ALBA

During the Mac-Paps first action on October 13, 1937, at Fuentes de Ebro, he was ordered to move a machine gun up to support the advance of the Battalion and in carrying out the order was killed along with his entire gun team by long-range machine gun fire. Milton was killed in action. He was 29.

Milton Braxton Herndon three-quarters portrait photograph, undated.

Milton Herndon completed two years of high school and was a steel worker. By the mid-1930s he had joined the Communist party and become an organizer in Chicago. Milton departed for Europe aboard the American Importer on May 8, 1937. In Spain, Milton became section leader in the Mac-Paps.

Milton Braxton Herndon Passport Photograph, 1937.

Milton Braxton Herndon was born #otd in Wyoming, OH, 1908. Milton was the brother of Angelo Herndon, a Black Communist organizer who came to national notice after he was charged with "incitement to insurrection" and sentenced to death in Georgia in 1932. The conviction was eventually overturned.

AMB Volunteer Helen Freeman talks about she and other young nurses were mobilized and organized to fight for Spain #WomensHistoryMonth

This clip is from Into the Fire: American Women in the Spanish Civil War. Learn more about the film here: alba-valb.org/into-the-fire/

AMB Nurse Ruth Davidow talks about the tragedy of breaking a needle in Spain due to the limited medical supplies. #WomensHistoryMonth

This clip is from the documentary, The Good Fight: The Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War: alba-valb.org/the-good-fig...

Charles Blacky Sanborn two details from group photographs taken aboard the returning Manhattan. He is wearing a suit and tie and a beret, receiving a garland of flowers.

Charles Blacky Sanborn two details from group photographs taken aboard the returning Manhattan.

Charles "Blacky" Sanborn was born #otd in Pittsburgh, PA, in 1902. He was Native American and was in the US Navy for 5 years and joined the CP. He arrived in Spain on Sept. 14, 1937. He served with ALB and was WIA. Charles returned on August 4, 1938 (depicted). He died on July 14, 1966 in NYC.

Dhaga, Jose | The Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives Dhaga, Dr. Jose (Daga Venero, Jose); b. March 3 (6), 1898, Lima, Peru; Peruvian; AMB; X-Ray Technician; Domicile US; Sailed aboard the Aquitania; Arrived in Spain on July 10, 1937…

Dr. Dhaga was WIA on August 19, 1938 at the Ebro Front and recovered in the hospital at Tarrasa. He reached the rank of Lieutenant. Dr. Dhaga attempted to return to the US after the war but was denied re-entry and returned to Peru. Learn more about the volunteers: alba-valb.org/volunteers/j...

Dr. Jose Dhaga, British Battalion, May 1938, wearing a peaked cap and standing in front of a wall, his arms are behind his back. He is squinting in the sun.

Dr. Jose Dhaga may have been born #otd in Lima, Peru, in 1898. Dr. Dhaga worked as an x-ray technician in the US before he arrived in Spain on July 10, 1937. He served with the Republican Medical Service in Albacete, in a hospital at Huete, and later with the British Battalion with the medics.

ALBA Presents! A Women’s History Month Commemoration

Please join ALBA as we explore the contributions of the women of the Lincoln Brigade with author Espe Pons, author of photobook "Maybe Never Again." Join us on Monday, March 23 at 2 PM ET / 11 AM PT

www.eventbrite.com/e/maybe-neve...

Donate | The Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives To fight for the future, you need to know the past! The Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives (ALBA) believes that to inspire the next generation of progressives, you need to put the tools of history in…

Robert fundraised for the Friends of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, which contributed to vets' medical care and post-Spain transition needs. Robert later worked as a social worker and in a floral shop. He died in 1969.

Donate to honor Robert's memory or another ALB vet: alba-valb.org/donate/

Robert Raven center, wearing dark sunglasses and flat top cap, standing behind two men shaking hands and an American Flag and a Spanish Republican flag.

Robert Raven Joseph (center) was born March 4 in Pittsburgh, PA, in 1913. He was a student at UPitt when he sailed for Spain on December 26, 1936. He was WIA twice and lost his vision at the age of 24. He returned to the US on November 23, 1937.

AMB Volunteer Evelyn Hutchins, who drove ambulances in Spain for 16 months, remembers the joy in seeing familiar locals while driving in Republican Spain #WomensHistoryMonth

This clip is from The Good Fight: The Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War: alba-valb.org/the-good-fig...

Carl Marzani from the dust-cover of his autobiography.

He worked as an author and published an early English translation of Antonio Gramsci’s work in 1957. Marzani & Munsell was destroyed in a 1968 fire but he continued to write. Marzani wrote a semi-autobiographical novel The Survivor and a memoir The Education of a Reluctant Radical. He died in 1994.

