The Garst Museum will resume its Speaker Series season on February 22, 2025, at 2 p.m., at 205 N. Broadway, Greenville, in the Lowell Thomas Meeting Room. The featured speaker will be Valerie Boyer, who will bring to light the "Coded Language of Negro Spirituals During the Underground Railroad."
The Speaker Series is free to attend; however, regular admission fees apply to tour the museum.
This program is made possible through the Garst Museum and the Ohio Humanities Speakers Bureau.
Did you know freedom seekers used a code through the songs they sang? Visitors will come to understand the coded language in the Negro Spirituals, which have since been renamed African American Spirituals. Enslaved people and their descendants sang these spirituals since as early as the 18th century, and many are still sung today. Boyer said, “This talk covers what makes them such a brilliant form of resistance by discussing the hidden messages coded within them. When someone who didn’t need to know, such as an overseer or master, heard these songs, the assumption was often that they sang about heaven, scripture, or biblical references in folklore. They had no clue that these freedom seekers were singing songs of liberation, escape routes, planned resistance, and so much more.” The program is expected to be a fun, interactive engagement where everyone will have an opportunity to participate.
Boyer is a woman of many callings. She is a vocalist, musician, dancer, poet, activist, minister, historian, and, most of all, an educator. In every space, she breathes knowledge. Born and raised in Galveston, Texas, Valerie Boyer was groomed in southern hospitality and shares that kindness everywhere she goes.
Boyer’s life’s work reflects the southern colloquialisms of her childhood and the tenacity of her adulthood. As a member of the National Forensics League, 2012 Miss Juneteenth Ambassador, Black Historian of the Year in 2019 UpStart Magazine, Valerie has been able to travel the country, and has been featured at venues such as Ohio History Center, Nandi’s Knowledge Cafe, Columbus Color of Summer, Wednesday Night Live Howard University, Westerville Historical Society, Columbus City Schools GearUp initiative, Ohio Black Collective at Walsh University, NinaImani at Youngstown State University, and SOBO at the Ohio Black Expo, to name a few.
Boyer is an active member of Ohio Black Expo and Advocates of Diversity for the state of Ohio. She has taught Social Studies for years and is currently the School and Inclusive Community Programs Coordinator at Ohio History Connection. She is also a proud graduate of Howard University and resides in Columbus.
Funding for the program was made possible by Ohio Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Garst Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information about Garst Museum, please visit www.GarstMuseum.org.
