Harry Belafonte

Harry BelafonteHarry Belafonte is known worldwide for his accomplishments as a recording artist and concert singer, as an actor and a producer, and for his commitment to human rights.

Belafonte has a long and distinguished campaigning record. He became the entertainment industry's first cultural adviser to the Peace Corps in the early 1960s. He was a leading architect of the civil rights movement. And in l985, he helped bring together 45 top performers to record the song ˜We Are the World", which raised millions of dollars for emergency assistance in Africa. He was appointed a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador on 4 March l987.

Harry Belafonte was born in Harlem, New York. He later moved to his mother's birthplace, Jamaica, where he discovered the folk music that became his trademark. His third album, Calypso, became the first recording in history to sell more than a million copies. Since then Belafonte's concert tours have broken attendance records worldwide.

American audiences first saw Belafonte on Broadway in John Murray Anderson's Almanac (1953), for which he won a Tony Award. A Hollywood career spanning five decades followed. Belafonte was the first African-American man to win an Emmy, for his television music special Tonight with Harry Belafonte (1959), the first of several TV specials he produced.

The United States awarded Belafonte the National Medal of the Arts, one of its highest honours, in 1994. In 2000 he received the Ronald McDonald House Charities' 2000 Award of Excellence in recognition of his humanitarian work. Using the US$100,000 honorarium from this award, Belafonte launched the Harry and Julie Belafonte Fund for HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, which is administered by the US Fund for UNICEF.

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Ossie Davis

Ossie Davis:
Photo by
Howard UniversityAs Americans we are hugely indebted to entertainer and activist Ossie Davis (b.1917-d. Feb 4, 2005). He truly lived out his spoken words, "struggle is strengthening. Battling with evil gives us the power to battle evil even more."

To see the world through Davis' eyes is to embrace his vision of art as raw, magnificent power--the power to propel people forward into a new era, and to fuel the workers for the advancement of mankind. In his words, "The profoundest commitment possible to a black creator in this country today--beyond all creeds, crafts, classes and ideologies whatsoever--is to bring before his people the scent of freedom."

Davis was born on December 18, 1917, in Cogdell, Georgia. He came to DC to the March on Washington and studied at Howard University from 1935 to 1939. Afterwards, Davis moved to Harlem and joined the Rose McClendon Players as an actor. On December 9, 1948, he married a fellow actress, Ruby Dee.

Davis used his career opportunities and the energy he derived from his art to fight injustices in America. He engaged and led others in social justice causes, such as the civil rights and workers' rights movements. He fought against police brutality, joined Martin Luther King, Jr. in his protests, and raised money to support the Freedom Riders who were arrested in the South for violating segregation laws. Even McCarthy-era slander did not daunt this courageous soul or detract from his energy and mission.

Upon his recent death, as we review his legacy, we are reminded of how he so clearly showed us the power within ourselves to positively transform society. As Ossie Davis said in his eulogy for Malcom X, in honoring him, we honor the best in ourselves.

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Amiri Baraka: Poet, Author, Dramatist, Political Activist

Amiri BarakaAmiri Baraka, a Professor Emeritus at SUNY Stony Brook is artistic director of the Newark Music Project, a Newark-based arts group archiving Newark's historic contributions to jazz. He founded the New Arkestra, a big band working to produce a living archive of this music.

Baraka has published many articles on the music in magazines and anthologies all over the world and has produced some 13 volumes of poetry, two books of fiction and nine non-fiction works, including the classic study of African-American music, Blues People which has been in print for over 30 years. His Black Music was the first look at the wave of musicians in the 1960s, including Pharaoh Sanders, Archie Shepp, Wayne Shorter, Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman, Albert Ayler and others who would set innovative standards for the next generation and make a major impact on the music industry.

His play Dutchman won the OBIE award in 1964 for Best American Play. He has written for DownBeat, Metronome, The Jazz Review, Jazz (FR). Blues People and Black Music have been translated into German, Spanish, Japanese, French, and Italian. A Scottish edition of Blues People was published in 1994.

With his wife, Amina, Baraka, edited Confirmation: An Anthology of Afro American Women, and published, The Music: Reflections on Jazz & Blues, a catalyst for the out pouring of poetry, stories and jazz based programming that followed in the 90s. He has been widely credited with sparking the general renaissance in jazz in the 90s with his critical works and poetry. His most recent publications are Wise Why's Y's: The Griot's Tale (Third World, 1995); Transbluesency: Selected Poetry 65-95 (Marsilio, 1996); Funklore, recent poetry (Littoral, 1996); and Eulogies, a collection of eulogies he has delivered since 1965 (Marsilio, 1997). In Fall 1998, Third World will publish a collection of essays, Black People and Jesse Jackson.

