RICHMOND GOSPEL SINGER & SONGWRITER EVANGELIST MAGGIE INGRAM

HONORED WITH STATE’S FIRST HERITAGE AWARD

RICHMOND, VA ---The Virginia Commission for the Arts honored six Virginia artists on October 9 at the Richmond Folk Festival with the state’s first Heritage Awards.

The Virginia Heritage Awards honor Virginia masters of the traditional arts for their contributions to the cultural heritage of Virginia and to recognize preservationists of traditional culture. Masters of traditional art forms exhibit a longstanding dedication to that art form, a high quality of skill within the genre, recognition of “master” status by their communities, and a role in sharing their skills with others in the community. The winners were Evangelist Maggie Ingram,  Reverend Frank Newsome, Roy Odell “Speedy” Tolliver, Bobby Patterson, Joyce Pale Moon Krigsvold, and Grayson Chesser.

Maggie Ingram

Born July 4, 1930, on Mulholland’s Plantation in Coffee County, Georgia, Maggie Ingram worked in the cotton and tobacco fields with her parents. It was a hard and humble beginning, but Maggie felt that the Lord had a special place for her in life and she accepted the call at an early age. She began playing the piano and singing at an early age and exhibited a love for church and for the ministry .  At 16 she married Thomas Jefferson Ingram, whose family also worked as sharecroppers in Georgia. The couple had five children - John, Lucious, Tommie, Almeta, Christine - and moved to Miami, Florida. It was there that Mr. Ingram was called to the preaching ministry. Ms. Ingram and the children worked with him as he preached in the rural areas outside of Miami, and though times were tough, the family was determined to help in the ministry. She took odd jobs as a domestic and taught her children to sing harmony.