San Francisco Must Keep Faith with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade
San Francisco Must Keep Faith with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade
By David Perry
I write this from Spain, in the Andalusian town of Grazalema, where the memories and miasma of the Spanish Civil War — the first front against fascism — still live and linger.
Here, history is not safely confined to museums or reduced to dates in textbooks. It remains present in the landscape, in family memories, in unmarked graves and in the stories of neighbors whose parents and grandparents endured one of the defining struggles of the 20th century.
That is why I was pleased to read Sam Whiting’s excellent account of the ambitious new waterfront park planned for San Francisco’s Embarcadero Plaza and Sue Bierman Park. The proposed transformation promises something San Francisco badly needs: a welcoming, accessible and beautiful public space at the foot of Market Street, connecting downtown with the Bay.
But something essential was missing from the article and, more troublingly, appears absent from the public conversation surrounding the park’s future: What will become of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Monument?
For years, this extraordinary memorial has been obscured by the hulking Vaillancourt Fountain, marooned in a setting that prevented many residents and visitors from fully seeing, understanding or appreciating it.
Now, as the fountain is removed and the plaza reimagined, San Francisco has an opportunity — and an obligation — to give this monument the prominence it deserves.
The Abraham Lincoln Brigade Monument honors the approximately 2,800 Americans who volunteered to defend the democratically elected Spanish Republic against the forces of General Francisco Franco. They understood, years before the United States entered World War II, that fascism was not merely Spain’s problem. It was a gathering international threat.
Many of them never came home.
These volunteers were not sent by their government. They went because their consciences compelled them. They crossed an ocean to stand beside people they had never met, defending democracy against a military uprising supported by Hitler and Mussolini.
They were among the first Americans to confront European fascism on the battlefield.
San Francisco’s monument, designed by Ann Chamberlain and Walter Hood, is not simply another piece of civic decoration. Through images, maps and the words of the volunteers themselves, it tells a deeply American story about courage, sacrifice and international solidarity. It is the only government-supported monument in the United States dedicated to these Americans and their struggle.
That distinction places a special responsibility upon San Francisco.
The monument must not become an afterthought in the new park. It must not be placed in storage indefinitely, pushed to an inconspicuous corner or quietly eliminated from the final plans. The city must publicly reaffirm its commitment to preserve it, restore it where necessary and return it to a prominent, dignified and accessible location.
Better still, the redesign should allow the memorial finally to fulfill its educational purpose. Thoughtful landscaping, lighting, seating and interpretive signage could create a place where schoolchildren, visitors and residents encounter the history of the Spanish Civil War and understand why Americans volunteered to fight in it.
San Francisco should consult directly with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives, surviving family members, historians, the Spanish Consulate, the monument’s designers and the broader community as the plans proceed. The monument’s future should be stated explicitly in public presentations, planning documents and funding commitments — not left to assumptions or vague assurances.
San Francisco is a city that has long celebrated those who resisted injustice before resistance became popular. The men and women of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade belong within that tradition.
From Grazalema, I am reminded that forgetting does not happen all at once. It happens gradually: when a name disappears from a plan, when a monument is hidden from view, when a difficult history is displaced by something newer and more convenient.
A renewed Embarcadero park can be a magnificent contribution to San Francisco’s future. But a city cannot build an honest future by obscuring the bravest chapters of its past.
The City of San Francisco made a commitment when it accepted and installed the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Monument. It must now honor that commitment — publicly, unequivocally and permanently.
The volunteers of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade stood against fascism when much of the world looked away.
San Francisco must not look away from them now.
David Perry is a longtime San Francisco public-relations professional, author and lecturer on history and culture. He is currently finishing a novel centered around the Spanish Civil War.
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The new five-acre park is projected to cost about $40 million, with construction beginning in late 2026 and completion anticipated in late 2027 or early 2028. The Abraham Lincoln Brigade Monument was dedicated in 2008 and is recognized as the nation’s only government-supported monument to the Americans who fought fascism in Spain.
