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Digital History Seminar: 20th Century Spain

Black Panthers

July 28, 1968 - Oakland, California, USA: "Panthers on Parade" Panthers line up at a Free Huey rally in DeFremery Park, in west Oaklandâs ghetto. Light skinned man is Gregory Harrison. His brother, Oleander, went to Sacramento with Bobby Seale. (Stephen Shames/Polaris) On October 28, 1967, Oakland police officer John Frey was shot to death in an altercation with Huey P. Newton during a traffic stop. In the stop, Newton and backup officer Herbert Heanes also suffered gunshot wounds. Newton was convicted of voluntary manslaughter at trial, but the conviction was later overturned. At the time, Newton claimed that he had been falsely accused, leading to the "Free Huey" campaign. This incident gained the party even wider recognition by the radical American left. Newton was released after three years, when his conviction was reversed on appeal. As Newton awaited trial, the Black Panther party's "Free Huey" campaign developed alliances with numerous individuals, students and anti-war activists, "advancing an anti-imperialist political ideology that linked the oppression of antiwar protestors to the oppression of blacks and Vietnamese".The "Free Huey" campaign attracted black power organizations, New Left groups, and other activist groups. The Black Panther Party collaborated with the Peace and Freedom Party, which sought to promote a strong antiwar and antiracist politics in opposition to the establishment democratic party. The Black Panther Party provided needed legitimacy to the Peace and Freedom Party's racial politics and in return received invaluable support for the "Free Huey" campaign. The Black Panther Party was one of the most influential responses to racism and inequality in American history. The Panthers advocated armed self-defense to counter police brutality, and initiated a program of patrolling the police with guns and law books. Their enduring legacy is their programs, like Free Breakfast for Children, which helped to inspire a national movement of com

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After Spain In 1939 the war in Spain would end, and the volunteers would return back home. African Americans returned from Spain unified with their white brother, who they fought with. Upon arriving back home, there were two groups of people. The first group of people were the well-wishers. They greeted the veterans with kisses, hugs, and shouts. But the second group of people were people who did not honor their courage against fascism. FBI agents were there, as the men arrived, to arrest them and confiscated their passports. The New York reality set in. After Yates’ white fellow soldiers registered at a hotel, the clerk told him “No Vacancy.” Yates said he felt like he was back in the trenches again.

Though black had returned home to a different kind of warfare, they grew tougher. During World War II Yates served in a segregated U.S. Army Signal Corps unit, but because of his service in Spain, he had to be pulled out before his unit left for overseas. Veterans like Crawford Morgan (Pictured on the Left side of picture) and Joe Taylor had to serve in what Taylor called “nasty jobs.”

Not all stories post Spanish Civil War are bad. Luchelle McDaniels would work to integrate and led marches in South Africa and then to his home state of Mississippi. Walter Garland helped invent an improved Machine gun site. Salaria Kea enlisted in the U.S. Army Corps and her experience was highly valued. Jerry Weinberg won a Distinguished Flying Cross for bombing raids over enemy Romania, during WWII. In 1945 Sergeant Edward Carter Jr. was decorated for his extraordinary courage when he single handedly fought off a German squad and returned with two prisoners despite with eight shrapnel’s and bullet wounds. Talk about tough.

After Spain many Lincoln veteran, white and black, returned to fight for social right in the United States. Many supported the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr or the Black Power movement.

From 1964 to 1968 Yates served as president of the Greenwich Village-Chelsea chapter of the NAACP1, that sent food and supplies to civil rights activities in the state of Mississippi. Many more veteran would help rebuild community center, that were torn down by the KKK, others would march, and serve as teacher teaching medical care to African Americans in Mississippi.
Vaughn Love saw the fighters for South African Freedom as part of his battle against racism and fascism. The ALB became one of the first organizations to help send aid to the African National Congress, to demand the release of Nelson Mandela.2
African American who fought in Spain did not automatically embrace the civil rights policy of nonviolence. They thought that the entrenched bigotry would not bow to nonviolence preached by religious leaders. The “Black Power” movement attracted black veterans such as Harry Haywood.3

He talked about African American talking political power in their own hands.
The African American of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade never ceased their fight against fascism. They would carry it into World War II and into the long struggle for human Rights.