First Amendment Cultural Team (www.fact-usa.com)
First Annual First Amendment Rally
FDR Library Hyde Park – July 4 2026 – 1 pm
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
On July 4th, after the magnificent Hyde Park Independence Day Parade, and concurrently with that day's naturalization ceremony at FDR's home, the FDR campus hosted, by kind permission of the National Parks Service, at its designated "Speakers Corner", a First Amendment Rally.
About 100 neighbors joined the First Amendment Culture Team and leading local representatives of the Arts, Education, the Media, Government, and Faith-based communities, the Dutchess County Historical Association, and the Judiciary to celebrate the Five Freedoms of the First Amendment to the Constitution.
Inspired by performances of "This Land is Your Land..." by veteran folk -singer Steve Stanne and "Lift Every Voice and Sing..." by local Gospel singer Dinesa Johnson, attendees learned from the Historical Society's Executive Director Bill Jeffway how New York - and Poughkeepsie - played a key role in the development of the Bill of Rights, and how fitting it is to hold this Rally at the home of Franklin Roosevelt, who coined the wartime expression of the "Four Freedoms", and from retired NY Court of Appeals Judge Al Rosenblatt that the First Amendment is our nation's fundamental call for citizen participation in government, regardless of political affiliation.
Former County poet laureate, Poet Gold shared two wonderful poems "Common Ground", and the glorious audience participation piece "Elevate".
Congressman Pat Ryan sent a powerful call for community participation: "The First Amendment is what sets our ambitious 250 year experiment in democracy apart from others. There is nothing more American than exercising (your) rights, living freely, and making your voice heard."
Called to action by the Congressman’s compelling words, and inspired by former County Poet Laureate, Poet Gold, speakers from the Interfaith Council, Immigrant and Women's Rights groups, Education, the Arts, Local Government, and Celebrating the African Spirit, encouraged attendees to roll up their sleeves and join the effort to ensure constitutional rights for all Speakers included
• From the Interfaith Council, Executive Director John McKenna and, from the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, President and Vice-President Soyal Smalls and Paula Greenspan
• From Bard College Dr. Michael Tibbetts and from Arlington High School social studies teacher Brendan Lawler (also Hyde Park's County Legislator), who called for expanded academic focus on civic and engagement.
• From local government, Pleasant Valley Town Councilor Dan Degan and County Legislator Lisa Kaul, who called for civility and respect in community interactions.
• Local activists Muriel Horowitz and Elinor Levy who spoke to the disproportionate abuses of first amendment rights in the experience of women and immigrants.
• Carmen McGill, Co-Founder and Co-Chair of Celebrating the African Spirit, and sponsor of the annual Frederick Douglass day gathering in Poughkeepsie on August 1, who reminded the crowd of Douglass' warning against indifference and complacency in the treatment of the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples
• Brett Bernardini, Board Chair of Arts Mid-Hudson, who praised the resiliency of arts and humanities organizations, artists, libraries, and the media in the face of ideological prejudice, bureaucratic paralysis, and grant rescissions.
• Dr. Jackie Berry, a candidate for Dr. World North America, educator and psychologist who warned of the damage done internationally when America appears to be abandoning its principles, as has been the case in the termination of Voice of America
Dutchess Youth was eloquently represented by Akeliyah Fray and Julissa Estrada Clavel, members of Mayor Flowers' Youth Leadership in Government program, Hyde Park/DCC graduate Lily Piro (now a rising senior at Binghamton
University), and Lucas Argow, a student at DCC and member of the County's Youth Board and Coordinating Council.
The gathering concluded with the students reading all ten amendments of the Bill of Rights
While in many ways it was inevitably a solemn occasion, given the pandemic evidence of rights denied and justice deferred, of assemblies prohibited and protests disrupted, the crowd embraced the joys of celebrating the "semi -quincentennial" while recognizing that much work is needed for the bending of the arc of the moral universe and the forming of a more perfect union. Sector speakers embraced the promise of collective engagement and mutual resourcefulness. The presence of youthful and creative voices underscored a shared hope that, in the words of Abraham Lincoln, government of the people by the people for the people shall not perish from the earth.
As Frederick Douglass put it "The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused!" Information Gully Stanford