Don Palabraz

[Interview Part II] The Nicest Kids in Town: American Bandstand, Rock ‘n’ Roll, and the Struggle for Civil Rights

Dick Clark’s American Bandstand television program is iconic, but was it really an early promoter of racial integration? The question is one extensively delved into by Scripps College American Studies Professor Matt Delmont in his new book The Nicest Kids in Town: American Bandstand, Rock ‘n’ Roll, and the Struggle for Civil Rights in 1950′s [...]

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Woody Guthrie’s Forgotten Christmas Song Inspires New Documentary Film

Sixty years ago, folk balladeer Woody Guthrie penned “1913 Massacre,” a solemn song about a Christmas Eve tragedy in Michigan. The recording, much like the labor history behind it, is not as well known as it deserves to be. Hoping to bring both to greater attention, filmmakers inspired by “1913 Massacre” have completed an in-depth [...]

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[Repost] 100th Anniversary: Santa Maria de Iquique Massacre

(Originally published in Znet on December, 19th 2007) *Here’s an article I wrote about an infamous massacre of miners in Chile to mark its 100th anniversary in 2007. Click the bracketed ellipsis to read the full story. On December 21st, Chileans will commemorate the one-hundredth anniversary of the Santa Maria de Iquique massacre. The tragic [...]

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Book Review: ‘Smeltertown’ by Monica Perales

In writing Smeltertown: Making and Remembering a Southwest Border Community, University of Houston assistant professor of history Monica Perales, tells the important story of how the Southwest border community shaped or made the lives of those who lived and worked there before it was ultimately leveled for lead contamination four decades ago. Perales, a former [...]

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Salvador Allende’s Official Cause of Death: Revolutionary Suicide

Two months after the body of former Chilean President Salvador Allende was exhumed, a team of international forensic scientists have officially ruled his death a suicide. There had been speculation as to whether the U.S.-backed right-wing military that deposed of his democratically elected socialist government had also deposed of him murderously after attacking the Moneda [...]

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