While passing through.
Salaria Kea (O'Reilly) was one of 48 nurses who went to Spain with the medical units of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, the American part of the International Brigades which fought with the Spanish people against Franco's forces. The Medical Bureau to Aid Spanish Democracy, in addition to organizing the ALB medical units, raised money to purchase and send to the Spanish Loyalists 70 ambulances and large quantities of medicines and medical supplies. Salaria Kea was the only black woman in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. She was cited for courage and efficiency several times in Spanish Loyalist dispatches. These excerpts are from her unpublished memoirs. The entire memoirs will be published by the Institute of Social Medicine and Community Health's History Center.
D001741:Black or African American; D044383:Black People; D006676:History of Nursing; D049673:History, 20th Century; D008493:Medical Missions; D009519:New York City; D013030:Spain; D014481:United States / Q000208:ethnology; D014857:Warfare