Acclaimed baritone James C. Martin, with pianist Lynn Raley, will celebrate Paul Robeson’s enduring artistic and political legacy through a program of his best-loved songs and bravest words. The performance takes inspiration from Robeson’s celebrated 1958 Carnegie Hall appearance and explores the remarkable life of a singer, actor, athlete, lawyer, and activist whose voice continues to resonate.
The event carries particular resonance in Greenwich Village, where Robeson’s theatrical career took flight in the 1920s and where he gave an early landmark concert dedicated to African-American songs.
We would be delighted for you to attend, preview, or cover the performance. Please let me know if you would like to arrange press attendance, request additional information, or explore an interview opportunity with the artists.
For full event details:
https://www.thevillagetrip.com/event/let-freedom-sing-paul-robeson/
NEW YORK, NY – SEPTEMBER 15, 2026 — The Village Trip Festival celebrates Paul Robeson – Artist, Activist, Renaissance Man
“As an artist I come to sing, but as a citizen, I will always speak for peace, and no one can silence me in this.” — Paul Robeson
By the time he died, in January 1976, Paul Robeson had been all but invisible for a couple of decades, persecuted and isolated by a government that weaponized fear to suppress free speech and civil rights. A dark time to which we thought we would never return. Yet fifty years on, our times are even darker as government forces – their powers made more dangerous and wide-ranging by technologies we can’t fully comprehend – seek to intimidate all who dissent from its views.
Paul Robeson was a true renaissance man. A professional football player and lawyer as well as an actor and singer, he used his great voice to speak out against injustice wherever he saw it, and to sing out for the dispossessed, whatever the personal cost. “Artists are the gatekeepers of truth,” he once said. “We are civilization’s radical voice.” A giant of a man, literally and metaphorically, he refused to be intimidated, and he stands today as an example to us all of courage amid the greatest adversity.
Download and view the full September 15 Media Release >>