WHEN THE distinguished singer Barbara Smith Conrad performed with a Community Chorus at the Gilmer Civic Center on June 10, 2005, documentary film makers were on hand to record an important phase of the diva’s career.

Having retired from opera roles with companies including the Metropolitan and New York City Operas, the Vienna State Opera, the Houston Grand Opera and others, the Camp County native has a new cause: the preservation of American spirituals.

She sang spirituals with the Community Chorus, and on her 2007 visit held two master classes on the subject, examining the history and impact of the spiritual on American culture.

THE CENTER for American History at The University of Texas in Austin has established the Endowment for the Study of American Spirituals. Ms. Conrad serves as artistic adviser and ambassador for the initiative.

The Center is producing a documentary, When I Rise, the Story of Barbara Smith Conrad, which will reflect her many accomplishments (as noted in this space, last month she was honored by the Texas Legislature for being a UT Distinguished Alumna and civil rights pioneer as well as an internationally-renowned mezzo-soprano.)

I ENJOY listening to Ms. Conrad’s CD of spirituals, which includes such classics as Certainly, Lord, Steal Away to Jesus, Deep River, and My Lord, What a Morning. She is accompanied by the Convent Avenue Concert Choir of New York City.

Ms. Conrad is far from alone in her crusade to conserve the American art form known as Negro spirituals.

On XM Radio’s PRI channel last week I heard Bob Edwards interview Everett McCorvey, professor of music at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, who in 1995 founded the American Spiritual Ensemble to keep the spiritual alive.

Its performers, all soloists in their own right, have sung in theaters and opera houses around the world. They also include jazz and Broadway numbers that highlight the black experience.

McCORVEY explained how spirituals grew out of slavery, and some, such as Follow the Drinking Gourd, contained hidden signals to help slaves escape from Alabama north on the underground railroad.

The “drinking gourd” is a code name for the Big Dipper constellation, which points to Polaris, the Pole Star, and north.

The song lends its name to the title of the 1928 publication of the Texas Folklore Society, Foller de Drinkin’ Gou’d, which was edited by J. Frank Dobie. The book gives H.B. Parks credit for “collecting” the folk song in three different parts of the South, including Texas. At that time folklorists were arguing about whether the song had any basis in reality, but McCorvey thinks there is proof that it was an actual road map.

I HAVE LONG been a fan of another group that is keeping spirituals alive in a powerful way, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. It was founded in 1995 by Alvin Ailey (1931-1989), Texas native born in Rogers and raised in Navasota. He became a dancer after moving to California as a high school student.

Revelations is the title of Ailey’s dance suite that the company performs to such spirituals as I Been ‘’Buked, Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel? Rocka My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham, Wade in the Water and several others.

The company is based in New York City and today is directed by Judith Jamison, who is interviewed on one of the CDs in my set of Alvin Ailey music. She eloquently summarizes its appeal.

She says that Revelations “speaks directly to the human experience” and is embedded in the black church, which has a rich tradition of color pageantry. The dancers portray “the shuddering of the Holy Ghost going through the body.”

Ms. Jamison calls the black church “the single most important community enterprise.” Regardless of what happens on Saturday night — Sinner Man is one of the Revelations pieces — Sunday morning is a time of redemption and praise, she asserts.

THESE IMAGES of faith, humor, passion and love are familiar to older generations, but must be preserved for those coming on, she said.

I have traveled many miles to see the Alvin Ailey dancers perform when touring in Texas, and once happened to be in Washington D. C. when I got to see them at a downtown theater.

Whatever else they program from today’s dance repertoire, Revelations is a must, and draws the biggest audience reaction.

As Ms. Jamison commented: “Mr. Ailey knew that this would be a testament to everyone — based in the church, but universal.”

That audiences are moved and touched is a tribute to Ailey’s faith, and to “his belief that dance should be something that touched your spirit,” she said.

She didn’t say, but certainly could have: it’s not just a black thing.

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