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2017 Lecture Series

Mr. Ty Gray-EL 

Ty Gray-EL

July 20, 7:30pm

Greenbelt Community Center

15 Crescent Road

Greenbelt, MD 20770

We are so pleased to welcome lecturer, educator, and spoken word artist Ty Gray-EL to our lecture series. Mr. Gray-EL grew up in Washington, D.C. at Langston Terrace, a New Deal-era apartment complex built by the federal government for predominantly African American families. Langston Terrace was designed by prominent African American architect, Hilyard Robinson and

opened in 1938 making it contemporary with Greenbelt. Mr. Gray-EL speaks across the country, and "confronts the issues of racism and bigotry with poetic compassion, dramatic storytelling, and historical fact while weaving a tapestry of tolerance and hope." (Ty Gray-EL website)

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As in so many other publicly funded housing projects of the era, art was featured at Langston Terrace and situated in a courtyard in the center of the apartment buildings was a playground for children with large sculpted animals on which they could climb (see photo on the left). One of these, a frog, was sculpted by Lenore Thomas Straus, whose bas reliefs grace Greenbelt's Community Center (originally Center School) and whose huge Mother and Child statue anchors the center of historic Greenbelt. Mr. Gray-EL remembers climbing on the frog and speaks movingly, not just about growing up at Langston Terrace, but about so much more. 

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Mr. Gray-EL describes himself as a "cultural enrichment specialist who uses spoken word and storytelling to raise self-esteem among African Americans in particular and the African Diaspora at-large. As a change agent, he lectures all over the country." He is an internationally renowned storyteller, a two-time Spoken Word Billboard Award winner, and was recently selected as the National Spokesperson for the Spoken Word Billboard Award Association. He is also the author of Breath of My Ancestors: Reflections from the Conscience of an African in America, copies of which will be for sale at the lecture. Copies can also be purchased online, at Ty Gray-EL's website
 

Lectures take place in the Greenbelt  Community Center, 15 Crescent Road, Greenbelt MD 20770 and are free and open the public. This lecture is offered in conjunction with the current exhibit, The Knowing Hands That Carve This Stone: The New Deal Art of Lenore Thomas Straus and is sponsored by the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority.

VISITOR INFORMATION 

Historic House  

 

10B Crescent Rd.

Greenbelt, MD 20770

Open Sundays 

Tours on the 1/2 hour

1pm to 4:30pm

Admission $5

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Exhibition Gallery  

 

Lenore Thomas Straus Exhibit

Greenbelt Community Center

15 Crescent Rd. 

Greenbelt, MD 20770

Open M-Sat 9am-10pm, 

Sundays 10am-7pm

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Greenbelt Museum Office


15 Crescent Road

Greenbelt, Maryland 20770

301-507-6582 

info@greenbeltmuseum.org

Community Pledge

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The strength of Greenbelt is diverse people living together in a spirit of cooperation. We celebrate all people. By sharing together all are enriched. We strive to be a respectful, welcoming community that is open, accessible, safe and fair.

Preserving and sharing the New Deal history of an experimental planned community built by FDR in suburban Maryland in 1937 and still thriving today.

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