In 1937, the African American poet Langston Hughes traveled to Spain as a war correspondent for the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper, reporting on the experiences of Black volunteers in the International Brigades. Hughes, who had been deeply involved in the Harlem Renaissance, used his reporting to highlight the role of African Americans in the anti-fascist struggle and to draw connections between the fight in Spain and the struggle for civil rights in the United States. His articles, which were later collected, provide a unique perspective on the war and its international significance.

Hughes's reporting from Spain influenced his later poetry, which increasingly addressed themes of international solidarity and anti-fascism. His coverage of the Black volunteers also inspired a number of poems by African American writers, who saw the Spanish Civil War as a crucial episode in the global struggle against racism. Hughes's work from Spain remains an important contribution to the literature of the war and a testament to the role of Black intellectuals in the anti-fascist movement.