Peekskill Riots Episode 3: Up on the Hillside, Down in the Hollow

On August 27, 1949, a Paul Robeson concert was violently attacked outside Peekskill, New York.  The concert was for the benefit of the Civil Rights Congress and advertised to the Jewish and Black working-class, summer residents in the Hudson Valley. The Peekskill Evening Star and local veteran's groups--harboring disdain towards Robeson and the summer residents--organized a protest parade to stop the concert from taking place. What transpired was a horrific riot, in which innocent men, women, and children hoping to attend Paul Robeson's concert were attacked. Rocks, bottles, and other projectiles were thrown, while cars were turned over with passengers inside. All of this occurred under the wicked light of a burning cross, as years of bubbling hatred in Peekskill finally burst.

This third episode of a 5-part docu-series presented by Jon Scott Bennett, local historian, focuses on the first of the two Peekskill Riots and the unprecedented level of violence that turned Peekskill from a small riverside city into the center of national controversy.