Baraka founded the Black Arts Repertory School in Harlem in 1965 and the Spirit House in Newark in 1966, both of which were cultural catalysts in the 60s Black arts movement. Baraka's work at the Black Arts Repertory Theater School in Harlem in 1965 brought the most innovative jazz groups to Harlem, after the removal of the music from the communities that created it in the 40s and 50s.

He was chairman of the Committee For Unified Newark and the Congress of African Peoples in the late 60s and led a drive which elected Newark's first African American mayor, Kenneth Gibson.

Amiri and Amina Baraka founded and direct Kimako's Blues People, a multimedia arts space, from a small theater in their home in Newark. He founded the jazz/poetry ensemble Blue Ark, which has played at the Berlin Festival, and throughout the US. His Jazz opera Money, with Swiss composer, George Gruntz was performed in part at the George Wein's New York Jazz Festival in the early 90s and Primitive World, with music by David Murray, was performed at Sweet Basil, the Nuyorican Cafe and the Black Drama Festival in Winston Salem, North Carolina. His Bumpy: A Bopera with music by Max Roach was performed in 1991 at Newark Symphony Hall and at San Diego Repertory.

Amiri and Amina Baraka, have been married 30+ years and have five children including the late Shani Baraka.

Danny Glover

Danny GloverThe child of two active NAACP members, Danny Glover is no stranger to advocacy. As early as junior high school, he started a group to combat the prejudice against marginalized populations in his San Francisco neighborhood. Glover continues to hold social justice issues close to his heart.

He began his film career with Escape from Alcatraz in 1979. Subsequent roles in Places in the Heart (1984), Witness, (1985), The Color Purple (1984), Mandela (1987) and Lonesome Dove (1989) highlight his versatility, as he played both hero and villain, criminal and savior.

Although he plays a wide range of parts, he is careful not to sacrifice his values of nonviolence and social justice. When asked whether his most famous movie, Lethal Weapon 1,2,3 and 4, was a departure from his activism, he stated that the movie financiers agreed to fund half of the budget for his television or film ventures that are non-violent, such as Buffalo Soldiers (1997) and Beloved (1998).

Such dedication to human rights earned him many awards, including the Amnesty International USA Lifetime Achievement Award for his role in Namibia’s civil rights movement. In 1998, Glover was appointed the first Global Goodwill Ambassador to UN Development Programme (UNDP).

Now in his fourth year as a Goodwill Ambassador, Glover travels all over the world visiting projects and publicizing the fight against AIDS. His most recent trip was to Trinidad & Tobago in the Caribbean to visit the Cyril Ross Nursery for children with HIV/AIDS.

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Dick Gregory

Dick GregoryDick Gregory is a brilliant comedian; leading civil and human rights activist, well-received author of I5 books, recording artist with seven records, television and film personality~, leading nutritionist, veteran of over 100 fasts, and man totally committed to non-violent social change. Behind this man are his Wife, Lillian, and their ten children: Michele, Lynne, Pamela, Paula, Zenobia (Stephanie) Gregory, Miss, Christi, Ayanna, and Yohance. For the past 42 years, the Dick Gregory family has made sacrifice after sacrifice for the Civil Rights Movement.

Mr. Gregory's contemporaries included Rev, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, President John F. Kennedy, and Bobby Kennedy. Being one of the few movement leaders from the 1960’s still alive, Mr. Gregory is literally a walking history book. In the spirit of the African oral tradition, brought to America in 1619 when the first enslaved Africans arrived in the colonies, Mr. Gregory speaks the truth about racism, sexism, and violence in America.. One thing is certain about a Dick Gregory lecture; you are going to hear that which is not spoken elsewhere. Mr. Gregory's candor, combined with his world class political satire and humor, makes him one of the most highly sought lecturers on the college circuit year after year. Like the prophet’s of old. Mr. Gregory has become the conscience of America, who has come to cleanse this country' soul of racism and the vestiges of slavery.

Born on October 12, 1932, in St. Louis, MO, Dick attended Sumner High School where he became a track star and President of his senior class. And it was at Sumner that his activism began when he was denied the Missouri State Mile Championship Title in 1951 because he was Black. As one of the fastest milers in the country, he received over 100 track scholarship offers from various Universities. In the end he chose Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC).

In his sophomore year at SIUC, Mr. Gregory became captain of the track team and broke the university's record for the half mile. Along with his athletic achievements. his activism continued at SIUC. Mr. Gregory sparked Black students to rally against the University’s “White only” policy for the Outstanding Athlete Award and segregated seating in Carbondale's only movie theater. In 1953, segregated seating at the local movie theater ended forever, and Dick became the first Black Student to receive the Outstanding Athlete Award. In 1956 Mr. Gregory bridged the gap between White and Black students, and led a successful student campaign to fund the construction of a new student union. The university's student center, still the largest student union (without a hotel) in the country, is a permanent example of his ability to mobilize support for progressive causes. A more important testament to his and the Black students he mobilized during the 1950’s is the impact their actions had on changing the character and direction of a major university. Today, SIUC consistently ranks in the top ten among the country's predominately White educational institutions in the total number of
baccalaureate degrees awarded to Black Students.

