The Spirit Beyond the Walls: An Oral History with Ms. Marie Butler and Her Daughter, Ms. Stephanie Lindsey by Katy Shenk and Paris Young

Mrs. Marie Butler with her mother, Blanche Sommerville, and her two daughters, Denise and Stephanie.

When asked what advice she would give to younger generations, 95-year-old Marie Butler offered these words of wisdom: “All I can say is, keep on trusting in the Lord and doing what you’re doing – good things. Don’t go out there in this world doing anything. Just trust in the Lord, and his grace and mercy will set you free.”

 Religion has been a part of Ms. Butler’s life since she was a young girl. She was reared under the roof of her grandparents, Rev. Albert and Cora Walker, alongside a large extended family. Ms. Butler and her daughter, Stephanie Lindsey, recalled visiting with family and listening to stories on the porch or under a weeping willow tree on Rev. Walker’s land that he owned and bestowed to his grandchildren and great-children after his death.

Mount Olive African Methodist Episcopal Church in Butlertown has been Ms. Butler’s home church for her entire life. Mount Olive is not only the place for the Walker family’s religious instruction, but it is also a cornerstone of their family traditions and treasured memories.

Each year on the third Sunday in March, the family gathers at Mount Olive to celebrate Walker’s Day. The reunion was first organized by one of Rev. Walker’s brothers, who would invite the whole family out to the churches where he pastured in Queen Anne’s and Caroline Counties. When he passed away, Rev. Walker assumed the mantle and brought the reunion to Mount Olive in Butlertown.

As a young girl, Ms. Lindsey recalls Walker’s Day being a joyous, all-day affair that began at 10:00 am with a morning service and concluded with a singing concert at night. It was – and continues to be – a day where all family members, even those who had moved far away to cities, reunite at Mt Olive. It is a day full of music, prayer, food, and family memories.

The idea for Homecoming Sunday was conceived with a similar spirit: to bring friends and family of the Mount Olive congregation together for a day of celebration. In the midst of the Great Migration, Mount Olive worked with former members of the congregation who had moved to cities like New York, Baltimore, and Philadelphia to arrange for buses to transport their new congregations, families, and friends back to Mount Olive for an annual fundraiser and celebration.

Mrs. Marie Butler (left) and Rev. Monique Upshur Davis (right)

Like Walker’s Day, Homecoming is still celebrated at Mount Olive to this day, organized by the church’s younger generations who carry on the tradition.

Ms. Butler was active in the church kitchen for 25 years, and served as head of meal service on Homecoming Sundays. She also performed the role of Head Communion Steward, which entailed preparing the elements and decorating the church in white. Ms. Butler was a member of the local missionary society and travelled to other missionary societies’ special days in neighboring counties.

She performed all of her duties with upmost pride and dedication until she developed severe hand arthritis (a condition caused by decades of work at the nearby Campbell’s Soup Factory).

In addition to fellowship and religious teaching, music is an essential element of Mount Olive’s character. Countless renowned singers and musicians were reared in Mount Olive AME Church, and the church itself is home to a thriving music scene. Ms. Lindsey elaborated upon the relationship between music and praise, namely how music captures the essence and uplifting spirit of worship.

The connection between the spirit and gospel music has always been an integral part of both the Black church and the Black experience at large. Just like reading the Bible, praying, or hearing the Word of God from preachers, singing and praising is also a way people can connect with the spirit. It is the music that helps uplift the pastors before they begin preaching. It is the music that helps move the congregation before they began hearing the Word. It is music that opens up the connection between the body and the spirit of the Lord.

Cora and Rev. Albert Walker, grandparents to Mrs. Marie Butler

Read Story Transcription

Patrick Nugent:
What’s the connection between the music and the spirit and the religion at Mount Olive? Can you describe kind of how the music and the spirituality reflect on one another?

Stephanie Lindsey:
Yeah, I was just reading this morning about some of the Psalms in the Bible, and it talks about how, when nothing else works, then a song can make a difference. Singing and praising help to make a difference. I hear a lot of preachers say preaching is so much easier after you’ve heard a good song, because it’s uplifting, and it’s a way of praising—it’s a way of praising God.

Now we’re not able to go into the church now, you know, but our preacher comes down every Sunday and she preaches from the pulpit as if she’s preaching to a whole congregation. Well, we can see it on Zoom, we can see it on Facebook, we can hear it over the phone, and she is an awesome preacher, but you still miss the singing. So, after a few – two months, I think – she had Chris Copper come in and just play some songs on the piano. And it’s something about that singing, that music, that makes the difference. And then, some Sundays she’ll have the praise team come in and sing, and even with all her wonderful preaching, it’s just something about that music. Because it’s uplifting to people who don’t even understand the Word, but it’s just something about the music.

Looking at the accounts of slavery, there are plenty of stories about the ways enslaved people used music to help liberate themselves. Gospel music or “Negro Spirituals” were communication methods for enslaved people. They passed on messages of hope, sadness, and escape through coded lyrics. It is documented, for example, that Harriet Tubman would sing “Wade in the Water” to help her enslaved brothers and sisters cross bodies of water without being seen.

During the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s, when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. went through some of his toughest moments, he would call Mahalia Jackson just to hear her sing. Mahalia Jackson is also credited for inspiring Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. From enslaved people using spiritual music as a tool for liberation to preachers using gospel music as a tool of uplift, Stephanie Lindsey captures the significance of music when she told us, “when nothing else works, a song can make a difference.”

Despite COVID-19 temporarily shutting the doors of the church, the music of Mount Olive has gone virtual. Reflecting on the current pandemic, Ms. Lindsey remarked: “We’re learning now that we can’t get into the church, we can’t get into the four walls. But we still have the church in us. And it’s because of who God is in us.”

Our interview with Ms. Butler and Ms. Lindsey closed with an opening – an invitation to join the mother and daughter at Mount Olive for Walker’s Day – a place and time truly at the intersection of family, community, worship, and love. The stories and reflections that both women shared with us were evidence that the spirit of the church does indeed exist beyond its four walls, beating in the hearts of the Butler family, faithful members of its congregation for generations.