%0 Journal Article 
%A Varela-Lago, Ana María
%T From migrants to exiles: the Spanish Civil War and the Spanish immigrant communities in the United States
%D 2015
%@ 1889-5611
%U http://hdl.handle.net/10017/24879
%X This article combines two aspects of the Spanish diasporic experience in the Americas often treated separately: migration and exile. Studies of the Republican exile have concentrated primarily on members of political and cultural elites forced to leave Spain in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War and Franco’s victory in 1939. Here, I look instead at how events in Spain affected the lives of Spaniards living abroad when civil war broke out in 1936. I analyze the activities in support of the Republic
organized by Spaniards in the United States, and argue that the war in Spain and the Popular Front culture forged in America in the 1930s transformed these communities deeply. Not only did they become more visible, but, perhaps more important, they participated in events that fostered collaboration across generations, ethnicities, races, creeds, and social classes. The article highlights the important role played by women
and children in these communities, and examines how the war shaped the identity of Spanish-American youth. These activities helped pave the way for the integration of Spanish immigrants into American society. This Americanization, often reluctant, was linked to Franco’s victory, an outcome that, for many, closed the door to a possible return to Spain, transforming migrants into exiles. As such, they continued to struggle for the restoration of democracy in Spain during the four decades of the dictatorship.

%K Confederated Hispanic Societies
%K Spaniards in the United States
%K Spanish Civil War
%K Spanish diaspora
%K Spanish exile
%K Spanish migration
%K Spanish Republic
%K Diáspora española
%K Emigración española
%K Españoles en Estados Unidos
%K Exilio
%K Guerra Civil Española
%K Segunda República
%K Sociedades Hispanas Condederada
%K Arte
%K Art
%K Historia
%K History
%K Literatura
%K Literature
%K Sociología
%K Sociology
%~ Biblioteca Universidad de Alcala