Winning two talent shows as a comic during a two-year hitch in the Army set the stage for the next big turning points in Mr. Gregory's life. Early success as comedian on the Chicago nightclub circuit brought him to the most important event in his life; meeting his future wife, Lillian Smith. They married in 1959 and soon their first child, Michele, was born. Next carne his big break at Chicago's Playboy Club and Mr. Gregory became the first Black comedian to work in first-line White night clubs and on national television. His fame in show business brought calls from Medgar Evers and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to help the growing Civil Rights Movement. He participated in almost all of the major and minor marches, demonstrations, and rallies of the Civil Rights era. Mr. Gregory spoke at marches, voter registration rallies, and benefit shows for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In 1963, he chartered a plane, and then collected and delivered 14,000 pounds of free food for poor people in two counties in Mississippi.

Dr. King and Mr. Gregory were often jailed together as they demonstrated for civil rights in the 1960s, and at Dr. Kings urging, Mr. Gregory became increasingly involved with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's (SCLC) efforts to bring freedom, justice, and equality to all Black people in America. As a result of his activism, his career suffered. Not many people would give up a million dollars a years salary as Mr. Gregory did. However, Dr. King taught Mr. Gregory a higher principle, the
philosophy of non-violence, which he follows to this day.

Using humor and satire to make his points, Mr. Gregory has authored 15 books on subjects including the plight of Black people in America, health and nutrition, and commentaries on American politics, history, government, and culture. His books include, Nigger, From The Back of The Bus, What's Happening, Write Me In! Dick Gregory's Political Prime, The Shadow That Scares Me, No More Lies: The Myth and Reality of American History, Dick Gregory's Natural Diet for Folks Who Eat: Cookin' With Mother Nature, and Dick Gregory's Bible Tales. Mr. Gregory has also co-authored, with Mark Lane, a serious book on the life and death of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther. King, Jr., entitled Code Name Zorro: The Murder of Martin Luther King Jr. Many of Mr. Gregory's books have sold over a million copies, and his latest book, Callus On My Soul:A Memoir, with Shelia Moses, is destined to be his biggest seller yet. Mr. Gregory's humorous social commentaries on American culture have also reached millions of people through seven talk recordings. In another first, one of his talk records sold over one million copies becoming the first platinum talk record.

By 1967, Mr. Gregory's involvements with social causes had expanded to include the civil rights movement, the human rights movement, and the peace movement. Following the example of Mahatma Ghandi, Mr. Gregory first fasted, consuming only distilled waterfor..40days to protest the Vietnam War. Since that first fast in 1967, Mr. Gregory has fasted over l00 times, often to call attention to important social problems. For example, he fasted for 45 days in Olympia, WA while in jail for demonstrating in support of Native American fishing rights. In 1969, he fasted for 45 days in the Cook County Jail Illinois after being imprisoned for protesting de facto segregation in the Chicago Public School system. To call attention to the problem of drug addiction in America, he consumed only water for 81 days in 1970. In another protest against the killing in Indochina, he ate no solid food from April 24, 1971 until the Vietnam War ended. Mi. Gregory and his wife Lillian helped expose the My Lai Massacre during which American soldiers were filmed killing innocent civilians during the Vietnam War.

In 1980, he went to Iran during the hostage crisis to fast, consuming only water for 100 days, and pray for a non-violent resolution to the situation. Ayatollah Khomeini met with him and later thanked him for his vigil. Upon leaving Iran, the Ayatollah's personal secretary asked Mr. Gregory to deliver a message to President Jimmy Carter. The message informed President Carter that the remaining hostages would be freed during President Regan's inauguration.

Not unlike Dr. King or Gandhi, Mr. Gregory is destined to be remembered as a non-violent man totally committed to his causes. He uses fasting, prayer, and other peaceful means to stir our conscience and move our hearts to recognize the dignity and divinity of every human being. He continues to use all his talents and resources to improve the plight of the poor, the needy, the hungry, and the less fortunate among us. Although Mr. Gregory continues to use fasting and prayer to call us to respond to human suffering, he is also researching and implementing his own concrete solutions to four difficult social problems; world hunger, drug addiction, the relatively poor health of Black America, and the low economic status of Black America.

