Digital History Seminar: 20th Century Spain

The War in Spain

The stance of the U.S. not to get involved with the Spanish Civil War lead to the U.S. State Department to order, “Not Valid For Spain” in all caps, to be stamped on all passports. That would have meant that if any Americans wanted to travel to Spain, they would have to do that illegally. So as a strategy, the Abraham Lincoln Brigade would sail to France pretending to be tourist and then would cross the border into Spain. Not too long after the U.S.’s decision, France would close their border to Spain in 1937. Now, the volunteers could only reach Spain by climbing the Pyrenees Mountains at Night. Why go through all this trouble? Theses risk are very high. For the African American, it was the only option in some people’s mind. The mentality of, having nothing to lose, is the very mentality these men and women have, especially the blacks. 

When African American got to Spain, after all the obstacles, they found that life in Spain was very different from what they had in the United States. When the brigades would march the cities of Spain, Marion Noble, a white volunteer, said “Spanish women showered the Black men with smiles and flowers.” Luchelle McDaniels would say, “I never felt more like a free man.”
It interesting to hear that a man how to feel like a man, in a foreign country. It could even say that about himself in his own native-born country. 
 

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