On January 6, the one-year anniversary of the assault on the Capitol, ALBA announced that the 2022 ALBA/Puffin Award for Human Rights Activism will go to the organization Life After Hate (LAH) (Press Release). Founded in 2011, LAH helps people leave violent far-right and white supremacist groups to connect with humanity...
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ALBA Authors Curricular Guide for Students in Spain ALBA is proud to partner with the Spanish government in the preparation of a curricular guide for high-school students in Spain. Highlighting the experiences of U.S. volunteers in the International Brigades the guide invites readers to use these stories as an inspiration to set up their...
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A new initiative, ALBA Workshops for Everyone, opens our teaching up to the general public. A new teacher workshop is scheduled for early 2022.
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On September 26, ALBA’s San Francisco Bay Area community organized a stirring, 75-minute program that was streamed live to an audience of hundreds. Hosted by Richard Bermack, the celebration featured footage of a gathering held in late August at the Lincoln Brigade Monument near the Embarcadero, with June Gipson and Deja Abdul-Haqq of the...
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The Susman lecture this year was delivered by Marc Fasanella, son of ALB veteran and artist Ralph Fasanella, who discussed his father’s life and work, including his experience during the Spanish Civil War. Luisais Taveras, a Hunter College undergraduate student, introduced the speaker and led the Q&A session. Luisais had previously interviewed Ralph for...
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This summer, ALBA teaching staff offered the third fully online professional development workshop on “The United States and World Fascism: Human Rights from the Spanish Civil War to Nuremberg and Beyond,” together with Rich Cairn of the Collaborative for Educational Services. Some 20 secondary school teachers, from Massachusetts to Washington State, gathered weekly in...
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ALBA is gearing up for two great Bay Area-based events! Join us for a Gathering at the Monument on Sunday, August 22 to celebrate the newly restored National Monument to the Abraham Lincoln Brigade on the San Francisco Embarcadero (1:30 PM PDT to 4:00 PM PDT). You’ll have a chance to meet June Gipson of My...
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The Virtual Museum of Women in War (Museo Virtual de la Mujer Combatiente, MVMC) is now open for visits at www.mujeresenguerra.com. Based on the ongoing work of a research group led by Gonzalo Berger (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) and Tània Balló, the website features a plethora of resources–including materials from Spanish and international archives, provincial...
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To the Editors: Thank you so much for the wonderful discussion on Invisible Heroes. I was wondering if you knew if Langston Hughes’ writing on Spain for the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper is available in book form. I understand his writing was published in Spanish by BAAM, but I cannot seem to locate a compilation...
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Students around the world are invited to submit their work for ALBA’s annual essay prize. The Watt Award, named in honor of Lincoln Brigade volunteer George Watt, awards outstanding work about any aspect of the Spanish Civil War, the global political or cultural struggles against fascism in the 1920s and 1930s, or the lifetime histories and contributions...
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The Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives (ALBA) is an educational non-profit dedicated to promoting social activism and the defense of human rights. ALBA’s work is inspired by the American volunteers of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade who fought fascism in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). Learn more at our website or
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Nobody remembers Lloyd Mallan. I came across his name while writing a book on poet- playwright Federico García Lorca’s iconic afterlife. Mallan’s piece on the poet’s assassination, published in 1939, was instrumental in spreading to the U.S. and Canada a highly embellished narrative of poetic martyrdom that helped shape the public image of Lorca....
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For an English translation of this article, see here.
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On May 30, 1937, the Republican freighter Ciudad de Barcelona was hit by a torpedo fired by a lurking Nationalist submarine. The torpedo tore a gaping hole in the ship and it rapidly sank. A Republican seaplane drove the submarine away with a depth charge attack, then landed and began rescuing men in the...
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Dr. Irving Busch (1896-1960), a graduate of Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, volunteered to serve in Spain with the American Medical Bureau. In Spain, he served with the Republican Medical Services. Both before and after Spain Busch was an amateur photographer and he carried his camera along with him. After his death...
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The picture of a young man in a jaunty hat and a big smile stared out of the 1978 issue of The Volunteer. The photo was accompanied by a request for information about Sidney Lorraine who died in Spain during the course of The Retreats. There is no evidence of any replies. Sidney Hotchkiss...
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Many American veterans went on to serve in WWII and Korea. This list is a work in progress. Those marked with an “*” were killed during the war. Office of Strategic Services Aalto, William Oliver WWII US Army, joined December 1941 served as 1st SGT transfer to OSS April 12, 1942; Dismissed after he...
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Eddie O’Neill was born in the same County Tyrone neighborhood as the poet Charlie Donnelly (1914-1937), who was killed in action at Jarama while serving as a platoon leader with the James Connolly Section of the Abraham Lincoln Battalion. Inspired by the sacrifice of his fellow countryman and fellow Irish Socialist Republican, Eddie set...
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“A prominent competitive player in the United States gave a series of lectures and played over famous games from the past. To hear him talking—in our squalid surroundings—with such knowledge about a game once played by Napoleon on the island of St. Helena, was an uplifting and inspiring experience.” In his memoir To...
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With the submission of the August batch freedom of information act (FOIA) requests ALBA will have filed for over 1,000 passport records of American volunteers. Due to the ongoing pandemic responses to the submissions have been minimal. However, we did receive three responses this week. This is only the second batch received in the...
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A short video of the graves visited in 2021. Memorial Day is the day traditionally set aside to remember Americans who served in the military. And, yet, Americans who went to Spain to fight fascism are rarely, if ever, included in the remembrances on this day. The Lincoln Battalion Memorial...
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ALBA's project to provide a complete list of the more than 2,800 individuals who left from U.S. territory to fight with the Spanish Republic
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