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"I was interested in going to Spain because I wanted to help wake the Negro up on the international field. I spoke to Negroes about helping Ethiopia and many of them would say 'I'm not an Ethiopian; I'm an American free-born Negro' which I knew was not true. So I thought here was a chance to show the Negro what role he had to play on the international field against fascism, which would give him a better understanding on how to fight against fascism on a national scale which means at home.

"This is why I saw it was necessary for me to volunteer to go to Spain...and when I got to Spain I found that the ideas of all the Negroes from the United States were practically the same though these men did not know one another..."

He was wounded on his face.

From an interview with Mack Coad in the Daily Worker February 11, 1939

Mack Coad joined the Communist Party in the spring of 1930. He went to the South as an organizer in the spring of 1931, was active in Birmingham and on a plantation in Albany and before leaving for Spain was a sharecroppers' union organizer.

He died some years ago in the United States while working as a coal miner.

It was in the city of Sagaro that the Americans first read the news that two deserters who have escaped to the United States were slandering the International Brigades before a pro-fascist Congressional inquiry. The Brigaders drew up a letter denouncing them and exposing their records in Spain.

They wrote: "In all justice, you should know about these two men. For the many months that Abraham Sobel (one of the deserters) was here, he did everything in his power to stay away from the front. He had a cowardly streak down his back. He was arrested a number of times for drunkeness, for pillaging and looting. He promised there will be no recurrence but deserted the moment he was freed. Alvin Halperin, the other deserter, known as 'Hot-Air Al' saw no front line service and was no Captain as he claims. He managed to get a slight wound from a stray bullet three kilometers behind the lines. Like all deserters, he did not come to Spain to help the Spanish people. As soon as he found out that to be in Spain meant to fight and die and no glory, he deserted like the rat he was.

This statement was signed by the wounded American volunteers at Hospital Militar No. 9 and among the first to sign this statement was MACK COAD.
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He came from Cleveland, Ohio, from a sharecroppers' family in Alabama. He wore no shoes until he was 16. He became a laundry worker when he moved east. After settling in Cleveland, he joined and became active in the Communisty Party, became an active leader in the Future Outlook League, a local Cleveland Black people's organization, contributed articles to the Black paper, CALL POST; was active in the Scottsboro Defense Campaign; participated in the activities in the local NAACP and the church movement and was hailed as the first Black to force the jim-crow St. Luke's Hospital to perform surgery on him. After returning from Spain he continued his activities and died in Cleveland, Ohio.

His name: ABE LEWIS

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Was an excellent and courageous soldier in Spain. Loyal, disciplined and never shirked his duties. In his quiet modesty, he performed the difficult duties of a soldier.

After being repatriated, he toured the United States under the auspices of the Friends of the Abraham Lincoln Battalion, organizing and mobilizing support for the fighting anti-fascists, Spanish people and International Brigaders in Spain. After a period of illness, he died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

His name: STERLING ROCHESTER.

He was 23 when he left Howard University. Upon his return from Spain, he received the following telegram of welcome from this famous Afro-American college: 

"We are proud that one of our students was a member of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade (Battalion) which fought so nobly for the cause of democracy in Spain and in the world."

Signed by 34 professors and instructors.

His name: THADDEUS BATTLE

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