Program Description
Event Details
Join us for the first episode in our three-part Peekskill Riots film series! We welcome documentary filmmaker, Jon Scott Bennett for this screening of The Peekskill Riots: Episode One, The Mighty Oak in the Forest.
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 along with 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 Paul Robeson? What did he do? What did he stand for? Find out more through a screening and discussion with Jon Scott Bennett, documentary filmmaker.