Paul Robeson speaks to reporters on August 28, 1949, about the riot in Peekskill where he was supposed to sing. The local KKK (yes, there was one) objected to his open admiration for Communism (as well as, no doubt, his color) and tore down the stage on which he was supposed to appear. Busloads of Harlem residents had gone to the concert, a benefit for the Harlem chapter of the Civil Rights Congress. Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and Lee Hays were also on the bill. The ensuing riot injured eight people, two seriously.
Robeson asked Governor Thomas Dewey to open an investigation of the riot, but he refused.
In 1958, a kiss made civil rights history. It happened in Monroe, North Carolina. Two African American children, James Hanover Thompson and David Simpson, were said to have kissed a girl who was white. They were arrested and accused of rape.