The Abraham Lincoln Brigade
During the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), almost forty thousand men and women from fifty-two countries, including 2,800 Americans, traveled to Spain to join the International Brigades to help fight fascism. The U.S. volunteers served in various units (medical, combat and transportation) and came to be known collectively as the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.
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 brave American volunteers of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade who fought and died fighting fascism in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). ALBA’s programs include teacher institutes, exhibitions, publications, cultural programs and an annual award for human rights activism, given in partnership with the Puffin Foundation. Drawing on the ALBA archival collections in New York University’s Tamiment Library, ALBA works to preserve the legacy of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade as an inspiration for present and future generations.
ALBA 2013-2014 Teaching Institutes
- November 5, 2013: Professional development day in New York City, co-hosted by NYU, with Peter N. Carroll and Sebastiaan Faber. More information: contact.
- March 8, 2014: Professional development day in Northampton, Massachusetts, co-hosted by The Collaborative for Educational Studies, Amherst College, Smith College, Mt. Holyoke College, with Sebastiaan Faber. More information: contact.
- May 21, 2014: Professional development day in Bergen County, New Jersey, co-hosted by the Bergen County Academies, with Peter N. Carroll and Sebastiaan Faber. More information: contact.
ALBA on PBS
Watch A Father's Forgotten Tribute in a Spanish Civil War Eulogy on PBS. See more from History Detectives.
News & Updates:
Save the date!
Sunday, April 27, 2014
ALBA's 78th Annual Celebration
Commemorating the Lincoln Brigade and presenting the ALBA/Puffin Award for Human Rights Activism to Bryan Stevenson, founder and Executive Director of the Equality Justice Initiative. With a special musical tribute to Pete Seeger.
New & Improved Educators' Resource Page
Especially designed to supplement ALBA's Teaching Institutes, our redesigned Educators' Resource Page features primary documents, PowerPoint presentations, and lesson plans aligned with the Common Core Standards.
Funding provided by Neal Rosenberg & the Ohio Humanities Council.
|ALBA's Robeson in Spain comic book by Josh Brown and Peter Carroll (purchasing info here)|
|Online lessons plans for middle and high school teachers, written by ALBA Staff|
|ALBA Institute for Education, programs for teachers and students|
|Links to Spanish Civil War archives around the world|
|ALBA's own online exhibits and bookstore
|Recent book reviews and archived issues of our publication, The Volunteer|
|Brief histories of the Spanish Civil War and ALBA/VALB|
|ALBA's Volunteer Database, featuring entries for Brigade Volunteers|
|Archived queries and discussions on the ALBA listserv|
|Sign up for the ALBA mailing list|
Embattled Spanish Judge receives ALBA-Puffin Human Rights Award
Baltasar Garzón, the Spanish magistrate who has headed the effort to identify human rights violations during the Spanish Civil War and the subsequent Franco dictatorship, received the first ALBA-Puffin International Award for Human Rights Activism at the ALBA annual reunion in New York City on May 14. (Click here for Garzón's speech, event videos, and press coverage (New Yorker, Nation, Democracy Now, Reuters, Spanish-language media) “Judge Garzón’s exceptional courage in defense of human rights and his commitment to the recovery of historical memory regarding crimes against humanity make him especially worthy of this honor,” said Peter N. Carroll, chair emeritus of ALBA’s Board of Governors.
This award is given jointly by ALBA and the Puffin Foundation, which provides an endowed fund exclusively for this annual honor. “The award is designed,” said Puffin Foundation President Perry Rosenstein, “to give public recognition, support, and encouragement to individuals or groups whose work has an exceptionally positive impact on the advancement and/or defense of human rights. It is intended to help educate students and the general public about the importance of defending human rights against arbitrary powers that violate democratic principles.” Read more...
Featured Veteran: Doug RoachDouglas Roach, the subject of a segment of this season's History Detectives (view 18-minute video segment here) was born in Provincetown, Massachusetts in 1900. He completed high school in Provincetown and later attended the Massachusetts Agricultural College at Amherst. There, although barely five feet tall, he achieved notice as a star wrestler. Roach joined the Communist Party in 1932. Upon completion of his studies, Roach became a part-time organizer and supported himself by working occasionally as a professional wrestler. Roach departed for Europe, aboard the SS Paris, on January 6, 1937. In Spain, Roach was assigned to the Lincoln Battalion and served in a machine gun company. Roach fought with the battalion at Jarama and during the Brunete Offensive and attained the rank of Gun Commander. Late in the Brunete Campaign Roach received a severe shoulder wound. In the fall of 1937, unable to continue fighting, he was sent back to the United States, where he went to work organizing for the seamen's union. Returning veterans formed the VALB late in 1937 and ... | Read More | Search the archive
War Is Beautiful: An American Ambulance Driver in the Spanish Civil War. By James Neugass (edited by Peter N. Carroll & Peter Glazer)
This nuanced and deeply poetic chronicle of James Neugass's service as an ambulance driver in the Spanish Civil War combines fast-paced accounts of darting onto battlefields to pick up the wounded with elegiac renderings of days spent "on alert" in an ever-changing series of sharply observed Spanish towns, enduring that most difficult of wartime activities: waiting. Reviewed in The Nation and the London Review of Books. Buy from Powell's
For more recent publications, visit the ALBA Bookstore at Powell's.
The Volunteer Online
In the September 2011 issue:
- Garzón accepts ALBA/Puffin Award for Human Rights Activism
- Gabriel Jackson on Angel Viñas's masterly SCW trilogy
- Pete Seeger and Patti Smith sing for ALBA
- The Ghost of Gerda Taro
- Picasso, Louis Delaprée, and the Bombing of Civilians
- ALBA & Puffin announce Human Rights Award;
- an interview with Gabriel Jackson (video);
- Trisha Ziff on Collective Memory in Spain and Northern Ireland.
- Amy Goodman speaks at ALBA event (video);
- the death of Oliver Law;
- an interview with Helen Graham (including video);
- the discovery of With the Lincoln Brigade, by Henri Cartier-Bresson (clip).