Rachel Maddow Presents: Déjà News cover image

Episode 6: “Hello America, this is Addis Ababa.”

Rachel Maddow Presents: Déjà News

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American Volunteers for Service in Ethiopia

In 1935 there were only two countries in Africa that were not considered colonies by one European power or another. So when Italy moved to attack Ethiopia, many African Americans felt that it was not just this one black nation under assault. What was under assault was the very notion that a free, independent black state could exist at all. And so they came to its defense. Now technically it was illegal for an American to sign up to fight on behalf of any other country while the United States wasn't involved in the fight. But hundreds of African American men nevertheless signed up.

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