Talk:Oliver Law

Older
"TERZ: Im Zweiten Weltkrieg kämpften Schwarze in der US-Army in separierten Einheiten. Wie war das in der Lincoln-Brigade? Harry Fisher : Wir hatten zwischen 80 und 100 schwarze Soldaten unter uns. Sie waren angewidert von der Verfolgung der Juden durch die Nazis und sie wollten durch ihren Kampf gegen den Faschismus einen Beitrag leisten gegen rassistische Verfolgung und Unterdrückung. Wir waren die erste soldatische Einheit von Amerikanern, die keiner Rassentrennung unterlag. Viele unserer farbigen Mitkämpfer waren Offiziere. Der erste farbige Kommandeur überhaupt war Oliver Law, der mit uns in der Lincoln-Brigade kämpfte. Er fiel bei der Schlacht in Brunete. Wir errichteten eine Holzplatte auf seinem Grab, auf der stand: Hier ruht Oliver Law, der erste amerikanische Neger, der weiße Amerikaner im Kampf führte."


 * Harry Fisher was a volunteer of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade

Irrelevant?
A rather different version appeared in Herrik's book "Hermanos!" (1969), a novel based on real events in Spanish Civil War: an Afro-American soldier in the Internaional Brigades is promoted to command though clearly unfit to it, purely for anti-racist propaganda purposes; he leads his soldiers to a disastrous fiasco in which many are killed; when the survivors angrily accuse him of responsibility for their comrades' death, the officer shouts the slogan of the American left: "Black and White - Unite and Fight!" - whereupon black and white soldiers togtheter turn on him and beat him to death.
 * Yes.

Serious Questions about Law's Death
In serious looking statements in the Comments section of the online edition (September 2, 2009) of The Jewish Daily Foreward (September 11, 2009) the old story about Law's incompetence and subsquent murder by his own people is repeated. statement by Alan, Sept. 7, 2009. Either way, the Grover Furr statements in the Comments are really stupid or worse.--Radh (talk) 10:37, 16 November 2010 (UTC)

Another sign of dissatisfaction among some of his men. Ray Steele and Jim Katz accused Law of incompetence, favourism, food-theft. "Hourihan found Law guilty of the charges but he was overruled by a committee of political commissars". http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/SPhourihan.htm (in the middle of the text).--Radh (talk) 08:44, 19 November 2010 (UTC)

Another strange thing: on spartacus.schoolnet (reference given above) it is said, that Hourihan had been elected commander by his men and so was deeply distrusted by the Soviets.

But this spartacus entry seems to rely on Cecil Eby's book Comrades and Commissars. Grover Furr did not like it, coming from a close friend of William Herrick (Law's archenemy).--Radh (talk) 09:17, 19 November 2010 (UTC)

I find "Oliver Law was killed on July 10 leading his men in an attack on Mosquito Crest (Mosquito Hill)." The head of the article has July 9 death. (Year 1937) Carlm0404 (talk) 00:33, 27 December 2020 (UTC)

Birthplace?
Texas is a large place; 678,051 Km². In fact, Texas is 135% the size of Spain (504,030 Km²). There are tens of thousands of named communities in Texas. For an “encyclopedia” to state in passing that Oliver Law was from Texas suggests that this very un-encyclopedic entry leaves a considerable amount to be desired. Can’t the contributor do better than narrowing Law’s birthplace down to 678,051 Km² ? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.79.62.19 (talk) 06:44, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

Not really -- the closest historians seem to get is a Texas cotton farm, between 1899 and 1904. The Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives give West Texas, October 23, 1900 as his birth, which is the most precise locator I've found. 72.181.245.208 (talk) 17:27, 9 April 2011 (UTC)

WWI service
How does one join the Army in 1919 and serve in WWI?

I removed WWI -- A1000 (talk) 19:12, 20 October 2012 (UTC)