THE MARCH ON WASHINGTON: A COMMEMORATION

The Allendale Branch Library presents the concluding program in its month-long celebration of the 50th anniversary of the August 28, 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, a watershed in the struggle for civil rights in the United States. The March, which culminated with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial, is widely credited with helping to pass the Civil Rights Act (1964) and the Voting Rights Act (1965).
On Saturday, August 31, at 2:00 p.m., the Allendale Branch Library will feature folk singer Ross Altman in a program of folk music originally performed at the March on Washington by Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Len Chandler, Odetta, and Peter, Paul and Mary. The performance will also include a few songs that became prominent in the months leading up to the March from the 1963 Newport Folk Festival with Pete Seeger and the Mississippi Freedom Singers, and in the aftermath (such as Richard Farina’s “Birmingham Sunday”), and will conclude with a 50th anniversary remembrance of the assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. The program, which is open to the public and free of charge, will be held at 1130 S. Marengo Ave., Pasadena, CA 91106. Light refreshments will be served.
A folk singer, guitarist, and music historian, Ross Altman continues in the tradition of Woody Guthrie “to comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable.” He grew up on the folk music of Guthrie, Leadbelly, Pete Seeger, Burl Ives, Theodore Bikel, Josh White, Big Bill Broonzy, and later on Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Phil Ochs, Tom Paxton, and Malvina Reynolds. In addition to his busy performance schedule, Altman writes a regular column for FolkWorks, Southern California’s free folk music magazine. His recording and music publishing company, Grey Goose Music, is named after a children’s song by Leadbelly about an indestructible goose.
Throughout the month of August, the Allendale Branch Library is featuring a display of photographs and books related to the March on Washington, in addition to a daily posting on the March on its Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/allendalebranch?fref=ts.
Date & Time: Saturday, August 31, 2013, 2:00 p.m.
Location: Allendale Branch Library
Address: 1130 S. Marengo Ave., Pasadena, CA 91106
Information: (626) 744-7260 or visit pasadenapubliclibrary.net

For further information, contact the Allendale Branch Library at (626) 744-7260 or visit pasadenapubliclibrary.net.

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