Shirley Caesar

Pastor Shirley Ann Caesar-Williams, known around the world as the First Lady of Gospel, is a Shaw University graduate, recording artist, and pastor from Durham, North Carolina. The tenth of 13 children, she began singing as “Baby Shirley” as a child, later joined Albertina Walker’s Caravans, and launched a solo ministry in the 1960s known for sermon-in-song performances and recordings such as “No Charge,” “Put Your Hand in the Hand of the Man from Galilee,” and “Hold My Mule.” She earned a B.S. in business administration from Shaw in 1984 after returning to finish college in the midst of a global career, and she has received honorary doctorates from Shaw and Southeastern University.

Caesar has won more than a dozen Grammy Awards, along with Dove and Stellar Awards, and received the Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017. She became a viral phenomenon in 2016 when a remix of “Hold My Mule” swept social media, and she has continued to record and tour into her later decades. Off stage she has pastored Mount Calvary Word of Faith Church in Raleigh, served on the Durham City Council, and led Shirley Caesar Outreach Ministries for neighbors in need in the Raleigh-Durham community. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

Her life’s work joins the HBCU classroom to the gospel stage: a Shaw business degree, a pulpit in Raleigh, and a catalog that carried Black sacred music onto the world’s largest stages. She is a 2026 National Black College Alumni Hall of Fame inductee in Faith.

• Carried the title First Lady of Gospel from Durham to the world. The tenth of 13 children, she began as “Baby Shirley,” sang with Albertina Walker’s Caravans, and launched a solo ministry in the 1960s known for sermon-in-song performances and recordings such as “No Charge,” “Put Your Hand in the Hand of the Man from Galilee,” and “Hold My Mule.”
• Finished a Shaw University business degree in the middle of a global career. Caesar earned a B.S. in business administration in 1984 and later received honorary doctorates from Shaw and Southeastern University, joining the HBCU classroom to the gospel stage.
• Won more than a dozen Grammy Awards and a Lifetime Achievement honor. She has also collected Dove and Stellar Awards. In 2017 the Recording Academy presented her its Lifetime Achievement Award, placing her catalog among the most decorated in American sacred music.
• Pastored Mount Calvary Word of Faith Church in Raleigh. Off stage she has led a congregation, served on the Durham City Council, and directed Shirley Caesar Outreach Ministries for neighbors in need in the Raleigh-Durham community.
• Reached a new generation when “Hold My Mule” went viral. A 2016 remix swept social media and introduced her testimony to listeners who had never sat in a gospel pew. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and has continued to record and tour into her later decades.