Don Palabraz

The Truly Blind Side

An article in yesterday’s edition of the Los Angeles Times noted that “The Blind Side,” starring Sandra Bullock was becoming a sleeper hit film by unconventional means. Unlike mega-blockbusters, the cinematic tale of a rich white Christian family taking in a young homeless black teenager has grossed big box office numbers through small towns. Based [...]

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Subversive Historian – 11/10/09

The Wilmington Race Riot of 1898 Back in the day on November 10th, 1898, the Wilmington Race Riot occurred in North Carolina. At least twenty-two blacks were killed by white racist members of the Democratic Party as a municipal coup d’etat was staged. Emboldened by a post-reconstruction general election that brought the party back in power [...]

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Subversive Historian – 10/22/09

{Nelson Mandela circa 1962} The Trial of Nelson Mandela Back in the day on October 22nd, 1962, Nelson Mandela stood trial for inciting workers to strike and for leaving South Africa without a passport. The African National Congress member set out to put the injustices of the government itself on trial as he took up the task [...]

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Subversive Historian – 10/21/09

William Lloyd Garrison and the Boston Riot Back in the day on October 21st, 1835, fierce abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison was attacked by a racist mob. In an incident that has come to be known by history as the “Boston Riot,” the advocate for the immediate emancipation of slaves was dragged from a meeting of the [...]

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Subversive Historian – 10/20/09

The Johnny Bright Incident Back in the day on October 20th, 1957, the Johnny Bright Incident occurred. During a college football game, a white player named Wilbanks Smith from Oklahoma A&M broke the jaw of Johnny Bright, a talented African-American halfback/quarterback from Drake University. Taking place in the first seven minutes of the game at Lewis [...]

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