Justin Herman Plaza
Embarcadero
American Lincoln Brigade Memorial
Painted Steel, Onyx, Concrete and Olive Trees
In 1936, General Francisco Franco led a military uprising to overthrow the elected government of Spain. Forty thousand people went to Spain to fight for democracy. The 2,700 Americans who joined the fight were known as the Abraham Lincoln Brigade (ALBA). After Franco gained control of Spain in 1939 with help from both Hitler and Mussolini, the Nazis invaded Poland and World War II began.
The members have continued to fight injustice, supporting various international causes ever since. On Sunday, March 30, 2008, the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade unveiled this national monument in Justin Herman Plaza near Vaillancourt Fountain.
The monument was designed by Ann Chamberlain (1951-2008) and Walter Hood. Visual artist Ann Chamberlain is a former Program Director at the Headlands Center for the Arts who taught at several Bay Area colleges. In collaboration with Ann Hamilton, she designed the card catalog display in the San Francisco Library made with fifty thousand library cards, each with a hand-written note. Walter Hood is professor and former chair of the Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning Department at the University of California, Berkeley.
The memorial cost $400,000, and was donated by the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives and Veterans and Friends of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.