In the area of global hunger, Mr. Gregory spent over a million dollars researching a nutritional solution. Starting in 1974, he developed the 4XFormula,a nutritional formula that requires no cooking or refrigeration. To call attention to world hunger, Mr. Gregory ran from Los Angeles to New York City in 1976, averaging 50 miles per day for 71 days. During this time, he consumed only his 4X Formula. In 1981,he sponsored research on the effects of starvation on the human body by having doctors monitor his body during a 70 day fast in New Orleans. After starving himself for these 70 days, Mr. Gregory consumed only 4X Formula and proceeded to run and walk the 80 miles to Baton Rouge, LA, against his doctors' advice. He did this to prove to the world's health community that a starving person needs nutrition more than food.

Responding to the famine in East African 1985, Mr. Gregory made numerous trips to Ethiopia and other African countries donating over 2.,600pounds of his 4X Formula. Not only did his actions reduce the cost of rehabilitating a starving child in Ethiopia from $4.00 to 45 cents per day, but the children taking the4X Formula showed such marked improvement that the Ethiopian government made the formula available throughout all of the country’s rehabilitation centers. After seeing firsthand the human suffering and death caused by famine, Mr. Gregory vowed to make his formula available to the entire world's hungry people. He then fasted consuming only water, for an incredible 167 days, to again call upon America and the world to do more to end the suffering of the hungry.

The importance of Mr. Gregory's 4X Formula should not be underestimated. In economic terms, major corporations have offered him up to $90 million for it. Mr. Gregory has turned down these offers and instead wants to use the economic value of his formula based products to significantly improve the wealth of Black Americans. To this end, Mr. Gregory established Dick Gregory Health Enterprises, Inc., to insure that Black people were the first instead of the last to receive the economic and health benefits of his products. In 1985, the SCLC awarded Mr. Gregory the "Drum Major for Justice" Award for Black business and economic development. Significantly, Mr. Gregory received this award for the tremendous economic benefits that Black people accrued in less than one year by distributing his first 4X Formula-based products, Dick Gregory's Slim Safe Bahamian Diet.

Mr. Gregory is an outspoken critic of America’s drug problem. He personally gave up smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol in 1968 in favor of a healthier lifestyle. In 1973, to protest alcohol abuse, he lost millions of dollars in future income by refusing to perform as a comedian in any nightclub that serves alcohol. His research into nutrition and the effects of starvation on the human body also led to the development of a nutritional solution to drug addiction. In 1986, he introduced, again based upon the 4X Formula, the Correction Connection, a product that reduces an addict’s craving for drugs. In the late 1980's and early 1990's, Father George Clements, Mr. Reggie Toran, and Mr. Gregory demonstrated in drug infested neighborhoods across the country to stop the open drug dealing being blatantly ignored by local, state, and federal policing agencies. During a protest in 1996, Mr. Gregory was arrested on the steps of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in Washington, DC. His actions were designed to call attention to the DEA’s failure to stop at least one billion dollars worth of known cocaine shipments into the inner cities from outside U.S. borders during the 1980s.

Mr. Gregory was born and raised in extreme poverty in a fatherly less home. After breaking out of the cycle of poverty that continues to enslave many, he has not forgotten those still trapped. The poor, the needy, and the disregarded still call on him for help, knowing that he always responds. Mr. Gregory answers the calls of such .leaders as Martin Luther King, Jr., Rev. Al Sharpton, and Minister Louis Farrakhan. He still gives up over a million dollars annually in lost bookings to have the time to protest drug dealing, racial profiling, and police brutality, among other human rights causes. Thank God that Mr. Gregory is here to protest the horrible killings by police officers of young innocent Black women and men like TyishaMiller, LaTanya Haggerty, and Amadou Diallo, and the tragic police beatings of Rodney King and Abner Louima. However, much of what he has done will go without notice and reward in this world.

It is only by Divine Intervention and Protection that the many assassination attempts on Mr. Gregory's life have failed. As he says, "The Universal. Order protects me from being killed by this racist system.'" Four thousand years ago, the Prophet Elijah said, "... the people of Israel have... slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even. I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away." (I Kings J9:14) And now, in Mr. Gregory's latest book, Callus On My Soul, he correctly points out that most of the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement were killed. He is one of the few left. The closest they came to murdering Mr. Gregory was when they killed his good friend Mike Watley. In a case of mistaken identity, because he was driving Mr. Gregory's car, Mr.Watley was killed in a hit-and-run accident. Suspiciously, there were no witnesses on this busy night in Boston. What ever they did to kill Mr. Watley, they made sure that every bone in this 300-pound man's body was shattered into pieces.

Mr. Gregory and his family have risked and committed their lives to improving the condition of humanity here and abroad. Never deterred in the face of evil, Dick stated, "We will march through your dogs! And if you get some elephants, we'll march through them. And bring on your tigers and well march through them." He has transcended this world and reached a plateau few persons ever reach. In the Spirit of Elijah and John the Baptist, Mr. Gregory's lecture or act is a once-in-two-thousand-year event. For your soul's sake, it is something you do not want to miss.

