Our 2025 annual event, entitled One Voice, Many Echoes presented nationally acclaimed artist-activists alongside local voices all of whom follow in Robeson’s footsteps today. The concert gave special recognition to Pete Seeger (who opened Robeson’s concert in 1949)

Through music, storytelling, and audience sing-alongs, we not only chronicled the history, but recreated the spirit of artist-activism using art not just to entertain but to awaken conscience. Or as Paul would say, “as weapons of peace.”

This public conversation blended scholarship, journalism, and lived experience to explore the impact of this history and the relevance of Robeson’s message in today’s world.
The dialogue connected the history of the Peekskill Riots with current movements for racial justice, free expression, and peace, underscoring Robeson’s enduring call to courage and conscience.

Moderator, John Nichols, Executive Editor of The Nation closed with words that capture our charge: “Perhaps it’s in Peekskill that we fully understand what Paul Robeson gave this country.”

Marking seventy-five years since the Peekskill Riots, this inaugural event brought the community together on the very ground where history unfolded. We presented Grammy Award winning bass-baritone, Mark S. Doss in two performances of Here I Stand – a program Mr. Doss created for a celebration of Robeson’s 125th birthday at Lincoln center.

Mr. Doss led the audience through Robeson’s repertoire while Dr. Aaron Mair, native Peekskillian and founder of the national movement for environmental justice, narrated the history.

Through music and spoken word, the community reclaimed the site as a place of truth, healing, and solidarity, honoring Robeson’s unwavering stand for freedom and equality.