This event is at the McLean Community Center, 1234 Ingleside Ave, McLean, VA 22101. Calvin Earl, the US Spokesman for the African American Spirituals as a National Treasure, will share stories and songs of how slave ancestors embedded their oral history into spirituals for safekeeping. Discover their secret coding hidden within songs to help runaway slaves find safe routes on the Underground Railroad and explore how these humble songs were transformed into freedom songs during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Cosponsored by The Alden.

About Calvin Earl

Mr. Earl has been playing and singing since he was a young boy. Church was a prominent part of his childhood, so it is no wonder that in 2007 Mr. Earl rose to national prominence when he succeeded in submitting Twin Resolutions and then moved the US Congress to a unanimous vote that would “recognize the African American Spiritual as a National Treasure,” thus honoring enslaved people for their contributions to our nation.

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This program is appropriate for ages 18+. Register by clicking on the "Begin Registration" button (below). 
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