On March 6, 2014, Kianga Lucas commented on the Zinn Education Project’s Facebook post about the Lincoln Brigades:
“Wonderful! My grandfather also fought in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. These men and women were incredibly brave and sacrificed a lot.”
We asked Ms. Lucas for more information about her grandfather and here is the people’s history that she shared.
“My grandfather fought with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and before that he took part in the 1931 Hunger March on Washington, D.C.
“My grandfather was born on Nov. 6, 1908 in Cambridge, Mass. with the name Frederick Anderson Peters. He is of mixed African American and Native American descent.
“In 1919, he was adopted and his name was changed to Palmer Lucas. Because he was nearly 11 when he was adopted, he continued to use his original first name throughout his life, so he is often listed with the name “Fred Lucas.” He took advantage of his multiple names to try to go undetected by U.S. government authorities.
Headline from the Daily Boston Globe. Click image to download article.
“My grandfather is mentioned in a Daily Boston Globe article (Dec 2, 1931) about the Boston chapter gearing up for the Hunger March on Washington, D.C.
“My grandfather is also shown speaking to the crowd gathered at the Boston Commons in the silent-film documentary on the 1931 Hunger March produced by the Workers Film and Photo League. He is shown around the 4:10 mark.
“My grandfather died on Aug. 12, 1966 in Boston. He was married to Rachel Levine, a daughter of Russian-Jewish immigrants.
“Thank you for your interest in my grandfather. My family is very proud of his service and his fight for justice both at home and abroad.”
This is awesome family and Indigenous history of our people. Thank you so much for sharing your family history. Fred was the MAN!
Thank you so much for sharing this! It is wonderful to know that people like your grandfather did the organizing and standing up for the rights of people he didn’t even know!
Thank you so much for sharing this Kianga!