Peekskill: USA. A Personal Experience [Signed by Fast, Robeson, and Patterson]

[New York]: Civil Rights Congress, 1951. First Edition. First Printing, wrappered issue. Octavo (20cm); original printed card wrappers; [6],7-127,[1]pp; illus. Signed on the half-title page by Robeson, Patterson, and Fast. Gentle sunning to spine, moderate wear and a few faint creases to wrappers, though contents are clean and unmarked; Very Good and sound. Fast's detailed eye-witness account of the 1949 Peekskill riots, which took place after Paul Robeson's benefit concerts for the Civil Rights Congress in Westchester County, NY. The riots took place on August 27th and September 4th, 1949, when thousands of right-wing demonstrators attacked the (mostly Black and Jewish) audience of Robeson's concerts. National outrage against NY Governor Dewey and the local police's failure to protect citizens and concert-goer's was swift, though the mainstream press and local officials largely blamed the victims for bringing the violence upon themselves. BLOCKSON 8309. 82506. (Inventory #: 82506)