Podcast appearances and mentions of Peter B Levy

In his new history of the hundreds of race riots that erupted across the country in the 1960s, historian Peter B. Levy offers a gripping look at the violence in York, Pa. in the summers of 1968 and 1969, resulting in the deaths of a white police officer and a black woman from South Carolina. The deaths of Officer Henry Schaad and Lillie Belle Allen went unsolved until the daily newspapers in York published 30-year retrospectives on the riots. Those reports led to new investigations that pinned Allen's death on members of white gangs and complicit police officers, including one, Charlie Robertson, who went on to become York's mayor. Two black men were charged in Officer Schaad's death. Levy, a professor of history at York College, lives in Towson. He is the author of, ----The Great Uprising: Race Riots in Urban America during the 1960s,---- published by Cambridge University Press. Levy will be a guest on an upcoming episode to talk more about the uprisings of the 1960s, including those in Baltimore and Cambridge, Maryland.For more about the York riots: ----Silent no more: The murder of Lillie Belle Allen,---- by Kim Strong, and ----40 Years Later: A Different York,---- by Mike Argento.

Between 1963 and 1972 America experienced over 750 urban revolts. Considered collectively, they comprise what Peter Levy terms a 'Great Uprising'. Levy examines these uprisings over the arc of the entire decade, in various cities across America. He challenges both conservative and liberal interpretations, emphasizing that these riots must be placed within historical context to be properly understood.By focusing on three cities as case studies -- Cambridge and Baltimore, Maryland, and York, Pennsylvania -- Levy demonstrates the impact which these uprisings had on millions of ordinary Americans. He shows how conservatives profited politically by constructing a misleading narrative of their causes, and also suggests that the riots did not represent a sharp break or rupture from the civil rights movement. Finally, Levy presents a cautionary tale by challenging us to consider if the conditions that produced this 'Great Uprising' are still predominant in American culture today.Peter B. Levy is a professor of history at York College of Pennsylvania where he teaches U.S. history. He is the author of Civil War on Race Street: The Civil Rights Movement in Cambridge, Maryland.Writers LIVE programs are supported in part by The Miss Howard Hubbard Adult Programming Fund.

Between 1963 and 1972 America experienced over 750 urban revolts. Considered collectively, they comprise what Peter Levy terms a 'Great Uprising'. Levy examines these uprisings over the arc of the entire decade, in various cities across America. He challenges both conservative and liberal interpretations, emphasizing that these riots must be placed within historical context to be properly understood.By focusing on three cities as case studies -- Cambridge and Baltimore, Maryland, and York, Pennsylvania -- Levy demonstrates the impact which these uprisings had on millions of ordinary Americans. He shows how conservatives profited politically by constructing a misleading narrative of their causes, and also suggests that the riots did not represent a sharp break or rupture from the civil rights movement. Finally, Levy presents a cautionary tale by challenging us to consider if the conditions that produced this 'Great Uprising' are still predominant in American culture today.Peter B. Levy is a professor of history at York College of Pennsylvania where he teaches U.S. history. He is the author of Civil War on Race Street: The Civil Rights Movement in Cambridge, Maryland.Writers LIVE programs are supported in part by The Miss Howard Hubbard Adult Programming Fund.Recorded On: Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Dr. Peter B. Levy is a professor of history at York College in York, Pennsylvania. He was born and raised in northern California, where he attended the University of California, Berkeley, and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1978. Dr. Levy went on to study at Columbia University in New York City, where he earned both his Master’s degree and his Ph.D. in 1980 and 1986 respectively. He currently lives in Towson, Maryland with his wife. Dr. Levy is a specialist in recent American history. He gives courses on Modern America, Women, Race, and Economic History. Dr. Levy’s publications include: Civil War on Race Street: The Civil Rights Movement in Cambridge, Maryland; the Encyclopedia of the Clinton Presidency; Let Freedom Ring: A Documentary on the Modern Civil Rights Movement; The Civil Rights Movement: Guides to Historic Events of the Twentieth Century; The New Left and Labor in the 1960s; and, America in the Sixties - Right, Left, and Center. Currently Dr. Levy is working on a study of natural disasters in America.Our interview will examine Dr. Levy’s forthcoming work, “Revisiting the Urban Revolts of the 1960s: York, Pennsylvania—A Case Study,” which will appear in The Seedtime, the Work, and the Harvest: New Perspectives on the Black Freedom Struggle (Florida University Press, 2018).