Dr. Manning Marable

Dr. MarableDr. Manning Marable is one of America’s most influential and widely read scholars. Since 1993, Dr. Marable has been Professor of Public Affairs, Political Science, History and African-American Studies at Columbia University in New York City. For ten years, Dr. Marable was founding director of the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University, from 1993 to 2003. Under Dr. Marable’s leadership, the Institute became one of the nation’s most prestigious centers of scholarship on the black American experience.

Born in 1950, Dr. Marable received his B.A. degree from Earlham College in 1971, his M.A. degree in American History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1972 and his Ph.D. in American History from the University of Maryland in 1976. Before coming to Columbia, Dr. Marable was previously Senior Research Associate of Africana Studies at Cornell University (1980-1982); Professor of History and Economics, and Director of the Race Relations Institute at Fisk University (1982-1983); Professor of Sociology and founding director of Colgate University’s Africana and Latin American Studies Program (1983-1986); Chair of the Black Studies Department at Ohio State University (1987-1989); and Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder (1989-1993).

Dr. Marable is a prolific author. Since earning his Ph.D. three decades ago, he has written almost 200 articles in academic journals and edited volumes. He has written and/or edited 21 books and scholarly anthologies, including Living Black History: How Reimagining the African-American Past Can Remake America’s Racial Future (New York: Basic Civitas Books, 2006); Co-editor with Myrlie Evers Williams, The Autobiography of Medgar Evers: A Hero’s Life and Legacy Revealed Through His Writings, Letters, and Speeches (New York: Basic Civitas Books, 2005); Editor, The New Black Renaissance (Boulder, Colorado: Paradigm Publishers, 2005); W.E.B. Du Bois, Black Radical Democrat, New Updated Edition (Boulder, Colorado: Paradigm Publishers, 2005); The Great Wells of Democracy: The Meaning of Race in American Life (New York: Basic Civitas Books, 2003); Freedom On My Mind: The Columbia Documentary History of the African American Experience (New York: Columbia University Press, 2003); Co-author with Leith Mullings, Freedom (London: Phaidon, 2002); Co-editor with Leith Mullings, Let Nobody Turn Us Around: Voices of Resistance, Reform, and Renewal: An African-American Anthology (Lanham, Maryland: Rowan and Littlefield, 2000); Editor, Dispatches from the Ebony Tower: Intellectuals Confront the African American Experience (New York: Columbia University Press, 2000); Black Leadership (New York: Columbia University Press, 1998); Black Liberation in Conservative America (Boston: South End Press, 1997); Speaking Truth to Power (Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1996); Beyond Black and White (London: Verso, 1995); Race, Reform and Rebellion: The Second Reconstruction in Black America, 1945-1990 (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1991); Black American Politics (London: Verso, 1985); and How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America (Boston: South End Press, 1983).

His current books-in-progress include: Co-editor, with Keesha Middlemass and Ian Steinberg, Racism, Criminal Justice and the Law (forthcoming, tentatively in 2007); Co-editor, with Ian Steinberg, Race, Globalization and Empire (forthcoming, tentatively in 2007); and a comprehensive biography of African-American leader Malcolm X (El Hajj Malik El Shabazz), entitled: Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention (New York: Viking, 2009).

Professor Marable is a national leader in the development of web-based, educational resources on the African American experience. With Columbia’s Center for New Media Teaching and Learning, he has directed the production of two courses on W.E.B. Du Bois and Malcolm X, respectively; a multimedia version of Du Bois’s The Souls of Black Folk, in 2001; and a massive multimedia version of The Autobiography of Malcolm X, featuring 440 historical annotations, 78 newsreel and film clip footage of Malcolm X, 216 photographs, over 200 government documents and original oral history interviews with Malcolm X’s friends and associates. In 2005 Dr. Marable and members of his Malcolm X Biography Project designed the content for the multimedia educational kiosks featured at the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center at the historic Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan, the site of Malcolm X’s 1965 assassination.

In 2002, Dr. Marable established the Center for Contemporary Black History (CCBH) at Columbia University, an advanced research and publications center that examines black leadership and politics, culture and society. CCBH produces Souls, a quarterly academic journal of African-American Studies, which is published and distributed internationally by Taylor and Francis Publishers. With the support of the Open Society Institute (Soros Foundation), CCBH’s Africana Criminal Justice Project has
conducted a national survey of Black Studies departments to promote the development of new courses on race, crime and justice; compiled hundreds of original texts in an African American archive examining “the meaning of justice” throughout black history; and taught courses on hip hop culture and critical criminology inside Riker’s Island Correctional Facility in New York City. CCBH also directs the digital knowledge production of Black Studies educational resources.

