Proud of smashing autos and beating concert-goers: 1949
Youth participating in a demonstration sponsored by Joint Veterans Council of Peekskill, N.Y. proudly show off their work after attacking concert-goers at a scheduled Paul Robeson concert there August 27, 1949.
The concert, organized as a benefit for the Civil Rights Congress, was scheduled to take place on August 27 in Lakeland Acres, just north of Peekskill. Before Robeson arrived, a mob of locals attacked concert-goers with baseball bats and rocks.
This was in the period where the second Red Scare was sweeping the country. The trial of 11 Communist Party leaders was well underway and moves to expel communist-led or influenced unions from the CIO had already begun.
Though Robeson had performed in Peekskill before without incident, the climate had changed.
In recent years Robeson had been increasingly vocal against the Ku Klux Klan and other forces of white supremacy, both domestically and internationally.
Robeson specifically made a transformation from someone who was primarily a singer into a political persona with a vocal support for the decolonization of Africa, anti-Jim Crow legislation, and peace with the USSR.
Robeson had also appeared before the House Committee on Un-American Activities to oppose a bill that would require communists to register as foreign agents
The local police arrived hours later and did little to intervene. Thirteen people were seriously injured, Robeson was lynched in effigy and a cross seen burning on an adjacent hillside.
The rioters formed a phalanx on the one road leading to the grounds and forced concert-goers who attempted to leave the venue to run a gauntlet.
Robeson drove with Helen Rosen, a Peekskill resident, and two others to the concert site and saw marauding groups of young people, a burning cross on a nearby hill and a jeering crowd throwing rocks and chanting "Dirty Commie" and "Dirty Kikes."
Robeson made more than one attempt to get out of the car and confront the mob but was restrained by his friends.
The Joint Veterans Council of Peekskill refused to admit any involvement, describing its activities as a "protest parade... held without disorder and... perfectly disbanded."
Peekskill police officials said the picnic grounds had been outside their jurisdiction; a state police spokesman said there had never been a request for state troopers.
The commander of Peekskill Post 274 of the American Legion stated: "Our objective was to prevent the Paul Robeson concert and I think our objective was reached."
Following the riot, protest meetings were held around the country including Washington, D.C. and another concert was organized for Peekskill.
The rescheduled September 4, 1949 concert itself was free from violence, though marred by the presence of a police helicopter overhead and the flushing out of at least one sniper's nest.
The concert was located on the grounds of the old Hollow Brook Golf Course in Cortlandt Manor, near the site of the original concert. Twenty thousand people showed up. Security was organized by the Communist Party and Communist dominated labor unions.
The men were directed by the Communist Party and some unions to form a line around the outer edge of the concert area and were sitting with Robeson on the stage.
They were there to fight any protestors who objected to Robeson's presence. They effectively kept the local police from the concert area. Robeson and the musicians performed without incident.
--description partially excerpted from Wikipedia
For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHsm8P6hXn
The photographer is unknown. The image is by World Wide Photos and is housed at the D.C. Library Washington Star Collection © Washington Post.
Proud of smashing autos and beating concert-goers: 1949
Youth participating in a demonstration sponsored by Joint Veterans Council of Peekskill, N.Y. proudly show off their work after attacking concert-goers at a scheduled Paul Robeson concert there August 27, 1949.
The concert, organized as a benefit for the Civil Rights Congress, was scheduled to take place on August 27 in Lakeland Acres, just north of Peekskill. Before Robeson arrived, a mob of locals attacked concert-goers with baseball bats and rocks.
This was in the period where the second Red Scare was sweeping the country. The trial of 11 Communist Party leaders was well underway and moves to expel communist-led or influenced unions from the CIO had already begun.
Though Robeson had performed in Peekskill before without incident, the climate had changed.
In recent years Robeson had been increasingly vocal against the Ku Klux Klan and other forces of white supremacy, both domestically and internationally.
Robeson specifically made a transformation from someone who was primarily a singer into a political persona with a vocal support for the decolonization of Africa, anti-Jim Crow legislation, and peace with the USSR.
Robeson had also appeared before the House Committee on Un-American Activities to oppose a bill that would require communists to register as foreign agents
The local police arrived hours later and did little to intervene. Thirteen people were seriously injured, Robeson was lynched in effigy and a cross seen burning on an adjacent hillside.
The rioters formed a phalanx on the one road leading to the grounds and forced concert-goers who attempted to leave the venue to run a gauntlet.
Robeson drove with Helen Rosen, a Peekskill resident, and two others to the concert site and saw marauding groups of young people, a burning cross on a nearby hill and a jeering crowd throwing rocks and chanting "Dirty Commie" and "Dirty Kikes."
Robeson made more than one attempt to get out of the car and confront the mob but was restrained by his friends.
The Joint Veterans Council of Peekskill refused to admit any involvement, describing its activities as a "protest parade... held without disorder and... perfectly disbanded."
Peekskill police officials said the picnic grounds had been outside their jurisdiction; a state police spokesman said there had never been a request for state troopers.
The commander of Peekskill Post 274 of the American Legion stated: "Our objective was to prevent the Paul Robeson concert and I think our objective was reached."
Following the riot, protest meetings were held around the country including Washington, D.C. and another concert was organized for Peekskill.
The rescheduled September 4, 1949 concert itself was free from violence, though marred by the presence of a police helicopter overhead and the flushing out of at least one sniper's nest.
The concert was located on the grounds of the old Hollow Brook Golf Course in Cortlandt Manor, near the site of the original concert. Twenty thousand people showed up. Security was organized by the Communist Party and Communist dominated labor unions.
The men were directed by the Communist Party and some unions to form a line around the outer edge of the concert area and were sitting with Robeson on the stage.
They were there to fight any protestors who objected to Robeson's presence. They effectively kept the local police from the concert area. Robeson and the musicians performed without incident.
--description partially excerpted from Wikipedia
For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHsm8P6hXn
The photographer is unknown. The image is by World Wide Photos and is housed at the D.C. Library Washington Star Collection © Washington Post.