Biography

Frank Alexander was born on the Omaha Sioux Indian reservation in Nebraska on February 8, 1911. Alexander's mother was white and his father, a cowboy who had ridden for the Pony Express, was black. Although not Native Americans, Alexander lived on a reservation for several years because Native Americans were more accepting of his parents' mixed race marriage. After the death of his mother, Alexander stayed briefly with his younger brother, Hursel, who had become involved in the IWW and was living in the home of the famed Communist leader, Mother Bloor. He then moved to Los Angeles where he found lodging in a Young Communist League (YCL) flophouse in Los Angeles. Among his roommates were Aaron Johnson, Otto Reeves, Norman Lisberg, Virgil Rhetta, and Alpheus Prowell, all black Communists who later served in the Spanish Civil War. Alexander supported himself by selling chickens from a truck and working at various construction jobs. He became a Communist in 1931 and through the party met some Hollywood personalities, including John Steinbeck and Joan Crawford, who were involved in its activities. Alexander sailed for France aboard the Georgic on June 12, 1937. In Spain he was assigned to the Washington Battalion, but soon contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized. After his recovery he was reassigned to the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion and appointed squad leader of a machine-gun company. Alexander was wounded twice during the fighting at Fuentes de Ebro. Alexander "deserted" from the hospital where he was recuperating to rejoin the XVth Brigade. During the fighting at Teruel, Alexander and his squad were ordered on a reconnaissance patrol near the enemy's lines but were caught in the open and cut down by long-range machine gun fire. Alexander was the only man to survive the sprint back to friendly lines. During the retreats that followed the Nationalist's rapid advance in March and April 1938, Alexander found himself behind enemy lines. After several harrowing days, including a night perched in a tree directly above an Italian encampment, Alexander made it back across the Ebro into Republican territory. Alexander was with the Mac-Paps when they crossed the Ebro during the Republic's last offensive in July 1938. However, he was wounded shortly after the offensive began and he spent the remainder of his time in Spain in a hospital. Due to the severity of his wound, Alexander was left behind when the other Americans were withdrawn. He finally crossed the Pyrenees, together with thousands of Spanish refugees and, together with them, was imprisoned by French authorities in a hastily constructed concentration camps around Perpignan where he spent several weeks until a U.S. embassy official arranged his passage to the United States. Alexander returned to Los Angeles in early in 1939 where he found employment as a welder. Later that year, he met and married Lillian Perlowe. In California, interracial marriages being illegal, their marriage certificate falsely described her as a Negro. During World War II, Alexander enlisted in the Army and was assigned to Company B of the 318th Engineer Combat Battalion, an African-American outfit. He was promoted to First Sergeant and served in the Pacific during the Guadalcanal campaign. Alexander returned home in December 1945. After the war Alexander was a full-time Communist party functionary from 1948 to 1955. He chaired the Negro Commission of the Los Angeles Communist party and was a member of the California state committee. During the McCarthy period, Alexander endured constant surveillance and harassment. He was indicted as one of the Los Angeles Twenty-One, a group of Communist party members charged with conspiracy. The charges against Alexander were subsequently dropped but not before he had served a short jail term. Both Alexander and his wife resigned from the CPUSA following the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956. In the years that followed, he built a successful business as a contractor and hardware store owner. Alexander died on April 15, 1996 in Seattle, Washington.

ALB Archival Materials

Images

Frank Alexander (right) together with Otto Reeves (left), December 1937. (ALBA Collection)

Full Database Record