Since 1976, Dr. Marable has written a political commentary series, “Along the Color Line,” that appears in over four hundred newspapers and journals worldwide. He is regularly featured in national and international media. He donates much of his time fundraising and speaking on behalf of prisoners’ rights, labor, civil rights, faith-based institutions, and other social justice organizations. Dr. Marable lectures annually in Sing Sing Prison, Ossining, New York, in a Master’s Degree Program for prisoners.

Judith Jamison

Judith Jamison"When you come to the theatre open your head and your heart and your mind because we are there to transform you. I’ve lived a life in this skin, I’ve been round the world a million times and I’m a human being who has seen the world, so I’m giving you that perspective."-Jamison

Remarks by Alvin Ailey Faculty Member Tracy Inman On Behalf of Ms. Judith Jamison at the AEA Foundation’s 2004 Paul Robeson Award Ceremony:

In 1965 when Judith Jamison joined the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, she had no idea that performing a solo called “Cry” would catapult her to the forefront of the dance world; that the dramatic athleticism of her commanding performances would serve as an inspiration and symbol of strength and courage for thousands who felt that they lacked the typical aesthetic of what a dancer should be; that she too, would be opening doors for aspiring performers around the world.

As choreographer and Artistic Director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, her creativity, insight, humility, integrity and passion have brought the joy of dance to thousands around the world. She is a visionary who has expanded and vaulted the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater to a whole new dimension.

Jamison looks into the void and sees possibilities for dancers, students and children. She believes in history and the idea of “Sankofa” which is: “We don’t know where we are going unless we know where we’ve been”.

She believes in passing on traditions, by welcoming all who have passed through her school and the companies, to come back and share our knowledge and experiences with a new generation of dancers. Her generosity toward her staff and dancers propel (them) to excel and work even harder to promote the ideals of the craft and to give back to the people; that, which came from the people.

She is an ambassador whose skill and leadership has made Mr. Ailey’s dream of building a home for his company a reality, and a beacon for all artists who wish to serve humanity and exemplifies world citizenship.

Biography: (from AEA website article)
Judith Jamison was appointed Artistic Director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in December 1989 at the request of her mentor, Alvin Ailey. A native of Philadelphia, she studied with Marion Cuyjet, was discovered by Agnes de Mille and made her New York debut with American Ballet Theatre in 1964.

She became a member of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1965 and danced with the company for 15 years to great acclaim. Recognizing her extraordinary talent, Mr. Ailey created some of his most enduring roles for her, most notably the tour de force solo, Cry. After leaving the Company in 1980, Ms. Jamison appeared as a guest artist with ballet companies all over the world and starred in the hit Broadway musical Sophisticated Ladies. In 1988, she formed her own company, The Jamison Project.

As a highly regarded choreographer, Ms. Jamison has created works for many companies. She is also a master teacher, lecturer and author. Her autobiography, Dancing Spirit, was edited by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and published by Doubleday in 1993.

She is a noted authority on modern dance and an advocate for education in the arts. She is the recipient of many awards and honorary degrees, including a prime time Emmy Award and an American Choreography Award for Outstanding Choreography in the PBS "Great Performances: Dance In America" special, A Hymn for Alvin Ailey, and an honorary doctorate from Howard University. In December 1999, Ms. Jamison was presented with the Kennedy Center Honor, recognizing her lifetime contributions to American culture through the performing arts.

In 2001, Jamison was presented with a National Medal of Arts, the most prestigious award presented to artists in the United States. She has also received the “Making a Difference” Award by the NAACP ACT-SO.

As Artistic Director of The Ailey School, Ms. Jamison continues Mr. Ailey's practice of showcasing the talents of emerging choreographers from within the ranks of the Company. She is dedicated to asserting the prominence of the arts in our culture, spearheading initiatives to bring dance into the community and programs that introduce children to the arts. She remains committed to promoting the significance of the Ailey legacy--dance as a medium for honoring the past, celebrating the present and fearlessly reaching into the future.

Kevin Maynor

Kevin MaynorMr. Maynor is well-known in both the concert halls and opera houses, he has sung roles with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, New York City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Opera Orchestra of New York, Cincinnati Opera, Teatro Municipal of Santiago, Edmonton Opera, L'Opera de Montreal, Florida Grand Opera, Opera National du Rhin of France, Dallas Opera, Opera Company of Boston, The Spoleto Festival, Opera Pacific, The Saratov Opera in Russia and Scottish Opera, among others. He has also sung with the symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Forth Worth, Quebec, New Orleans, Milwaukee and the Buffalo and Long Island Philharmonic, The New World Symphony, The American Symphony, among others. Mr. Maynor has sung everywhere from Carnegie Hall to The Beijing Concert Hall in China. As a recitalist, Kevin Maynor has received praise throughout North America, South America, Europe, Australasia and Africa as well as Asia including India and China.

