(Paul Robeson) PEEKSKILL CONCERT RIOT (1949) Press photo

Np: Associated Press, 1949. Vintage original 8 x 10″ (20 x 25 cm) black-and-white photo. Slight creasing, September 6, 1949, date stamp on verso, near fine or better.

On August 27, 1949, Paul Robeson headlined a concert on behalf of the Civil Rights Congress, in Lakeland Acres, just north of Peekskill, NY. A mob of locals attacked concertgoers with baseball bats and rocks, and Robeson was hanged in effigy. The concert was rescheduled for September 4, 1949. Although various online sources indicate that that concert was free from violence, this photo clearly proves otherwise, as it shows people hurling rocks at cars of concertgoers. In the late 1940s, Robeson himself was increasingly reviled by the media, who had no sympathy for his affiliation with the Communist Party of America.