Black History Month 2026: The Montgomery Riverfront Brawl

Day 28

I couldn’t end Black History Month without talking about the Montgomery Riverfront Brawl!

It goes without saying, but I’m saying it anyway: I do not condone violence! I am recounting these events for strictly comedic purposes and am not saying this is how people should behave when facing racism.

You can read all the boring details in the article linked below [1]. In summary, a racist white family illegally parked their boat in a dock meant for steamboats, preventing one of the boats coming in from docking. With people stranded in the water, one of the dock workers (who was Black) politely asked the family to move and they refused. The family attacked the worker, leading to a brawl where family got into a fight with multiple other Black workers from the company, culminating in one of the family members being hit with a folding chair. The family was arrested, leading to some hilarious mugshots.

Unfortunately for the Black workers who were attacked, the police didn’t charge any of the family members with a hate crime. It did lead to bunch of great memes, though.

Over 100 years ago, Black inventor Nathaniel Alexander patented the folding chair [2]. Though he’s no longer alive today, I’m sure he would smile at the thought of his invention being used in the defense of his people!

Sources:

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montgomery_Riverfront_brawl

[2] https://hyperallergic.com/the-black-history-of-the-montgomery-brawl-folding-chair/

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