Mark your calendars. ALBA is proud and excited to present a full slate of events for the next three months, with the Bay Area Gala, a Susman Lecture, a workshop, and other gatherings--both online and in-person.
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On April 9, Vero Maynez and Nathan Payne, two Berkeley-trained actors, movingly interpreted excerpts from the Spanish Civil War correspondence between Lincoln volunteer George Watt and his wife Ruth. Stage-directed by ALBA’s Peter Glazer and presented by María Hernández-Ojeda, the event brought the online audience to tears. The performance was based on a script...
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The Catalan government officially inaugurated its plans to exhume, identify, and repatriate the remains of International Brigade volunteers who died in Catalonia.
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Tributes by Daniel Czitrom, Gladys and Neal Rosenstein, Helen Graham, Paul Preston, James D. Fernández, Ellyn Polshek, and Anthony Geist.
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In March and April, ALBA offered a five-week online workshop to close to 30 teachers from the United States and elsewhere, working with the Collaborative for Educational Services of Massachusetts.
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ALBA is thrilled to announce two new additions to its Board of Governors: Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha of Flint, Michigan, and Prof. Cristina Pérez Jiménez of New York City. Meanwhile, the ALBA office welcomes Cole Stallone as Communications Associate.
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On June 8, as a kick-off to Pride Month, ALBA will offer an online screening of Bones of Contention. Coming up on June 23: a workshop on Poetry and the Spanish Civil War, with Anthony Geist.
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At a moving, content-filled annual gala on April 30 (video), Life After Hate received this year’s ALBA/Puffin Award for Human Rights Activism (press release).
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The regional government of Catalonia has instituted a new program as part of its ongoing efforts to locate and exhume mass graves from the Spanish Civil War and use DNA technology to identify the remains. The new program, which will be named after Lincoln Brigade veteran Alvah Bessie, will focus specifically on exhuming and...
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Dear Friends, When Bryan Stevenson received the ALBA/Puffin Award in 2014, he spoke about the message he likes to deliver to white audiences: “I often say: ‘Many of you were raised in households where your parents and your teachers—the people you loved and trusted—taught you that you’re better than everybody else because you are...
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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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Today, the ALBA Board of Governors issued the following statement: During this time of renewed labor action and organizing, ALBA reaffirms its support for the struggle for workers’ rights happening across the country. The headlines may announce victories, but they can also serve as a reminder that we must continue to be vigilant in...
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Inspirational and courageous; that was the IWW. Click here then the forward arrow to listen as author Ahmed White talks with former ALBA board member Burt Cohen about White’s new book Under the Iron Heel: The Wobblies and the Capitalist War on Radical Workers on the podcast keepingdemocracyalive.com.
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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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ALBA is proud to partner with the Spanish government in the publication of a 60-page curricular guide for high-school students and teachers in Spain as part of a government-sponsored series. Highlighting the experiences of U.S. volunteers in the International Brigades, the guide invites readers to use these stories as an inspiration to set...
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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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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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