Vasilis Kontodimas Professor Hernandez-Ojeda HONS 2011J, Section 01 8 Dec. 2020   Nicholas Ioannou Demas’ fight “to stop the barbarians” Personal Statement: Before I selected Nicholas Ioannou Demas as the one Abraham Lincoln Brigade volunteer to research, I knew how treacherous the life for the Greek population had been in the early twentieth century.  My grandparents had personally served and lived through WWII and the ensuing Greek civil war.  So, I wanted to see what could motivate a Greek man, together with his brother,  to risk their lives for Spain when Greece still faced myriad issues.  I started with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives and discovered that my subject was…

Somaly Tum Spain Today: Film and Fiction Professor Villa, The New School May Levine Hartzman Personal Statement Before this semester, I didn’t know much at all, if anything, about the Spanish Civil War. It was never taught in my previous schools, and it wasn’t until I began my research and watched the 1984 documentary, The Good Fight, that I found out about the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and the thousands of other volunteers who traveled to Spain to fight against fascism. In total, there were about 40,000 volunteers from all over the world. While I was looking online at the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives (ALBA), I came across a single folder…

Lila Norris Spain Today: Film and Fiction Professor Villa, The New School Charles and Antoinette O’Flaherty Personal Statement I originally chose these papers because of my interest in female involvement in labor movements. Antoinette was an accomplished activist and organizer and her story fascinated me. However, after spending more time with the papers, I gained more of an interest in the brothers. Their early life in Irish Boston and how they were raised to become such interesting and dedicated organizers, protestors, and political activists caught my attention. I wanted to look into what type of person would choose to drop everything and join a band of amateur soldiers in a…

Andie Fortier Cinematic Spain (Fall 2017) Final Essay Professor Sara Villa – The New School David Miller Personal Statement I began my research reading a collection of letters that David Miller himself had written. I began to familiarize myself with his language and his extremely detail oriented, observant writing. Reading these letters allowed me to begin to infer certain things in regards to his experience, but most of all they sparked my curiosity and only pushed me further to ask more questions and find more answers. Many of these questions were answered by the in the Fredericka Martin Papers (ALBA #1 box#19 folder 16). Her correspondences with Miller, as well…

Jane Balfus Cinematic Spain – Fall 2017 Final Essay Prof. Sara Villa – The New School   Alvah Cecil Bessie Alvah Cecil Bessie was born in a wealthy sector of Harlem in 1904 to a Jewish family. His father was an inventor, and also worked in business, which allowed for their affluent lifestyle. Bessie attended Columbia University and majored in English studies. He became involved in a friendship with Eugene O’Neill after college, who was a prominent  member of the Provincetown Players; a group of creatives involved in theatre, that began in Massachusetts. This relationship with O’Neill launched Bessie into a performance career. He acted for almost five years with…

Ross Wheeler Español 37026 Hunter College-CUNY Profesora Hernández-Ojeda James Bernard Rucker Dos grandes obreros heroicos se enfrentan a las puertas del archivo Tamiment, de NYU; pintado de pie, están como acomodadores hacia los documentos, fotos, pósteres, y artefactos que documentan las causas y condiciones laborales en los Estados Unidos hace dos siglos. Los documentos de la colección de la Brigada Abraham Lincoln fueron el interés de la clase. Después de una introducción, la bibliotecaria demostró los métodos de uso e interpretación por contextualización de los materiales históricos. Inicié una búsqueda de los soldados de Bridada Abraham Lincoln y aprendí, por una colección de papeles recogidos para crear el libro African…