The Unbeaten Mind: A Novel Based on Historic Event

"Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists."

-Franklin D. Roosevelt

On September 4, 1907, hatred and intolerance tore Bellingham, Washington, apart at the seams.

A brewing labor dispute over the presence of immigrant workers in the lumber mills boiled into unspeakable violence when Caucasian members of the Asiatic Exclusion League attacked Sikhs, dragging them from their homes and beating them without mercy. These victims were savagely robbed of their possessions, their dignity, and any sense of safety in their homes. In the days following the riots, hundreds of South Asian Indians were driven out of town. Hundreds fled to Canada for safe harbor. Hundreds more were incarcerated "for their own protection."

None of their white attackers ever saw the inside of a jail cell.

A novel inspired by both these tragic events and the inspirational people who risked everything to start new lives in a new and often unwelcoming country, Unbeaten Mind is the story of one family whose patriarch, Nand Johal Singh, emigrated from Punjab, India, to the United States at the turn of the twentieth century. When Nand Singh, his grandson, first learned of his grandfather's involvement in the Bellingham riots, he was horrified and shocked. That shock inspired curiosity, and soon the young man launched himself into an enthusiastic exploration of his personal family history.

What he discovered is proof that while a body can be beaten, an honorable mind remains strong, proud, and resilient.