Kevin MaynorReviewing Kevin Maynor's CD Paul Robeson Remembered, Fanfare magazine exclaimed. "This is a super voice, a voice to compare not only to Robeson but also to Alexander Kipnis, to Boris Christoff, even to Ezio Pinza-in other words to the very greatest bass voices of the century."

Mr. Maynor has scored success in over 40 operatic roles in five different languages. The first apprentice artist from the West to study at the Bolshoi in Moscow, Mr. Maynor is a Fulbright Award winner and a recipient of the George London Award as well as a Richard Tucker Career Grant winner. Critics have praised his charismatic stage presence as well as his superb voice and powerful, resonant tone" and the jewel in his dark bass voice."

During 2004-2005 Kevin Maynor performs Tom with Florida Grand Opera in Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera, and sings three multi media thematic concerts at the prestigious AUCKLAND FESTIVAL. In 2005-2006 he performs in Recital at Winston Salem University, a concert at The Schomburg in New York City, followed by the Beethoven Ninth in West Virginia. Mr. Maynor's 2003 - 2004 season included performances at the Kravis Center of West Palm Beach. Florida, where he performed his thematic MULTIMEDIA recital, The Repertoire of Paul Robeson and repeated the Verdi Requiem in Eugene Oregon with the Eugene Concert Choir and gave a recital at the University of Oregon with master classes. The American Bass sang at the Vivaldi Festival at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall in New York. . Returning to Avery Fisher Hall with The Little Orchestra Society singing the role of Balthazaar in Menotti's Amahl and The Night Visitors and performing a Dvorak Centennial Concert for the Dvorak Society of New York, Kevin Maynor performed the World Premiere of new songs by Jack Beeson and the Pulitzer prize winner George Walker, at Smith College in North Hampton, Massachusetts. .Mr. Maynor's engagements for the 2002-2003 season included performances of Samuel in Un Ballo in Maschera with the Pittsburgh Opera, Verdi's Requiem with the Canton Symphony Orchestra , the Prologue to Mephistopheles with the Virginia Symphony and Julius Rudel, King Balthazaar in Amahl and the Night Visitors with the Little Orchestra Society of New York at Avery Fisher Hall, Dumar's American Requiem with the Phoenix Symphony, and recitals in Sacramento, New York , New Jersey and The U.S. State Department for the Kala Ghoda Festival in India. Mr. Maynor's engagements for the 2001-2002 season included performances as Joe in Showboat with Opera National du Rhin in Strasbourg, France, and as Sparafucile in Rigoletto with the Sacramento Opera, recitals in Chicago at Northwestern University, in Boston at The Afro-American History Museum, and Long Island; and a special concert of spirituals with The New World Symphony. During July of 2001, he performed at the Grant Park Music Festival.

Mr. Maynor's 2000-2001 season included performances as Timur in Turandot with Minnesota Opera; as Sparafucile in Rigoletto with Knoxville Opera: as Hunding in Die Walkeure with Austin Lyric Opera; and as Zaccaria in Nabucco with Pacific Opera Victoria. During last season, Mr. Maynor also appeared in recital throughout the United States, and he hosted 17 different shows for the New York City PBS stations Metro Arts/ Thirteen/WNET. In May of 2000, he sang at The Supreme Court of the United States of America.

Most Recently, Mr. Maynor gave performances as Don Basilo in IL Barbiere di Siviglia with the New York City Opera, both Fafner in Das Rheingoldand Colline in La Boheme with Dallas Opera, Daland in Der Fliegende Hollander with Sacramento Opera, Sparafucile in Rigoletto with Mississippi Opera, Shostakovich's Song of the Forest with the Kalamazoo Symphony, a centenary tribute to Paul Robeson in Ocean Grove, New Jersey, and appeared in recital in Beijing, China sponsored by Arts America. Highlights of his 1997-98 season include Pimen in Boris Goudonov with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the cook in the world premiere of Anthony Davis Amistad with Lyric Opera of Chicago, and a series of recitals and master classes in China sponsored by the Rockefeller foundation and the Pew Charitable Trust Foundation. In the summer of 1997 he had great success in South Africa with The Biko Project a recital program he designed and performed at both the Grahamstown Festival and the Market Theatre in Johannesburg. In the 1999-2000 season he appeared at the Sobinov Festival in Russia where he sang the King in Aida and did a tribute recital to Paul Robeson. Mr. Maynor sang in Akhnaten with Boston Lyric Opera, performed the King in Aida with Austin Lyric Opera, the title roles in Boris Gudonov and Mephistofele with the Erie Philharmonic, Fafner in Das Rheingold with L'Opera de Montreal; the Berlioz Romeo et Juliette with the Flint Symphony, Raymond in Lucia di Lammemoor with Mobile Opera and returned to China to sing a series of Recitals.

