A close relative of Paul Robeson, whose 1949 concerts sparked the Peekskill Riots, called Peekskill “the most progressive community in Westchester,” as it seeks to honor the Black actor, singer, and activist through the Robeson in Peekskill project.
Gregory Robeson-Smith Jr., Robeson’s grand-nephew and the pastor of the Mount Hope AMA Zionist Church in White Plains, says the grass-roots initiative to promote awareness of the 75th anniversary of the infamous event is an important acknowledgement not only of his great -uncle’s pivotal role in the civil rights movement, but of the evolution of the city.
“It’s a remembrance from whence we have come, and where we should be going,” said Robeson-Smith Jr. in a recent interview with Wendy Talio, founder of the Living Artist Society, the nonprofit that organized the project. “The most difficult thing for any individual to do is admit that they were wrong, they made a mistake. Peekskill said ‘we regret what happened.’”
The project’s first celebration of Robeson will be performances of “Here I Stand, Paul Robeson: A Life and Legacy in Word and Song,” which will take place in Cortlandt Manor on September 12, and at Peekskill’s Paramount Hudson Valley Theater on September 15.
Talio hopes the concerts will bring greater awareness to Robeson, whose commitment to using his artistic voice to break racial barriers and shine a spotlight on injustice, aligns closely with her nonprofit’s goals. The Living Artist Society, she said, supports artists who work in the space of community development and social justice issues. “He’s my hero,” she added.
Talio, a long-time resident of Cortlandt Manor, says that she first became aware of the Peekskill Riots and the heroism of Robeson only four years ago. She was surprised that an event so significant seemed to exist entirely under the radar.
In a casual conversation with a fellow history buff she learned that on August 27, 1949, Robeson had scheduled a benefit concert for the Civil Rights Congress to take place just outside of Peekskill. Residents of Peekskill, and other nearby towns, galvanized by racist and anti-Semitic sentiments and disdain for Robeson’s left-wing views, started a riot and attacked concert goers with sticks and rocks. Robeson, undaunted, rescheduled the concert for Sept 4 again provoking the anger of a white mob who burned his image in effigy. The riots resulted in hundreds of injuries, made national news, and unofficially marked the beginning of the McCarthy era.
Talio found she was not alone in being unaware of the riots and so, as someone who was interested in exploring how residents would like to see their neighborhoods evolve, she wanted to know more. She soon realized why they were not front and center in our local history.
“The riots were ugly,” she said. “It’s a bad memory to a lot of people and it was especially ugly from a national perspective because there was a premeditated aspect to it. Rioters prepared,lining up rocks to attack people as they left the concert. Who wants to draw that up?” The fact that Robeson, an accomplished athlete, lawyer, actor and performer (he is perhaps best known for his rendition of Ol’ Man River from “Showboat”) was later questioned by the House Committee on Un-American Activities and persecuted for the next decade further relegated him to the back pages of our memory.
Learning about this particular chapter in history, Talio said, sparked her interest in, “Robeson, as an incredibly accomplished person who faced the most extreme pushback.” She read Robeson’s book, Here I Stand, which detailed his thoughts on the struggle for equality, and began digging into the story of his life and work. She was already thinking of ways to honor his legacy when, in 2023, she received an invitation to a performance of “Here I Stand” at Lincoln Center to mark what would have been Robeson’s 125th birthday. The program, which featured the Grammy Award winning bass baritone Mark. S Doss, highlighted the “spirituals, folk songs, arias and all of the music that brought Robeson to stardom,” she said. “When I saw that, I immediately picked up the phone and called Mark’s manager and asked, ‘Do you think he would come up here and do it for the 75th [anniversary of the 1949 riots]?’”
The first performance of “Here I Stand,” a gala fundraiser that includes a dinner and reception, will take place at Hollow Brook Golf Club, 1060 Oregon Road, Cortlandt Manor, NY on September 12, 2024 at 6:00 PM. The location is on the site of the first riot. To reach as many people as possible, the program will be repeated at the Paramount Hudson Valley Theater in Peekskill on September 15 at 3:00 PM. Thanks to an Arts Alive grant from Arts Westchester plus the generosity of some sponsors, affordable ticket options are available. Kids 18 and under are free, with half-price admissions for students and seniors.
Talio says that Doss will share his experiences and personal connections to the work as he performs the repertoire along with Pegasus: The Orchestra. The program will be hosted by emcee, Aaron Mair, a graduate of Peekskill High School and past president of the Sierra Club. “He’s Westchester-born and is known as a pioneer in the environmental justice movement,” Talio explained. “He’ll be connecting the dots between Robeson’s career as an artist and civil rights advocate and how those things all intertwine.
“I feel really privileged to be putting this together,” said Talio, who plans to organize ongoing events and educational outreach in schools. She adds that the long term goal is “to construct a permanent, visible and accessible memorial because right now, there is nothing here to remind us.”
Talio wants the two performances to be “an experience. Something you leave feeling a little bit different,” she said. “And doing it in this community, we’re experiencing it together, so I really want people coming out of it feeling more connected to each other, more connected to our own past history and feeling more empowered to have something to say about where we’re going from here.”
For program tickets and information and to learn more about Living Artist Society’s Robeson in Peekskill project, head to www.robeson-in-peekskill.org.
