Peekskill Riots

The so-called Peekskill Riots were anti-communist riots (with anti-black and anti-Semitic undertones) that took place at Van Cortlandtville, Westchester County, New York in 1949.

The catalyst for the rioting was an announced concert by black singer Paul Robeson, who was well known for his strong stand on civil rights and his communist sympathies. 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. Thirteen people were seriously injured before the police intervened. The concert was postponed until September 4.

The re-scheduled concert itself was free from violence, though marred by the presence of a police helicopter overhead. It was located on the grounds of the Hollow Brook Golf Course in Cortlandt Manor, near the original site of the concert. Twenty-thousand people showed up. Security, organized by labor unions, was tight, and Robeson, along with musicians such as Pete Seeger, performed without incident. The aftermath of the concert, however, was far from peaceful. As they drove away, concertgoers were forced to run a gauntlet miles long of hostile locals, veterans, and outside agitators, who threw rocks through windshields of the cars and buses. One car carried Woody Guthrie, Lee Hays, Pete Seeger, Seeger's wife Toshi, and his infant children. Guthrie pinned a shirt to the inside of the window to stop it shattering. "Wouldn't you know it, Woody pinned up a red shirt," Hays was to remember. [Courtney, Steve. " [http://www.bencourtney.com/hays/ So Long to Lee Hays.] " "North County News", 2-8 September, 1981.] Seeger used some of the thrown rocks to build the chimney of his cabin in the Town of Fishkill, NY, to stand as a reminder of that incident. [Reisler, Jim. " [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E04E6D61F39F930A25755C0A96F958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all To Pete Seeger, It's Still the Song of the River.] " "New York Times", 13 June, 1999.]

Standing off the angry mob of rioters, some of the concertgoers, and union members, along with writer Howard Fast and others assembled a non-violent line of resistance, locked arms, and sang the song "We Shall Not Be Moved." Some people were reportedly dragged from their vehicles and beaten. Over 140 people were injured and numerous vehicles were severely damaged as police stood by. [Seeger, Pete. in Brave Nation video " [http://bravenation.com/pete_seeger_majora_carter.php Police inaction, at 10:00 minutes in.] "]

Following the riots, more than 300 people went to Albany to voice their indignation to Governor Thomas Dewey, who refused to meet with them, blaming communists for provoking the violence.Fact|date=November 2007 Twenty-seven plaintiffs filed a civil suit against Westchester County and two veterans groups. The charges were dismissed three years later.

In recent years, Westchester County has gone to great lengths to make amends to the survivors of the Riots by holding a commemorative ceremony, at which an apology was made for their treatment.Fact|date=November 2007

Causes of the Riots

The roots of the hostile reaction to the concerts deserves scrutiny, particularly as three Robeson concerts had previously been performed in Peekskill without an incident. Certainly over the previous years Robeson had been increasingly vocal against the Ku Klux Klan, and there was a racial element to the riots (there is no credible evidence that the KKK had an active chapter in the area although this is suggested in most references). Most importantly, perhaps, is Robeson's transformation from someone who was primarily a singer into a political persona. Robeson had appeared before the House Unamerican Activities Committee to oppose a bill that would require communists to register as foreign agents, and, just months before the concert in 1949, he had appeared at the World Peace Conference in Paris, stating "it is unthinkable that American Negroes will go to war in behalf of those who have oppressed us for generations . . . against a country which in one generation has raised our people to the full dignity of mankind."Fact|date=November 2007 In the early stages of the Cold War and Red scare, and its accompanying wide anti-Communist sentiments, such a comment was seen by many as very anti-American. The local paper, "The Peekskill Evening Star", condemned the concert and encouraged people to make their position on communism felt, but fell short of espousing violence.

The Peekskill Riots in Fiction

*The Peekskill riots appears in E.L. Doctorow's novel "The Book of Daniel". Paul Isaacson leaves the bus to reason with the mob, and is beaten up by them.
*The riots figure prominently in T.C. Boyle's "World's End". The protagonist's parents serve as local organizers of the concert.

The Peekskill Riots in Audio and Video

*Song: "Hold the Line" recorded by Pete Seeger and The Weavers
*Song: "My Thirty Thousand" written by Woody Guthrie and later recorded by Billy Bragg and Wilco
*Song: "The Peekskill Story" (Casetta/Hayes/Seeger) The Weavers with Howard Fast and Pete Seeger
*Radio: [http://www.npr.org/rundowns/segment.php?wfId=1058180 NPR's 50th anniversary commemoration] of Peekskill Riots
*Radio: [http://www.cathcom.net/maryknoll/radio/archive/2000/2007b.ram The Peekskill Riots] , Maryknoll Sisters radio documentary
*Video: "The Robeson Concerts"
*Film: [http://www.cabincreekfilms.com/meet_main.html Joe Glory]

References

External links

* [http://www.highlands.com/robeson/ The Robeson Concerts: Peekskill, New York, 1949]
* [http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/foiaindex_p.htm FBI documents on the Peekskill Riots] peekskil_riots.htm document removed
*Courtney, Steve. [http://www.bencourtney.com/peekskillriots/ "Peekskill's days of infamy: The Robeson riots of 1949,"] "The Reporter Dispatch", September 5, 1982. Sec. AA: pp.1,4-5.
* Silverstein, Richard. [http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2004/06/16/the-peekskill-n/ "Peekskill Riots--1949."] [Weblog entry] "Tikun Olam: Make the World a Better Place". June 16, 2004.