Over the past year, local documentarian and filmmaker Jon Scott Bennett has premiered three episodes of The Peekskill Riots, his five-part docu-series, at The Field Library. On Tuesday, January 21, 2025, at 6:30 p.m., he will introduce the fourth chapter, “A Long Ways From Home.”
The Peekskill Riots explores events leading up to the 1949 riots, the people involved, the riots themselves, and the aftermath. Chapter Four focuses on the second of two successive riots, when 30,000 people would be attacked, marking the beginning of the McCarthy era, when verbal rhetoric turned into physical violence.
On September 4, 1949, roughly 30,000 people were attacked after attending a concert by celebrated singer Paul Robeson. A similar concert was prevented from happening the previous week by a racist and antisemitic mob. The attacks had thrown Peekskill into a national controversy, prompting supporters of Robeson to organize a second concert to defend his right to perform and speak freely.
With the New York governor promising an unprecedented level of police protection, many felt secure attending the concert, assuming violence would not break out again. The concert itself was peaceful, but attendees would be ambushed upon leaving the concert grounds. Projectiles and hateful epithets were hurled at exiting cars and buses. Hundreds of attendees left the grounds bloodied, bruised, and even maimed. The worst riot in the region’s history would unfold before the eyes of the world.
Documentarian Jon Scott Bennett has gained recognition for his coverage of the Peekskill riots of 1949 and his previous films covering under-discussed history, including The Pound Ridge Massacre and The Leatherman. Bennett aims to reach both in-person and online audiences to share with as many people as possible the important stories hidden in our backyard.
For further background, see the July 2024 article by Peekskill Herald contributor Steve Pavlopoulos, “The Peekskill Riots” docuseries takes a deep dive into an ugly chapter of our story.
The first four chapters of The Peekskill Riots are currently available at www.JonScottBennett.com. Visitors to his website also can view Bennett’s other documentary films, including The Pound Ridge Massacre and The Leatherman.
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