Paul Robeson Birthday Special! - The Peekskill Riots: Episode One

As a special birthday celebration for Paul Robeson we will be screening the First Episode of The Peekskill Riots docu-series at the Peekskill Field Library on April 9th, 2025 at 6:30 PM. There will be a Q&A held afterward hosted by Jon Scott Bennett.

On August 27 and September 4th, 1949, violence broke out at two concerts held outside Peekskill, NY, headlined by black singer, actor, and activist Paul Robeson. Citizens of Peekskill, galvanized by racist and anti-Semitic sentiments and disdain for Robeson’s left-wing views and campaign for civil rights, started two riots that resulted in hundreds of injuries, made national news, and unofficially marked the beginning of the McCarthy era, which would nearly erase Robeson from the public consciousness. Who was he? What did he do? What did he stand for? These questions must be answered in order to understand what brought him to Peekskill.

This first episode of a 5-part docu-series serves not only as an introduction to the story of the concerts, but also introduces the headlining performer, Paul Robeson, the first and last casualty of The Peekskill Riots.