An Evening with Friends: Tribute to the Legacy of Paul Robeson

September 4th 2009 at 8:00pm at Paramount Center for the Arts

August 26, 2009, Peekskill, NY: The Paul Robeson 60th Anniversary Celebration Committee will present “An Evening with Friends: A Celebration of the Legacy of Paul Robeson,” at the Paramount Center for the Arts September 4th at 8:00pm. The benefit concert will feature performances and appearances by such well known entertainers as: Roy Haynes, Ty Jones, David Amram, Tao Rodriguez-Seeger, Kenneth Anderson, Beth Lamont, Jon Batiste Band, Ray Blue, with other special guest appearances. The Paramount Center for the Arts is located at 1008 Brown Street, Peekskill, NY. For information about The Paul Robeson 60th Anniversary Celebration Committee, contact [email protected] or log onto www.robesoncelebration.org To purchase tickets for the Robeson concert, contact the Paramount Center for the Arts at 877-840-0457 or online www.paramountcenter.org.

According to Reverend Jeanette Phillips, Park Street A.M.E Church and the Vice President of Hudson River Healthcare, ”As a community, we come in the spirit of togetherness to salute the legacy of Paul Robeson on the 60th Anniversary of his Peekskill concert.”

Paul Robeson was an exceptional athlete, actor, singer, cultural scholar, and civil rights leader. His enormous and wide ranging talents made him one of the most popular Americans of his time. During World War II as a patriot and artist he entertained the armed services, among his admirers were Eleanor Roosevelt & President Harry Truman. Misinformation and inflammatory misrepresentations made Robeson an easy target given the escalating Cold War that pitted the Soviet Union and the US against each other. The fear generated by the McCarthy era all but erased Robeson from history. Today, more than one hundred years after his birth, there is a resurgence of interest in Robeson’s achievements.

In March, 1996, Pete Seeger wrote to Dr. Virginia Noelke, Chair of the Citizen Stamp Advisory Committee: Performing artists, so publicized when alive, are often unknown by future generations. But Paul Robeson is remembered by millions throughout the world, for reminding artists (and all of us) that we have a duty as citizens to stand up for peace, for the future of our planet, even at great personal cost.” In 2004, Robeson was acknowledged on a US postage stamp in his honor.

Arne Paglia, spokesperson for the Paul Robeson 60th Anniversary Celebration Committee, explains, “This is a Celebration of one of the most significant individuals of the 20th century who had a great many friends in our community. To learn of his many accomplishments is to understand the need to restore Robeson's place in our history, and with that his presence and purpose."

The concert will benefit local non-profits including: HRHC Hudson River Health Care; CHOP Caring for the Homeless of Peekskill; Peekskill, Hendrick Hudson, Lakeland, and Putnam Valley School Districts; The Peekskill Area Pastors Association; The Preservation Company; the Field Library; and Paul Robeson Foundation, a non-profit education organization, headquartered in NY and dedicated to preserving the legacy of Paul Robeson, the world-renowned, artist, scholar, athlete and civil rights activist.

David Amram, one of the evening’s performers comments, “It’s nice to play a concert again at the Paramount with such a group of fine artists, in order to help out other people during these hard times . Real music is all about sharing. Paul Robeson always shared his gifts with the world. This should be a wonderful evening."

For information about the Paul Robeson 60th Anniversary Celebration Committee, contact [email protected] or log onto www.robesoncelebration.org To purchase tickets for “An Evening with Friends: A Celebration of the Legacy of Paul Robeson,” contact the Paramount Center for the Arts at 877-840-0457 or online www.paramountcenter.org.