This lecture-demo delves deeply into the spirituals, the improvised secret folk chants of enslaved African Americans. As no recordings of these rituals exist, we cannot know for certain how the spirituals originally were sung. Drawing on historical accounts, Roy Hart Voice Center teacher Audrey Pernell proposes theatrical practices to engage the imagination and embody the cultural contexts that gave rise to this tradition in the hopes of recovering elements that speak to Black heritage: embodiment, emotionality, spontaneity, creativity, agency, community, and faith. In short, Pernell seeks methods to decolonize vocal pedagogy and reclaim Afrocentricity in Black vocal performance.