Undated photograph of Carl Manzani, close-up.

Carl returned to Oxford and graduated in June 1938. He joined the CPBG and the CPUSA but left by 1942. He worked for the OSS and State Department. He ran Union Films when he was imprisoned for his CP membership. Carl co-created publisher Marzani & Munsell after his release in 1952.

A photograph of Carl Manzani with a typewriter in his office. He is wearing a suit and tie, smiling. Undated.

Carl Marzani was born #otd in Rome, Italy, in 1912. His family immigrated to Scranton in 1913. He attended Williams College and Oxford. He sailed to Spain in October 1936 and served with the anarchist Durruti Column. Accused of being a communist, he fled Spain after he was threatened with execution.

AMB Volunteer Evelyn Hutchins talks about how she saw the Second Spanish Republic as “a different kind of country” amid the threat of fascism #WomensHistoryMonth

From "The Good Fight: The Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War": alba-valb.org/the-good-fig...

As Davidow said, "I thought it (fascism) was a German problem, an Italian problem...What really shook me was when both Hitler and Mussolini went into Spain and I realized they weren't going to be satisfied with a piece here, a piece there, they were out for the whole world."

AMB Nurse Ruth Davidow talks about how she came to view fascism as an international struggle after Spain was attacked and how this transformed her politics: #womenshistorymonth

Wilfred Milford Chapin, Mackenzie-Papineau cook, December 1937 in Spain. He is wearing military shirt and beret, standing in front of building wall.

Wilfred served in the US Army during WWII. He died on November 26, 1969, and is buried Greenwood Cemetery, Kellogg, Idaho.

Wilfred Chapin standing on top of a wooden platform holding a long handsaw used by lumberjacks, undated

Wilfred Chapin was born #otd in Missoula, Montana in 1908. After 8th grade he worked as a lumberjack, which proved useful in Spain (depicted). He arrived there on June 2, 1937. He served with ALB and the Mac Paps as a cook until he returned to the US on June 19, 1938.

The Good Fight | The Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives This documentary presents the experiences of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, comprised of American volunteers who fought with the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War. Using archival footage and…

This clip is from the documentary, The Good Fight: The Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War. Learn more about the film on our website: alba-valb.org/the-good-fig...
You can read an excerpt of an interview with Evelyn here: alba-valb.org/wp-content/u...

As she told her male comrades, "if you're don't let me go you're just a chauvinist, a male chauvinist, and you're not supposed to be because you're a political person." She prevailed and drove an ambulance from April 1937 to October 1938.

AMB Volunteer Evelyn Hutchins first supported Republican Spain by collecting clothing donations in New York City, but she really wanted to fight. Here she is talking about her determination to serve as an ambulance driver for the AMB when she was denied a combat role. #WomensHistoryMonth

"Their first inclination...was to join the military to volunteer their services and knowledge but because of their participation in Spain they were deemed "premature antifascists"...and they were denied entry and access." #BlackHistoryMonth

ALBA Honorary Board Member Robin D.G. Kelley talks about how WWII was seen as an extension of the anti-fascist struggle for ALB volunteers and Black veterans: "For them the war wasn't over yet - Spain might have been defeated but the war against fascism continued to rage on." #BlackHistoryMonth

Invisible Heroes: African Americans in the Spanish Civil War | The Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives Two thousand eight hundred North Americans volunteered to defend the Republic of Spain during the Spanish Civil War, but few people know that many of the volunteers were African Americans.

This clip is from the documentary Invisible Heroes: African Americans in the Spanish Civil War. Learn more about it on our website: alba-valb.org/product/invi...

ALB Volunteer James Yates reminds us that federal surveillance and repression of the working class isn't new: here he talks about how the FBI made sure that he was fired from every job he had, forcing him into self-employment. #BlackHistoryMonth

This was divisive, during and after the war, and raised the thorny issue of how to maintain discipline in a volunteer army. The day after, it was announced there would be no more executions in ALB.

Paul became remorseful for deserting after learning about the birth of his son in the US and he returned and confessed. Despite this, Paul was secretly executed overnight without most volunteers’ knowledge sometime in April 1938.

Paul White, November 1937. The 15th International Brigade Photographic Unit Photograph Collection. He is standing in front of a plastered wall wearing his military uniform.

Paul White was born #otd in NYC, 1909. He worked as a sailor and had two years of US Army experience. He joined the CPUSA in 1930. He arrived in Spain on June 21, 1937 and served with ALB but deserted twice: after Belchite and during the Retreats.