The Peekskill Riots: Episode Three “Up on the Hillside, Down in the Hollow”

The Riot of August 27th, 1949 - The Peekskill Riots Ep. 3: "Up on the Hillside, Down in the Hollow"

On August 27th, 1949, a Paul Robeson concert was violently attacked outside Peekskill, NY. 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. Years of bubbling hatred in Peekskill, NY finally burst.

This third episode of a 5-part docu-series 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.