Celebrating Kosciuszko 200 | Movie Screening|

Thursday, October 15, at 6:00 p.m.
The Kosciuszko Foundation House: 15 E 65th Street, New York, NY 10065

Kosciuszko, A Man of Multiculturalism & Enlightenment
It's fitting that the namesake of an educational foundation was a champion of education for all. While Kosciuszko is known as a military hero and humanitarian, he also wrote: "Always remember that by nature, we are all equals, that wealth and education constitute the only difference."
For nearly a century, the Kosciuszko Foundation has been raising money to award educational grants to Poles and Polish-Americans. We lobbied UNESCO to declare 2017 The Year of Kosciuszko on the 200th anniversary of his death. And today, there are more statues of Thaddeus Kosciuszko in America than any historical figure except George Washington. Every day, millions of New York TV and radio listeners hear about traffic jams on the Kosciuszko Bridge. With the new bridge, hopefully some of that traffic will be relieved, just as Kosciuszko tried to relieve the struggles of the common man.
Kosciuszko gave his salary from the American Revolution to Thomas Jefferson and told him to buy African slaves – and free them. Kosciuszko fought for the rights of European serfs, slaves, Jews, Native-Americans and women.
A military strategist, Kosciuszko's plan won the Battle of Saratoga – the turning point of the war. He also built Fortress West Point, which Benedict Arnold tried to sell to the British in the most infamous act of treason in American history. When Kosciuszko spoke up for Native Americans, Chief Little Turtle of the Miami tribe gave him a peace pipe/tomahawk as a sign of appreciation.
In 1791, when Poland passed the first democratic Constitution in Europe, Russian, Austrian and Prussian monarchs sent armies to crush this new democracy. Kosciuszko led an army against the invaders to fight for rights for peasants, burghers and Jews. His ally Berek Joselewicz, formed the first wholly Jewish military unit since biblical times and called Kosciuszko "a messenger from God." Muslims, and even a black man named Jean Lapierre traveled to Poland to join Kosciuszko's multicultural revolution.
In his quest for liberty, Kosciuszko worked with George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and the French Revolutionaries while struggling against the tyranny of Russia's Catherine the Great and Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon called Kosciuszko "the hero of the North," and Russian Czarina Catherine offered a reward for anyone who could capture him "dead or alive." Jefferson called, Kosciuszko "as pure a son of liberty, as I have ever known." 
Kosciuszko was a hero who changed history and that is why we work to educate new generations of heroes who will do the same.

Alex Storozynski
Chairman of the Board of Trustees