Drawing on materials donated by Kopple to New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, this chapter traces the contexts and significance of several aborted efforts by Kopple to dramatize the Peekskill riots, a series of violent events in 1949 in response to a planned concert by Paul Robeson. The chapter reviews the impacts of these events on Kopple’s childhood and early filmmaking career, including her developing racial consciousness and investments in documenting incidents of social crisis. The chapter suggests that these materials highlight Kopple’s inclinations as a storyteller when engaging with issues of race: her tendency to gloss over the nuances of systemic racism in an effort to sustain the momentum and emotional tug of the crisis narrative.
Review of: Robert J. Kisala and Mark R. Mullins, eds., Religion and Social Crisis in Japan: Understanding Japanese Society through the Aum Affair