On this day, Nov. 28, in 1987, Tawana Brawley is found covered with feces and wrapped in garbage bags in New York, sparking a media controversy. Fifteen-year-old Brawley claimed six white men, including police officers, raped her, and wrote racial epithets on her body.

The allegations caused widespread outrage, and the Rev. Al Sharpton and other advisers mobilized in support of the teenager.