U.S. Rep. Nick J. Rahall (D-WV) is working to enact legislation that will recognize the African American spiritual, an important part of American life and history, as a national treasure.

"The African American spiritual is more than just a song," Rahall said. "For so many people, these hymns were a method of survival, a representation of hope in a time when hope was hard to find."

The resolution Rahall is co-sponsoring, House Resolution 790, Recognizing the African American Spiritual as a national treasure, states that spirituals are a powerful and significant form of American music, expresses gratitude and honor to former slaves for their fight and calls upon the President to designate the spiritual as a national treasure.

"The influence of the spiritual on the religious and musical traditions of West Virginia is alive and well," Rahall said. "It is important, today and every day, for us to honor the courage behind these musical prayers for hope and freedom - courage which continues to inspire us.

"Through this resolution, and the work we are doing with the West Virginia Humanities Council on the Mountain Music Heritage Project, it is my hope that the African American spiritual will take its place alongside the rest of our rich Appalachian musical heritage, and that ears will be opened to the resonant, relevant messages tucked between the bars of these beautiful melodies," Rahall said.

As the resolution states, the spiritual is a uniquely American form of music. It originated and evolved between 1619 and 1865 when African-Americans were enslaved. Slaves used their knowledge of the English language and the Christian faith to weave stories of their own survival and desire for freedom into songs. Because slaves were forbidden to speak their native languages and practice their traditional religious beliefs, they relied on their African oral tradition of song and story to communicate and create the musical form now known spirituals.

Frederick Douglass, a former slave and one of the leading abolitionists in American history, remarked that spirituals "told a tale of woe which was then altogether beyond my feeble comprehension; they were tones loud, long, and deep; they breathed the prayer and complaint of souls boiling over with the bitterest anguish. Every tone was a testimony against slavery and a prayer to God for deliverance from chains..."

"Rock and roll and rhythm and blues have been designated as national treasures," Rahall said. "I urge my colleagues to join me in commemorating the spiritual, which has had such a significant impact on our nation's history, culture and faiths."

The NAACP has voiced its strong support of the resolution.

Said Hilary Sheltond, director of the NAACP, "Every day, Americans and, in fact, people across the globe continue to gain insight and hope from African American spirituals of yore. By designating them a national treasure, we will not only be acknowledging their historical significance, but we will be giving them the status they deserve."