I was there – Peekskill 1949
On August 27, 1949, Paul Robeson was scheduled to sing at a concert sponsored by the music group People’s Artists at the Lakeland Acres Picnic Grounds, a few miles north of Peekskill, New York, about fifty miles north of New York City. This was a favorite summer resort area frequented by progressive intellectuals, especially because of its proximity to Croton-on-Hudson, where many progressive artists and writers lived. The author, Howard Fast, who was vacationing in Croton-on-Hudson, was asked to chair the concert.
Peekskill remembered
The concert scheduled for Aug. 27, 1949, in Peekskill, N.Y., was supposed to be routine. Though it had been organized by People's Artists, a brand new spin-off organization of the People's Songs formation that had launched the Weavers into the top-40 charts, it was the fourth such concert to benefit the Harlem Chapter of the Civil Rights Congress.
