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Peekskill riot

    Black and white photo. Paul Robeson is shown preparing to speak at a standing microphone on a stage located in front of a large, multibranched tree. Robeson wears a suit. On and below the stage are five male bodyguards wearing light-colored garrison hats. Hatless women and men comprise the rest of the audience in the photo.

    Protected by volunteer bodyguards from the Fur & Leatherworkers Union, Paul Robeson sings at a microphone at the Hollow Brook Golf Club, near Peekskill. As the crowd of 15,000–12,000 concert goers left the venue, violence broke out, unleashed by disaffected World War I veterans who protested the gathering as pro-communist.

    4 Sept. 1949
    Copyright
    No restrictions found in author’s review
    Attribution/Credit

    Acme Telephoto, bought out in 1952; New York Telegram & the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection, Library of Congress Digital Collections, via Library of Congress, “Today in History–Sept. 4,” https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/september-04/