rally to help save the Slave Theater a Bed-Sty landmark February 23, 2008

Slave Theater
1215 Fulton Street
Brooklyn, New York 11216

There will be a Rally this Saturday, February 23rd 2008 from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM to raise awareness in the Community about what's going on with the historic property know as the Slave Theater located at 1215 Fulton Street between Bedford Avenue and Arlington Place in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighbourhood of Brooklyn NYC.



The Rally will also honour the memory and work of the property’s previous owner, the late NY Civil Court Judge John L. Phillips Jr. At the Rally there will also be information and discussion about what happened to the money and property of this Bed-Stuy resident who was once a millionaire property owner but whose fortune and property (including the Slave Theater) became a bone of contention in the Courts and is now completely depleted.

The then named Regent Theater was already a century-old when Judge Phillip bought and renamed it in early 1980s. According to the NY Times, it was called Slave No. 1 Theater “so that no one would ever forget our struggles . . . or what we, as black people, have gone through.” Judge Phillips also turned the inside of the Regent into an homage to African-American history. The walls are lined with portraits of Malcolm X, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Marcus Garvey and Kwame Nkrumah, the founder of Ghana.

The Slave Theater became famous outside the neighborhood as a nationwide icon of activism starting in the 1980’s when it hosted speeches and rallies by such nationally know figures as the Reverend Al Sharpton. After the illness of Judge Phillips the theatre went unused, a situation many wish to reverse and bring it back to its former glory as a vital part of the community.

Brenda Fryson, chairwoman of Brooklyn’s Community Board 3 who is a leader in the effort to get landmark status for the theater was quoted in the NY Times as saying “The Slave Theater is definitely a community treasure . . . It really is a great part of our history in this neighborhood.”

A partial list of those organizing the event includes: John Clark, Emmani Taylor, Pop Gaskins in conjunction with The Universal Hip Hop Parade Foundation, The Brooklyn International Black Film Festival, Queens of New York and The Committee To Honor Black Heroes. Also scheduled to attend is NY City Councilman Charles Barron.

It is hoped that the rally will assist in keeping this historic building from being sold to property developers and allow it instead to gain landmark status and continue to serve the people of the neighbourhood.

For more information please contact:

Added by universalhiphopparade on February 22, 2008

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