ALBA Protests Threat to Vet’s Provincetown Grave
Doug Roach. Photo by Peter Stackpole for Life Magazine
ALBA Chair Aaron Retish sent a letter to Provincetown officials to protest a threat to the resting place of Douglas Roach, one of the 90 African Americans in the Lincoln Brigade. A proposed new housing development would disturb the graves of Roach and his extended family, whose burial plot falls slightly outside the town cemetery—likely due to racial discrimination at the time. “We hope you consider the historical weight of this burial site of a man who volunteered to fight fascism before many others saw that threat for what it was,” Retish writes. “He was an American hero.” In 2011, History Detectives (PBS) dedicated an episode to Roach and Lincoln Vet Sol Fellman.
