Fighting rages in Peekskill, N.Y., on Aug. 27,1949, as veterans break up a scheduled concert by singer Paul Robeson. AP PhotoFew Americans today know about the events that occurred 75 years ago in the small Hudson Valley community of Peekskill, New York. That’s where a riot broke out at a folk concert that marked a significant turning point in the political landscape of the post-World War II era.
The riot sharpened the dividing lines and raised the stakes in the coming anti-communist Red Scare that would dominate the political climate of the 1950s and beyond.
It showed, too, how the destructive power of hatred can gain legitimacy in a time of political turmoil.
We can see similarities to our own time, for example, in the U.S. Capitol insurrection, when a mob committed seemingly senseless acts of violence. We hear echoes of Peekskill, too, in the political rhetoric of Donald Trump and