Mr. Maynor has sung Hunding in Die Walkeure with both Scottish Opera and Opera Pacific, Fafner in Das Rheingold with the Opera del Teatro Municipal in Santiago, Chile, and has sung Sargasso in Die Zauberflote in many theaters. Mr. Maynor made his New York City Opera debut in Philip Glass' Akhnaten, and later appeared at the Metropolitan Opera House, where he sang the roles of both the Armchair and the Tree in Ravel's L 'Enfant et Les Sortileges with the Netherlands Dance Theater. His impressive list of opera credits also includes the San Francisco, Boston, Seattle, and Santa Fe Operas. His festival credits include Wolf Trap, Spoleto, and the American Opera Festival in Cincinnati and the Music Under the Stars Festival in Milwaukee. He performed in the world premieres of Ulyssess Kay's Frederick Douglass with New Jersey State Opera (in which he sang the title role) and Anthony Davis' X with the America Music Theater Festival in Philadelphia.

Mr. Maynor is also a gifted recitalist and has performed a wide variety of programs throughout North America as well as France, England and Spain. He has appeared as soloist with orchestras across the country including the Buffalo Philharmonic, Fort Worth Symphony, New Orleans Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, the Long Island Philharmonic as well as the Quebec Symphony in Canada. He has worked with such conductors as Dennis Russell Davies, Sarah Caldwell, Christopher Keene, Klaus Donath, Gabor Otvos, Ferdinand Leitner, John Maucieri, Richard Woitach, Eve Queler, Robert Shaw and Julius Rudel.

Kevin Maynor has recorded for Telic, Fleur de Son Classics, Guild, Legato Records, and Sony Music (Beijing). Mr. Maynor has a diploma from the Manhattan School of Music, a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Bradley University, a Masters degree from Northwestern University and an Honorary Degree from the Moscow Conservatory. While in Bologna, Italy he studied with Paula Molina at the Teatro Communal di Bologna. He is currently a Doctoral candidate at Indiana University in Bloomington.

OPERATIC ROLES
1. SARASTRO
2. OSMIN
3 MEFISTOFELE
4. HAGEN
5. PIMEN
6. KING PHILLIP
7. DALAND
8. JOE
9. COMMENDATORE
10. ARKEL
and ETC....

RING PRODUCTIONS:
1 .SCOTTISH OPERA
2 .TEATRO MUNICIPAL DE SANTIAGO
3. DALLAS OPERA
4. SAN FRANCISCO OPERA
5. SEATTLE OPERA

Paul Robeson

Paul RobesonTwentieth-century American artist-activist Paul Robeson dedicated his life to championing the causes of oppressed people from around the world. His leadership, talents, suffering and honor inspired millions around the world. Robeson was a true super hero – a civil rights activist, stage performer, academic and athlete -in the face of tremendous government and societal opposition. He brought down walls of misunderstanding and barriers to achievement and never compromised his political beliefs or his holistic, peaceful worldview, even during times of great social discord and violence.

Paul Robeson was born in Princeton, New Jersey on April 9, 1898 to Rev. William Robeson, a former slave. In 1915 Robeson was awarded an academic scholarship to Rutgers University, and become the third black student in the school’s history during a time of overt hostile racism on campus. Robeson excelled and graduated top in his class and earned twelve letters in athletics, including those for baseball, basketball, football, and track.

Robeson received a law degree from Columbia University in 1923 and went to work on Wall Street, only to face discrimination in his practice. Searching for an outlet to achieve recognition for his talents and to proudly represent his race, he turned to his earlier passion for the stage and began starring in plays and musicals. But even at the height of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s his roles on the stage and in film disappointed him, for he had set out to promote his culture but could not escape racial stereotypes.

During the 1930s Robeson’s career took him around the world where he learned many languages, exchanged cultural and political notes, studied the trade union movement and adopted a philosophy that would shape his life. He realized he need to fight for all oppressed people around the world, not just blacks, and embraced performance art as a unique and powerful forum that can bridge cultural divides and promote peace. He abandoned acting and devoted his attentions to singing, where he found the freedom to control his materials and incorporate his human rights agenda into revolutionary folk songs and concerts. He rose to celebrity harnessing his musical success and socio-political controversy.

The power of his success, however, branded him as very dangerous to the establishment, for they feared his leadership would lead to a massive uprising. During the Cold War Robeson outspokenly sided with the Soviet Union, protesting that their country was far more progressive on the issue of racial tolerance. He asked African-Americans not to support the U.S. government while it continued to deny blacks civil liberties. In 1947 the House Committee on Un-American Activities named Robeson to the enemy list and denied him a passport. Concert hall doors closed to him, the media misquoted and demonized him and eventually the black establishment shunned him as well. His inability to counter the negative publicity during the very conservative, intolerant American mainstream climate of the 1950s brought his career to a halting conclusion.

Robeson died on January 23, 1976, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His legacy lives on and is celebrated throughout the world.

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