, from the Book of Revelation, from where the dead would rise to a heavenly new world for the righteous. Born in 1900 in Lafayette, Alabama, Morgan grew up in the Southern Baptist Church. She was in her thirties when a series of revelations compelled her to leave her family for New Orleans, which she called the \u201cheadquarters of sin.\u201d As she wrote in a 1970 poem accompanying a portrait of herself holding a guitar, \u201cMy heavenly father called me in 1934 . . . I\u2019ll make thee as a signet for I have chosen thee. Go ye into yonders world and sing with a loud voice for you are a chosen vessel . . .\u201d She helped organize a chapel and center for children as she became a regular presence on the streets, where she gave captivating stream-of-consciousness sermons. In the 1950s, she started painting, featuring scriptural text in her compositions. She came to broader recognition through the New Orleans gallery owner E. Lorenz Borenstein, who noticed her preaching with a paper megaphone in hand; he began exhibiting her work in the early 1960s, and he also recorded her chants and songs.Morgan always avowed that she was divinely guided. In 1973, she told Interview magazine, \u201cJust be sure and give Jesus credit for what I do. He\u2019s the one that deserves all the praise. He\u2019s the one that made me do it.\u201d She released a gospel album in 1970\u2014<em>Let\u2019s Make a Record<\/em>\u2014accompanying herself on the tambourine. In 1974, she stopped creating art and focused instead on poetry. She died in 1980 and was interred simply in a potter\u2019s field.Allison C. Meier, 2025Text written as part of \u201cRethinking Biography,\u201d an initiative supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)."},"geographyActive":{"label":"Active","value":["Lafayette","New Orleans"]},"geographyBorn":{"label":"Born","value":["Lafayette","New Orleans"]},"beginDate":{"label":"Birth Date","value":"1900"},"firstName":{"label":"First Name","value":"Gertrude"},"primaryMedia":{"value":"https://collection.folkartmuseum.org/internal/media/dispatcher/1353/full"},"names":{"label":"Names","value":"Sister Gertrude Morgan"},"displayDate":{"label":"Date","value":"(1900\u20131980)"},"id":{"label":"Id","value":"151195"}}]}