The Peekskill Riots: Episode Four “A Long Ways From Home” Screening

The Peekskill Riots: Episode Four “A Long Ways From Home” Screening at the Warner Library

On September 4th, 1949, roughly 30,000 people were attacked after attending a Paul Robeson concert. A similar concert was prevented from happening the previous week by a racist and anti-Semitic mob. These attacks had thrown the small upstate community into a national controversy, prompting supporters of Robeson to organize a second concert to defend his right to perform and speak freely. With the Governor promising an unprecedented level of police protection, many felt secure in attending the concert, assuming violence would not break out again. While the concert was peacefully conducted, attendees would be ambushed upon leaving the concert grounds. Projectiles and hateful epithets alike were hurled at the exiting cars and buses. Hundreds of attendees left the grounds bloodied, bruised, and outright maimed.This fourth episode of a 5-part docu-series focuses on the second of the two Peekskill Riots of 1949 when the worst riot in the region’s history would unfold before the eyes of the world.