'HE JUST KEEPS KEEPS ROLLIN' ALONG'
Bath singer celebrates legacy of Paul Robeson
By ROB PRICE THE COURIER-ADVOCATE

PHOTO BY ROB PRICE Kenneth Anderson, pictured above on the front steps of the Bath Presbyterian Church, will celebrate the music of Paul Robeson this afternoon at 171 Cedar Arts in Corning.

Baritone K enneth Anderson of Bath takes the stage at 4 p.m. today at 171 Cedar Arts, in Corning, as part of a two day salute to the late Martin Luther King Jr.

But Anderson, who settled in Bath in 2004, also plans to salute another hero of the civil rights movement: Paul Robeson, the civil rights activist who excelled both as athlete, actor, and singer.

Anderson has embraced Robeson's musical career since he retired as a regional director of the Long Island National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and a volunteer with the American civil Liberties Union. "I spend every day thinking, What would Paul do?" he told The Courier in an interview last week.

Anderson describes Robeson as "a Renaissance man," noting his string of extraordinary accomplishments in the racially segregated America of the early 20th century. Robeson was the third Afro-American to be accepted at Rutgers University and was inducted also into the university's Phi Beta Kappa Society. During his undergraduate career, he won 15 varsity letters and was a member of the 1918 and 1919 college All America football teams.

Robeson subsequently studied law at Columbia University, graduating from Columbia Law School in 1923. His law career was short, however, and he dedicated himself to the stage, resurrecting and arranging traditional Afro-American spirituals while also starring in path breaking dramas such as "The Emperor Jones" and "All God's Chillun got Wings." Robeson's "Othello," performed in New York, still holds the record for the longest running Shakespeare performance on Broadway.

But it's in Robeson's singing, and his love of Afro-American spirituals, that Anderson finds his deepest affinity. "Negro spirituals are America's original folk art music," Anderson said. "The slaves adapted Old Testament stories of deliverance and freedom, which flew in the face of racism. So, when I retired, I decided I would sing Negro spirituals. Not to entertain, but to educate."

Anderson's favorite spirituals - some of which he is bound to sing today - include "Precious Lord, Take My hand," "Did My Lord Deliver David?" "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child" and "Wade in the Water."

And he particularly loves one song popularized by Robeson that technically doesn't belong in the cannon of Afro-American spirituals. The song was written by the composers Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein for the musical "Showboat": "Ol' Man River."
Ah, gits weary
An' sick of tryin'
Ah'm tired of livin'
An' skeered of dyin',
But ol' man river,
He jes'keeps rollin' along!

"I like to dedicate that song to Robeson," Anderson said. "Every modern civil rights leader in this country stands on the shoulders of Paul Robeson."

Anderson, 79, sings regularly in the choir of the Bath Presbyterian Church. He also maintains a busy performance schedule, with recent performances as a guest member of the Chautauqua Choir and with renown folk singer Pete Seeger. A veteran of the U.S. Army, Anderson also performs regularly at the Bath VA, where he enjoys singing the national anthem, "America the Beautiful" and "God Bless America."

"I grew up singing," he says. "Now that's what I do. That's my life."